IELTS: Not only the Olympic medal, now the villages of Haryana are seeing another dream, the number of such youth is increasing continuously.

Haryana is famous for medals and many Olympic players have come out of this state. But now the number of people going abroad from here is also increasing. Satpal Gholia, a small farmer from Gholpura village in Haryana’s Karnal district, says his 29-year-old son Kuldeep Singh drives a taxi in Portugal and has permanent residence (PR) there. At the same time, seven nephews of Gholia have also gone abroad.

Two nephews of Satpal Gholia have gone to USA, three to Germany and one to Portugal, Greece and Spain. “My three nephews are the only children of their parents, but they have chosen to go abroad,” he said. Local residents say that several villages in Haryana’s Karnal, Kaithal and Panipat districts have seen an increase in the number of people, especially youth, who have migrated abroad or intend to do so.

Residents of Gholpura estimate that around 130 youths from the village of around 1,500 have already gone abroad. Suresh Kumar, the younger brother of village sarpanch Satpal Gholia, says, “The craze for going abroad in the age group of 20-30 years has increased rapidly in the last five years. After 10+2 youth want to go abroad. They want to lead a comfortable life. If a family member goes abroad, it inspires that person’s relatives as well as other people in the village. The reason is simple agriculture has become a loss making profession, government jobs are almost non existent and private jobs are also very few and pay less.

Keeping in view the increasing interest of the youth towards going abroad, Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar announced on 30th April this year that the state government has set up a Foreign Employment Exchange to provide employment opportunities to the youth in foreign countries as well. Placement Cell has been set up and a target has been set to send one lakh youth abroad in the first year.

Many of the youth who have gone abroad or are preparing to go abroad belong to the Ror community. The Rod-Marathas came to this area in 1761 to fight the Third Battle of Panipat against the forces of Ahmad Shah Abdali. After the battle they settled in Panipat and neighboring areas.

Vikas Mehla, a member of the community, explains why many are choosing to migrate abroad. He said, “The sinking land holdings and lack of employment due to the National Highway (NH44), coupled with better connectivity from Delhi, have helped push the youth towards fulfilling their dreams (going abroad). Now they send money to their families here to buy nice cars and build nice houses.”

According to Vikas Mehla, almost one member of every household has gone abroad in the road-dominated villages of Baldi, Kutel, Bastar, Dadupura Roran, Sultanpur, Shamgarh and Jhinjri. Harvinder Singh Kalyan, a two-time BJP MLA from Gharaunda in Karnal and a member of the Ror community, says the community’s growing interest in going abroad is a positive development. He said, “Our children have aspirations of progress, and developed countries need workforce especially after the coronavirus pandemic. So it is a win-win situation for all.”

School student Tanvay (13) has officially added the Chowdhary surname to his name so as not to face any difficulties on that front in his bid to go abroad soon after passing class 12. Speaking to The Indian Express, she said, “It is my dream to go abroad, no matter what happens I get work there. All kids my age want to go abroad.”

Tanvay’s father Sushil Kumar had gone to Greece four years ago and had done PR there last year. “Every year my father spends three-four months of winter with us in the village,” he said. According to farmer Ramesh Gholia, his younger brother Suresh (35) earns Rs 1.8 lakh every month by driving a taxi in Spain. In the Gholia family, four year old Bhavya says that she will go to USA.