No National Bravery Award for Punjab in last four years

Punjab has not received the prestigious National Bravery Award given every year to brave children for the past four years.

Punjab has not received the prestigious National Bravery Award given every year to brave children for the past four years.

Officials of the Child Welfare Council of Punjab, the body entrusted with nominating courageous children, said they have not received any application for the same in more than three years.

The award is conferred to give due recognition to the children up to the age of 16 for acts of bravery. The National Bravery Award was initiated by the Indian Council for Child Welfare (ICCW) to encourage children to perform outstanding acts of bravery and to inspire others to emulate their example.

As many as 25 bravehearts from across the country were given the award by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday for the year 2015 and these heroes will be attending the Republic Day parade in New Delhi. The awardees received a medal, certificate and cash award.

The courageous children who got the awards this year belong to Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Chhattisgarh, Uttarakhand, Meghalaya, Telangana, Odisha, Kerala and Maharashtra.

Pritam Sandhu, general secretary, Child Welfare Council Punjab, said, “We invite applications from every district and advertise them on a large scale.”

“We have councils in every district. We inform them and then check the response. We also advertise in various newspapers and release posters. It is unfortunate that we have not received a single application recently,” added Sandhu. She further said next time the council will publicise this better so that people become aware and send applications.

Gurjeevan, 11, from Mansa had got the award in 2011 for foiling a bank robbery bid in the district. When some armed men tried to rob a bank at Phaphde Bhai Ke village, the fearless boy picked up stones and hurled them at the robbers. The robbers were nabbed.