Nine girls, 16 boys to be feted for bravery

NEW DELHI: Mausmi Kashyap didn’t save anyone but she died in the attempt. The Malihabad girl, who drowned trying to save a friend in May, is among the five kids winning the National Bravery Awards for 2013 posthumously; she’d get the Bapu Gaidhani award. This year, 25 kids—nine girls and 16 boys—have been applauded for their exemplary acts, with the Bharat Award being conferred on Delhi-based eight-year-old Mahika Gupta.
Aryan Raj Shukla’s mother believes he would have been like Bhagat Singh if he had lived. Also a Bapu Gaidhani winner, he drowned in the Saryu at Faizabad last year but he managed to pull out four of his friends. Maximum awards will be given to kids who plunged in to save others from drowning. L Manio Chachei (from Nagaland and being awarded posthumously), M Khayingthei (from Manipur and also posthumous), Kharibam Gunichand Devi (Manipur), Vanlalhruaia (Mizoram), Hani Ngurdinthari (Mizoram) and Remlalhruaitluangi (Mizoram), Sagar Kashyap (Delhi), S S Manoj (Karnataka), Abhishek Ekka (Chhattisgarh), Subin Mathew, Akhil Biju and Yadhukrishnan V S (Kerala) won laurels for water rescues. The last three teamed up and used a dhoti to save a swimmer from a whirlpool.
Aryan, who was 13, didn’t know how to swim, a fact he shares with several of the awardees who carried out daring rescues, including Malsawmtluangi (Mizoram) and Rohit Ravi Janmanchi (Maharashtra). They made up with guts what they lacked in skill.
Many of the winners were left traumatized. Malieka Singh Tak (15) is recovering from her encounter with molesters in Jaipur in February 2013. “She’s better after counselling,” says her mother, Nidhi Singh Tak. Saurabh Chandel (13) from Chhindwara, Madhya Pradesh, another non-swimmer who saved two from drowning didn’t speak for over a week after the incident. “There were four in the pond. He couldn’t save two and was very upset for days,” says his father.
The kids will receive a citation, medal and cash reward from the Prime Minister on January 24 and will participate in the Republic Day parade. They will also get financial assistance during schooling. The Indian Council for Child Welfare, which has been conferring the awards since 1957, will also provide financial assistance for college education. The Bharat Award was instituted in 1987-88; the Geeta Chopra and Sanjay Chopra in 1978 and the Bapu Ghaidhani in 1988-89.