A fishing village in Kendrapara in Orissa, which had been without electricity all these years, is being provided power “on priority” after a Dalit boy who herded cattle during day scored over 80 per cent in the state intermediate arts examination and told Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik that he only had a lantern to study at night.

From Talchua, Ramakanta Sethi quit studies after clearing matriculation because his parents, Arabinda Sethi and Subhadra, were too poor to afford a college education. But his uncle Ajay took him to Balasore, convinced that the boy would do well if he studied further.

Ramakanta ranked 16 in the intermediate examination. At a felicitation ceremony at the state secretariat, Patnaik asked him whether his village had electricity. “I studied by lantern light.” He then asked the Chief Minister if he could help bring electricity to his village.

Orissa Energy Minister Atanu Sabyasachi Nayak called officials of Central Electricity Supply Utility, in-charge of supplying power to Kendrapara district.

“I thought he hailed from Balasore because he is from the Fakir Mohan College there. But later I found out he was from Kendrapara. With the CM felicitating him for academic excellence, we decided to provide power to his village on priority basis. CESU authorities are going ahead, the village will have electricity in a month,” Nayak said over phone from Kendrapara.