Vegetable seller’s struggle for family rewarded as both sons crack JEE Advanced

Prem Chand Agrahari’s sons, Vishal and Satish have secured JEE (Advanced) AIR 1,964 and AIR 2,709, respectively

Updated on: Jun 12, 2017, 18:21:39 IST

By Kenneth John

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Allahabad: For Prem Chand Agrahari, a vegetable seller in Sewait in Soraon tehsil in Allahabad district, Sunday was a special day when he was amply rewarded for the hard work he has done to support his family. His sons, Vishal and Satish Agrahari, cracked the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) Advanced 2017 to gain access to any of the country’s top engineering colleges, including the premier Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs).

Satish (left) and Vishal Agrahari are brothers who have cracked the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) Advanced 2017. (Sourced)

No student from Allahabad managed to secure a place in the top 300 this year in the JEE (Advanced) but the Agahari brothers and the son of a professor at Motilal Nehru National Institute of Technology (MNNIT) were amongst others who made it to the merit list.

Vishal secured an All India Rank of 1,964 with 245 marks and his younger brother Satish got AIR 2,709 with 234 marks.

For Prem Chand Agrahari, the results came as a pleasant surprise. “I have studied up to Class 12 while my wife Rita has completed high school. The results were unexpected but the hard work of my sons has reaped rich dividends. The almighty will take them ahead as no one in our family has studied beyond Class 12,” he said.

Prem Chand said Vishal wanted to become an Indian administrative service (IAS) officer after completing his engineering and Satish had plans to be an engineer.

Anurag Yadav, the son of the dean of the mechanical engineering department at Motilal Nehru National Institute of Technology Allahabad, Vinod Yadav, secured AIR 336 in the exam with 287 marks.

Anurag said he wanted to pursue mechanical engineering from IIT-Delhi and later become an IAS officer to serve the country.

Nearly two lakh candidates appeared in the JEE (Advanced) - the second of the two-phase exam held in May for over 11,000 seats available in the 23 IITs across the country. The performance of a candidate in JEE (Advanced) forms the basis for admission to the IITs and the Indian School of Mines (ISM) in Jharkhand’s Dhanbad.

Haryana’s Sarvesh Mehtani secured the AIR 1 in JEE (Advanced).

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Kenneth John
Kenneth John is a seasoned journalist with over three decades of reporting experience with different national dailies. As a correspondent with Hindustan Times, he is known for his impactful grassroots journalism, focusing on stories that amplify the voices of marginalised communities and bring issues of public concern into the spotlight. Over the years, he has reported extensively on education, women and child welfare, health, crime, infrastructure, environment, human rights, rural development, poverty, and public policy. His work has consistently highlighted the challenges faced by vulnerable sections of society, particularly in rural and underserved regions. Recognised for his investigative and human-interest reporting, his notable stories include exposing severe child malnutrition in eastern Uttar Pradesh, where he documented instances of children eating mud to cope with extreme hunger. These reports drew attention to serious gaps in welfare delivery and prompted discussions on policy intervention and accountability. A keen observer of social and cultural transformations, he has covered three Mahakumbhs and two Kumbh Melas at Prayagraj’s Sangam, reporting on their religious, social, cultural, and administrative dimensions. Among his most widely discussed exclusives was the story on Uttar Pradesh’s first all-women gang, “D39,” in Kaushambi, revealing how poverty, child marriage, and domestic abuse pushed several women toward crime. His journalism continues to combine investigative rigour with deep human sensitivity.Read More