The bond hurdle

Haryana’s bond policy is a constant source of fear and stress for its MBBS students

- Atul Krishna

Niharika, a third-year stu-1 dent at Pandit Bhagwat Dayal Sharma Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences (PGIMS), Rohtak, fears she might be stuck paying off two loans once she graduates.

"I have a scholarship from a nonprofit which provides me Rs 60,000 per year. This is like a loan that I have to pay back once I get the job, the only good thing is that there is no interest. Even then, some semesters I struggle to pay the rest of the fees as my father is a carpenter and sometimes we don't have enough. Then we borrow from others," she said.

Once she graduates, she will have to either find a government job within Haryana or a postgraduate medical seat - both extremely challenging. If she doesn't, she will have to take another loan, this time of Rs 25 lakh, to pay off a bond for not serving the state, even if there was no job post vacant.

Most states enforce a mandatory rural service for MBBS graduates who have studied in highly-subsidised government colleges. Students sign a bond at the time of admission and if they don't fulfil its terms, they are fined, sometimes as much as Rs 30 lakh. While this "bond policy" is common, the "service incentive bond" in Haryana is different.

Unlike in other states, Haryana has introduced a complicated "tripartite agreement" between the student, government and a bank - the private IDBI bank is the main one. A loan of around Rs 25 lakh will be issued to the student the moment they finish their internship.

This "collateral-free education loan", which has an accruing interest, will have to be paid back after a moratorium of one year. If the student joins government service or postgraduate studies, the government will take care of this payment for that period. If not, the burden of the loan falls on students.