Harendra Singh Chauhan is 14 years old. Unlike a number of his more fortunate peers, he spends his evenings outside the Noida City Centre metro station to earn his living and do his homework. He sits on a footpath with a weighing scale and his notebooks.
When a photograph of Harendra doing his homework on the pavement went viral on Facebook, it got the attention of the Uttar Pradesh government, as The Times of India reports.
Harendra was invited to Lucknow by Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav who gave him a cheque for Rs 5 lakh. The gritty teenager was happy but wants no other help. He, for instance, declined a bicycle sent to him by a district magistrate in Noida.
Meanwhile, the Noida administration has been asked to keep an eye on Harendra and his academic needs. The money from the Chief Minister will be kept in a fixed deposit.
The events are a vindication for Vikas Sharda as well. He’d spotted Harendra outside the metro station and had posted the photograph that went viral.
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