New Delhi, Jan 22 (UNI) To encourage and acknowledge the children for their good works, President Ramnath Kovind on Tuesday conferred the Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Bal Puraskar 2019 to 26 awardees including one joint award for National Child Award (now renamed as Bal Shakti Puraskar) under different categories at Rashtrapati Bhawan here.
Kartik Kumar Goel and Adirika Goyal of Madhya Pradesh were awarded for bravery and service to the society as the two children provided food, water and first aid to the passengers of the Chhattisgarh Express, which was stranded between the riots and the stone crusade during the India bandh last year on April 2.
Nikhil Dayanand Jituri of Karnataka has also been given the award for gallantry as he saved the life of a two year old who fell in to a 150 feet well having 15 feet deep water, while Jituri without caring for his life immediately jumped into the well and pumped out water from the two year old’s body and sent the toddler up thorugh a bucket before he could come out of the well.
The children were given the awards for their deeds referring to various categories that include innovation, scholastic, sports, arts & culture, social service and bravery.
The awardees were selected from across the country and finalized by the National Selection Committee chaired by the Women and Child Development Minister Maneka Sanjay Gandhi.
Mohammed Suhail Chinya Salimpasha from Karnataka, Kumari Arunima Senwas from Karnataka, Aswath Suryanarayanan Sen from Tamil Nadu, Naisargik Lenka from Odisha and AU Nachiketh Kumar including some others were awarded the Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Bal Puraskar for his excellence in the field of innovation related to new concepts and development of scientific solutions.
Aryamaan Lakhotia from West Bengal was awarded the award for his excellence in the field of Social Service as he opened an Toy Joy, that provides toys to under privileged children, while 7 year old Eiha Dixit, the little environmentalist was honoured with the award for her excellence in the field of Social Service, who planted 2500 trees on her birthday.
Other children were awarded for their works in various fields including scholastic, sports, arts & culture and bravery.
These awards were in two main categories that include Bal Shakti Puraskar earlier known as National Child Award and Bal Kalyan Puraskar which was known as the National Child Welfare Award.
The award included prize money of Rs 1 lakh for an individual which also had a medal, a citation and a certificate.
In case of an institution, the award consisted of prize money of Rs. 5 lakh each and a medal, a citation and a certificate.