Of courage and valour - Meet the young recipients of the National Bravery Awards

Standing tall with dignity, a motley bunch of children in the age group of 6-18 years who had shown exemplary bravery and courage in saving the lives of friends, family members and even strangers, participated in the 68th Republic Day parade in New Delhi on Thursday to loud cheers of admiration from the spectators.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday presented the National Bravery Awards to 25 children, four of them posthumously, from different parts of the country. The National Bravery Awards are broadly classifies into five categories, including the Bharat Award, Sanjay Chopra Award, Geeta Chopra Award, Bapu Gaidhani Award and the General National Bravery Awards. The awardees receive a medal, a certificate, and a cash prize. These awards are given under the aegis of the Indian Council for Child Welfare (ICCW) every Republic Day. As part of ICCW’s sponsorship programme under the Indira Gandhi scholarship scheme, each child also receives financial assistance to complete schooling.

Here's a quick recap of the exemplary courage shown by the 25 awardees:

1. Roluahpuii, Mizoram
2. Thirteen-year-old Roluahpuii lost her life while saving two of her schoolmates from drowning. Her proud parents accepted the Bapu Gaidhani Award posthumously for her timely and valorous act.
3. Payal Devi, Jammu and Kashmir
4. The sole recipient from J&K, Payal was a class VIII student. She lost her life in an unsuccessful attempt to save the life of her 6-year-old niece and a 14-year-old boy on 12 May 2016.
5. Tushar Verma, ChhattisgarhRecipient of the Bapu Gaidhani Award, Tushar risked his own life to douse the flames in of his neighbor's house. The award is a tribute to his timely effort to save the house where an elderly couple resided.
6. Sumit Mamgain, Uttarakhand
7. Fifteen-year-old Sumit fought a leopard to save the life of his cousin, Ritesh. Recipient of the Sanjay Chopra Award, he fought valiantly by holding the tail of the leopard and later hit it with a sickle which made the animal ferocious, but Sumit continued fighting till it walked away.
8. Praful Sharma, Himachal PradeshHailing from Mandi in Himachal Pradesh, nine-year-old Praful averted a major accident. He won the award for his exemplary presence of mind in applying brakes when his school bus started moving downhill on December 13.
9. Anshika Pandey, Uttar PradeshOn 14 September 2016, Anshika fought her kidnappers fearlessly. Though she was hurt in this process, this fighter from Lucknow did not surrender to the attackers who even tried throwing acid into her eyes.
10. Naman Beniwal, New Delhi
11. While on a holiday in Sonipat, Naman rescued a child from drowning in a 12-feet-deep canal. Though the Bawana Canal witnessed strong currents that day, he fought his way out to save the child.
12. Akshit and Akshita Sharma, New DelhiOn 8 December last year, Akshita (16) and Akshit (13) returned home from school only to find two burglars inside their house. They soon raised an alarm and alerted their neighbours, and even caught one of the burglars.
13. Neelam Dhruv, Chhattisgarh
14. On 19 May 2016, Neelam rescued the life of a 4-year-old girl when the later slipped and fell into a pond. Having lost her father when she was a child, she has always been a courteous child and this incident was one such example.
15. Sonu Mali, RajasthanOn 21 September last year, nine-year-old Sonu caught a snake, walked to the nearby field and let go off the reptile. This courageous act brought the young lad the country's greatest glory.
16. Tejasweeta Pradhan and Shivani Gond, West BengalYoung girls Tejasweeta (18) and Shivani (17) from Darjeeling, West Bengal, helped bust an international sex racket. Recipients of the prestigious Geeta Chopra Award, the duo showed immense courage in getting the accused nabbed.
17. Tarh Peeju, Arunachal PradeshA class IV student, Tarh on 19 May 2016 lost her life while saving her friends Phassang Marry and Tarh Charu. Though the girls were saved, Tarh drowned and was swept downstream by the strong current of the river. She was posthumously conferred the Bharat Award.
18. Lalhriatpuii, MizoramRecipient of the Bapu Gaidhani Award posthumously for exemplary courage, Lalhriatpuii jumped into a car to save her two-year-old toddler cousin, losing her own life in the process on the morning of 18 March 2016.
19. Tankeswar Pegu, Assam
20. On 20 June 2016, when Tankeswar heard a random cry from a nearby river, he saw a woman being swept away with the currents. He immediately dived in to rescue the woman. This incident brought him the bravery award.
21. Thanghilmang Lunkim, Nagaland
22. A class VI student, Thanghilmang saved the life of his friend by jumping into a river. He swam more than 120 meters to rescue the victim on 15 September 2015.
23. Mohan Sethy, OdishaOn 28 June 2015, Mohan rescued his friend from drowning in a river. A Class VII student from Cuttack, Mohan first looked for help but when none was available he risked his own life to save his friend.
24. Moirangthem Sadananda Singh, ManipurFourteen-year-old Moirangthem saved her mother from being electrocuted. On 6 May 2016, she saved her mother from electrocution due to a short circuit in her house by using a curtain rod to break the circuit.
25. Nisha Dilip Patil, MaharashtraOn 14 January 2015, Nisha saved the life of a six-month-old infant from fire. Nisha broke open the door of a burning house to save the infant who was trapped in one of the rooms.
26. Siya Vamansa Khode, Karnataka
27. When she saw her two-year-old brother touching a live wire, brave Siya caught hold of his shirt and pulled him away. This fourteen-year-old from Dharwad risked her own life to save the life of her brother.
28. Badarunnisa KP, Kerala
29. On 4 May 2015, Badarunnisa saved her friend Vismaya and her mother from drowning in a pond. On hearing the shouts of the mother, who had jumped into the water after seeing Vismaya drown, Badar rushed to the spot and pulled them out safely.
30. Adithyan MP Pillai, KeralaOn 19 May 2016, Adithyan's courageous act saved the life of three children from drowning in a river. Two of the three children had jumped into the river in a bid to save the third one and shouted for help when they could not save themselves from drowning. Adithyan, who heard their cries for help, jumped into the 11-feet-deep river and rescued them.
31. Binil Manjaly, Kerala
32. While returning home from a movie, Binil heard a child crying for help. He rushed to the spot and found three people drowning in Periyar Canal. While two of the family members drowned in the 20-feet-deep canal, Binil was able to rescue the third one
33. Akhil K Shibu, KeralaWhen a villager got trapped in the strong current of river Pampa, Akhil jumped to his rescue and saved him drowning. He was able to pull out the man from the 12-meter-deep river despite very strong currents.Do you have an interesting story to share? Please write to us at [email protected]. To stay updated with more positive news, please connect with us on Facebook and Twitter.