24 children to receive 'National Bravery Awards'

New Delhi, Jan 18: Six-year-old Pooja, who saved her two youngerbrothers after her house was set on fire, despite her mother beingstabbed to death in front of her, is among 24 children, including 12girls, to receive the 'National Bravery Awards' for 2006, three ofwhich would be conferred posthumously.

Quaint, shy and soft spoken Pooja Kabadwal broke the age barrierto grow into an adult and wipe off her tears, right in front of herdead mother, and rush to save her two siblings -- three andone-and-a-half years of age -- from the raging fire set by the intruderwho had come to steal.

Matured beyond her years, today she is the toast of the nation --as the youngest to receive the National Bravery Awards and surprisinglydoes not harbour any ambition to become a 'police' when she grows up.

All she remembers of that dreary night is pulling down the latchetof the room window and quietly sneaking out with her two brothers andwaiting for the dawn to happen before she could seek any help, but notbefore pulling away all the clothes from the place of fire to stop itfrom spreading further.

Besides her, while thirteen-and-a-half-year-old Vandana Yadav(Uttar Pradesh) receives the prestigious Geeta Chopra Award for braving17 stab wounds while fending off attackers, the Sanjay Chopra Awardgoes to V Teja Sai (12) and C V S Durga Doondieswar (13) of AndhraPradesh (both posthumously) for saving four of their school mates fromdrowning in a river.

Another 'star' of the day was Ankita Bhosale (nearly seven years)who saved two women from drowning by throwing a saree towards them andpulling them out from the river.

All this while her brother, mother and two aunts sank right infront of her eyes in Urmodi river. The three had jumped to save herbrother who had slipped into the deep waters by accident.

The recepients of the Bapu Gayadhani Awards were Asma Ayyub Khan(13 - Maharashtra) who helped shift about 40 children of her school toa place of safety during Mumbai floods, Sushila Gurjar (13 - Rajasthan)for revolting against child marriage and Shilpa Janbandhu (15 -Chhattisgarh) for joining the anti-naxal programme.

Among the the other recepients, who will receive the annual awardsfrom the Prime Minister on January 24 and participate in the RepublicDay Parade, four are from Rajasthan, three from Maharashtra, two fromMadhya Pradesh and Chhattishgarh and one each from Uttar Pradesh,Uttaranchal, Delhi, Punjab, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur and Kerala.

Initiated in 1957 by the Indian Council for Child Welfare (ICCW),the 'National Bravery Awards' has till date been conferred on 710children, including 198 girls.

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