Twenty-three children — nine girls and 14 boys — have been selected for the National Bravery Awards-2010.
Two awards have been given posthumously. The children will receive their awards from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and participate in the Republic Day Parade.
The prestigious Geeta Chopra Award has been conferred on 13-year-old Jismi P.M. of Kerala. She saved two children from drowning.
The Sanjay Chopra Award went to 11-year-old Priyanshu Joshi of Uttarakhand for saving his sister from a leopard.
Vishnudas K. (17) of Kerala, Moonis Khan (15) of Madhya Pradesh and Ipi Basar (16) of Arunachal Pradesh were awarded the Bapu Gaidhani Award.
The youngest award winner this year is six-year-old Shrawan Kumar from Rajasthan. He rescued a one-year-old girl and her two-and-half-year-old sister from a burning hut in Sarneshwar village.
Gathered at the Indian Council for Child Welfare office at Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Marg here on Monday, the children spoke of their brave deeds.
Prevents bank robbery
Eleven-year-old Gurjeevan Singh from Punjab, who helped prevent a bank robbery by attacking the thieves with bricks, said: “I confronted the robbers with bricks. They opened fire at me but I escaped. But I did not budge and kept attacking them with bricks. The pistol slipped from their hands and others managed to catch the robbers,” said the brave heart.
Also to be awarded this year is a 16-year-old girl from West Bengal. She was stripped and paraded by members of her own clan on the suspicion of having relationship with a non-tribal boy. She showed exemplary courage by helping the police arrest the offenders. She has now started life afresh.
Other recipients of the awards are: Kalpana Sonowal and Rekhamoni Sonowal (Assam), Rahul Kurrey and Parvati Amlesh (Chhattisgarh), Anoop. M. and Raj Narayanan (Kerala), Rohit Maruti Mulik (Maharashtra), Md. Nurul Huda (Manipur), Freedy Nongsiej and Lovelystar K. Sohphoh (Meghalaya), Lalmawizuali (Mizoram), late Chhampa Kanwar (Rajasthan), Bibek Sharma (Sikkim), Uttam Kumar (Uttar Pradesh) and late Shruti Lodhi (Uttarakhand).
1957 scheme
The National Bravery Award scheme was initiated by the Indian Council for Child Welfare in 1957. So far, 800 children — 568 boys and 232 girls have been given the award.
