Anil Bhadu worked in farms during holidays to get into law school

BENGALURU: From the time he entered high school, Anil Bhadu has been working as a farmhand during his holidays to earn money to pay for his education. Today, the 18-year-old has been admitted to an undergraduate course at National Law School University of India (NLSUI) after getting 42nd rank in the Common Law Admission Test (CLAT).

His father, a class 9 dropout and a marginal farmer, often drove a truck to make ends meet, while his mother is illiterate. Anil, who has four siblings, says he always believed education was the way out of poverty.

"Poverty shouldn't be a reason to give up studies," he said."If you want to achieve something in life, you have to work hard. I plan to take up a parttime job during my vacation in Bengaluru to cover my personal expenses," said Anil from Nokha, Rajasthan.

Anil's fees at NLSUI will be funded by Increasing Diversity by Increasing Access, an organization working to empower underprivileged students through legal education. Anil studied in a government school till Class 8 before moving to Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya. The switch from a Hindi medium school to English was a challenge but he rose to the occasion. He scored CGPA 10 in the Class 10 CBSE board exams and 94.6 per cent in Class 12. In 2014, Anil passed the IIT JEE Advanced, and was ranked 1,250 in CLAT, which got him a seat in NLSUI, Guwahati. But his dream was to pursue law in NLSUI, Bengaluru.

"My uncle, a teacher, is the only educated person in my family. He suggested I do law in NLSUI, Bengaluru. So I took up law and paid fees for a CLAT coaching centre," he said.

Had will, found his way

Anil, 18, who has four siblings, says he always believed education was the way to beat poverty. His father, a marginal farmer, often drove trucks for want of money; his mother is illiterate