There is no guarantee of a college seat or a job. And so village after village, Haryana is watching its young men leave–and the rise of an industry of touts, agents, helpers and hustlers.
My ground report from Haryana—
theprint.in
My ground report from Haryana—
theprint.in
Rural Haryana is now the new Punjab in its race to send its youth to the US, UK, and Australia. Rows of IELTS coaching, visa centres, and agent offices line up small-town marketplaces.
A new vocabulary has gripped Haryana villages, with words like PR for permanent residency, work permits, and dependents replacing popular acronyms for prestigious state universities like Maharshi Dayanand University and Kurukshetra University.
Rural unemployed youth are selling their family land and gold, getting basic nursing and accountancy diplomas, enrolling in English courses, and mastering the American twang after watching YouTube videos as their first steps toward their NRI dream.
The new exodus spans across castes. Jats, Sainis, Brahmins, Scheduled Castes – are all fleeing. Farming is not an aspirational option anymore. They say they are escaping the toxic cycle of joblessness, entrance exam paper leaks, and chronic delays in recruitment.
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