Panchkula boy tops JEE, five from region in first 10
NEWDELHI: Sarvesh Mehtani from Panchkula in Haryana has topped the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) Advanced-2017, the results of which were declared on Sunday.
He was closely followed by Pune’s Akshat Chugh and Delhi’s Ananye Agarwal, who secured the second and third spots in the All India Rankings (AIR) respectively. Kerala’s Shafil Maheen topped the south zone.
Mehtani, who scored 339 out of 366 marks to land the top position, had secured a relatively low AIR rank of 55 in the JEE Main this year. A product of the Bhavan Vidyalaya in Chandigarh, he hopes to pursue computer science at the Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay (IIT-B).
Agarwal, tutored at the FITJEE coaching institute in Delhi, scored 331 marks to emerge third. Incidentally, he is slated to represent India at the International Physics Olympiad in Indonesia next month. “Making it to an IIT has been my dream since childhood,” Agarwal said, thanking the tutors at his coaching institute for his success. Three other FITJEE students – Kushagra Juneja (AIR 11), Kushal Patil (AIR 14) and Shubham Atri (AIR 18) – also figured in the JEE top 20 list.
This year’s JEE list also highlighted a few inspirational stories of underprivileged students emerging meritorious despite all odds. Vabirisetti Mohan Abhyas, the son of a couple who sell samosas for a living in Hyderabad, secured an AIR of 64 in JEE Advanced. He had placed sixth in the JEE Main list.
Similar was the case of Gograj Khadda, the child of a mechanic in Rajasthan’s Kabron Ka Baas village, who secured the 5,033th spot through sheer hard work. Unlike Agarwal, securing an IIT seat was not Khadda’s childhood dream. In fact, he hadn’t even heard of these institutes until he reached Class 10. “That was when I learnt these places are really good. As I happened to like maths and science, I decided to give the exams a try,” he said.
Mathematician Anand Kumar’s Super 30 did it again – with all its students clearing the JEE Advanced. This is the fourth time – after 2008, 2009 and 2010 – that the pioneering initiative has achieved such a feat. Last year’s count was 28. Globally acclaimed for mentoring students drawn from underprivileged sections of the society, Super 30 has so far sent 396 students to IITs in a journey extending over 15 years.
Coaching institutes in Rajasthan’s Kota also found reason to celebrate, with at least 40 enrollees finding a place in the JEE Advanced top 100 list. Five of their students, including Suraj Yadav (AIR 5) and Saurav Yadav (AIR 6), also figured in the top 10.