Twelve-year-old V Teja Sai and 13-year-old C V S Durga Doondieshwar, who rescued their schoolmates from drowning in an Andhra Pradesh village are among the 24 children chosen to receive the National Bravery Awards, 2006.
Sai, Doondieshwar and Manoj Chouhan from Madhya Pradesh will be honoured posthumously, while 21 other children will receive awards for courage shown in the face of adversity, the Indian Council of Child Welfare (ICCW) said in a statement.
The children are scheduled to receive their awards from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the eve of Republic Day next year. The award winning children were selected by a high-powered committee comprising representatives of various departments of the ministries, NGOs and members of the ICCW.
The recipients of the award will include Michael N George and Joel Salim Jacob from Kerala, Parth S Sutaria, Antara Raju Srivastava and Ankita Ashok Bhosale from Maharashtra, Paonam Babyrose Devi from Manipur, Pooja Kabadwal from Uttaranchal and Rahul Chourasia from UP.
The recipients of the award will include Michael N George and Joel Salim Jacob from Kerala, Parth S Sutaria, Antara Raju Srivastava and Ankita Ashok Bhosale from Maharashtra, Paonam Babyrose Devi from Manipur, Pooja Kabadwal from Uttaranchal and Rahul Chourasia from UP.
The ICCW also announced conferring of awards on Deepa Kumari, Sudhir Jakhar, Pavan Kumar Parasbar and Rajender Kumar from Rajasthan, Anita Singh Lodh from MP, David Kino from Arunachal Pradesh, Pushpa and Sourabh Rajwade from Chhattisgarh and Kashika Singh from Punjab.
The children will participate in the Republic Day parade and will attend receptions hosted by the President of India and other dignitaries.