Boy who died saving kin among 19 kids selected for Bal Puraskar

The awards — given in the categories of innovation, scholastic achievement, sports, arts and culture, social service and bravery — will be conferred by the President of India

Aaditya Vijay Brahmane, 12, who died while saving his two cousins from drowning, is among the 19 children who have been selected from across the country for this year’s Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Bal Puraskar, Union ministry of women and child development said on Friday.

Aaditya Vijay Brahmane died while saving his two cousins from drowning (HT)

The awards — given in the categories of innovation, scholastic achievement, sports, arts and culture, social service and bravery — will be conferred by the President of India at a ceremonial function to be held at Vigyan Bhawan on Monday.

This year, awards are being given to one child each in the categories of Bravery, Science & Technology, and Innovation; four children in the category of Social Service; five children in the category of Sports and seven children in the category of Art and Culture, the ministry said.

Brahmane, who will be conferred the Bravery award posthumously, hailed from the Nandurbar district of Maharashtra. He and his cousins were playing near the river’s shore, which had shallow water when his cousins started drowning. “In his haste to save his cousins lives Aaditya ventured deeper into the water, not realizing the treacherous slope. Unfortunately, Aaditya had gone too deep, making it difficult to locate him immediately. Despite this valiant effort to save his cousins, Aaditya sacrificed his life,” the ministry said in the statement.

Armaan Ubhrani, 6, from Bilaspur district in Chhattisgarh has been selected for the award under Art and Culture category for exhibiting exceptional skills in the fields of math and science, which has earned him the epithets of the Google Boy, Google Math Boy, and Wonder Boy in his state, the ministry said.

Besides, Suhani Chauhan, 16, from Delhi has been selected under the innovation category for developing ‘SO-APT’, a solar-powered agriculture vehicle for farmers with zero carbon emission, that can sow seeds, irrigate fields, and do other agricultural tasks.

Garima, 7, a visually impaired girl from Haryana, has been selected under Social Service category, for providing education to underprivileged children through her initiative called “Sakshar Pathshala ‘’. “Through this, she has connected with over a thousand children across more than a hundred events. Her exceptional efforts in educating children have earned much appreciation and recognition from several government officials,” the ministry said.

Besides, Aaditya, 12, a specially-abled badminton player from Uttar Pradesh has been selected under sports category for winning various tournaments including international badminton championships.

The awardees will interact with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday and will also participate in the Republic Day parade.