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There is this story of a farmer who tried all he could to eliminate the rats that were wreaking havoc in his house. Having failed in his efforts, he approached a friend to help him. Following his friend's suggestion, he burnt his beautiful house down and heaved a sigh of relief that rats can no longer wreck his house!
The top 50 science students, in order of merit, were selected from each district and these students were given training in the month of May, when schools and colleges are closed for vacation. This was a residential programme. Boarding and lodging were taken care of by the government and qualified professors taught these students. Visits to research institutes and factories were arranged, as part of the course. These classes were conducted in 12 centres including Anna University, MIT, American College, Madurai, Avinashi University, Coimbatore and St. Joseph's, Trichy. Each centre trained 50 students, every year. More than 1200 students benefitted from it. Every year, the Central Government. spent Rs 20 lakhs and the State Government. Rs 10 lakhs, for this programme. Students from rural areas were the beneficiaries of this programme. For reasons that are not clear, this has been stopped now. Parents have condemned this move and made many representations to the government. These camps were a boon for students from villages and small towns. They helped these students to prepare for the plethora of courses available in IT and related areas. This year, however, the Central government has not allocated any money, due to a resource crunch, say Anna University sources. When contacted, the Anna University officials refused to comment. 'We do not know anything,' is all one could get as reply and they abruptly hung up. The response from the government is - 'resource crunch'. It is really strange that the Central government cannot budget Rs 20 lakhs! If a government that keeps increasing the defence budget, year after year, cannot set aside a measly 20 lakhs for a scheme that was of immense benefit to the rural youth, it only reflects the importance given by the powers that be to the upliftment of this section of society. Social activists, as well as parents, are making a fervent plea to revive this programme. They feel it is the duty of the government to provide this opportunity to students from rural areas, who are less privileged than their urban/metro counterparts. This is one way to uplift these less privileged students, so they can compete on equal terms with the city students, they contend. Like the story, at the beginning of this article, the government has to decide whether they want to kill the rats or destroy the beautiful house to solve the problem! Saravanan
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The government of India also seems to believe in burning houses to get rid of rats! An excellent scheme has been scrapped, ostensibly due to resource constraint About seven years ago, the 'young students scientist' scheme was launched at the Anna University. This scheme was essentially to help students decide on what course (s) they should get into, after completing their 10th standard exams. The government was selecting students from the eighth standard, district wise, and these students were trained for three years. 
