Maharashtra AHA moment: ‘Tribals don’t fit aviation bill’

Pen (Raigad): About three years ago, every time an aircraft flew over Pen in Maharashtra’s Raigad district, children in the tribal village would look at it and say Bharti Sheed, one of their own, was on it. It was a matter of pride for the community as Sheed, 24, had made it to the first batch of a course specially designed by the state government for the tribal community at the privately run Air Hostess Academy (AHA) in Pune. And even though she was still pursuing the course then, she was already a star for her community.
Three years on, those dreams have rudely crash-landed for Sheed and more than 100 other tribal youngsters who had joined AHA. None of the students who passed out of the first batch of the course in 2008 or the second one a year later has got any aviation jobs. Following a lack of response from airlines to students who passed out of AHA, the government has now scrapped the course.
While many students complain that they feel cheated as they had been promised jobs when they enrolled, the state government denies making any such promise.
In fact, Maharashtra’s Minister for Tribal Development Babanrao Pachpute blames the students themselves, saying they were lacking on many fronts — particularly physical assets — while Commissioner for Tribal Development D S Rajurkar says air-hostess jobs would have been difficult for them given the competition.
“They are not physically appealing and because of their strong local accent they are not good communicators too. I had met (Civil Aviation Minister) Praful Patel to push for jobs but nothing concrete came out of it,” Pachpute told The Indian Express, adding that the government would consider implementing the project by trying to get the girls jobs in the hospitality sector.
22/03/10 Shweta Desai/Indian Express