00:06She studied for years to become a doctor. Her father took loans, worked long days as a daily
00:12wage laborer and made countless sacrifices to keep that dream alive. But on 21 June,
00:17a delay of just a few minutes changed everything for 18-year-old Ragini Vishwakarma.
00:29The NEET aspirant had travelled to Vidisha, Madhya Pradesh for the re-NEET examination.
00:34According to reports, rain and a punctured tired delayed the journey. By the time she reached
00:39the examination centre with her father, the reporting deadline had already passed.
00:47Standing outside the gate in tears was Ragini. Beside her was a father,
00:51Umesh Vishwakarma, who earns around Rs. 300 a day. Witnesses say he folded his hands, pleaded
00:57with officials and begged for one last chance. But when entry was denied, he collapsed outside
01:03the examination centre. Behind those images lies a story of sacrifice. Ragini travelled kilometres
01:14every day to attend school. Her parents brought a scooter on instalments so she could continue
01:19studying while the family reportedly took loans nearly Rs. 70,000 to support her education.
01:24When Ragini received a scholarship after class 12, she used it to buy a laptop and continued
01:29preparing for NEET, often studying up to 10 hours a day. Officials later escorted some late-arriving
01:35candidates, including Ragini, inside the premises. But the mandatory biometric verification could
01:41not be completed within the prescribed time window, making her ineligible to appear for the examination.
01:46And just like that, years of hard work appeared to slip away. I want to become a cardiologist,
01:52Ragini said afterwards. I want to help people so that families do not lose their loved ones
01:57to heart attacks. Today, those words are resonating across the country. Because this story is no
02:02longer just about an examination. It is about a dream, a father's sacrifice and a question many Indians
02:09are now asking, should a few minutes determine the fate of years of hard work?
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