National Bravery Award


The National Bravery Awards are a set of awards given annually to about 25 Indian children below 16 years of age for "meritorious acts of bravery against all odds." The awards are given by the Government of India and the Indian Council for Child Welfare. The award was instituted in 1957

Details of the awards

The National Bravery Awards consist of five categories, which are.
  1. The Bharat Award
  2. The Geeta Chopra Award
  3. The Sanjay Chopra Award
  4. The Bapu Gaidhani Award
  5. The General National Bravery Awards

    How it All Started

On Gandhi Jayanti day, 2 October 1957, India's first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, was watching a performance Delhi's Ramlila ground, at the Red Fort. During the performance, a short circuit caused a fire to break out in a shamiana. Harish Chandra Mehra, a 14-year-old scout, promptly took out his knife and ripped open the burning tent, saving the lives of hundreds of trapped people. This incident inspired Nehru to ask the authorities to establish an award to honour brave children from all over the country. The first official National Bravery Awards were presented to Harish Chandra and one other child on 4 February 1958, by Prime Minister Nehru, and the ICCW has continued the tradition ever since.
The Sanjay Chopra Award and the Geeta Chopra Award were established in 1978, in memory of two Chopra children who lost their lives while confronting their kidnappers. The Sanjay and Geeta awards are given to a boy and a girl for acts of bravery. The Bharat Award was established in 1987, and the Bapu Gaidhani Award was established in 1980.
In 2001, Scholastic published a commemorative book featuring the winners of the 1999 National Bravery Awards. The book was entitled Brave Hearts.

Selection process

Each year, the ICCW receives applications for the National Bravery Award. These applications come from official agencies such as local and district governments, school authorities, and councils for child welfare. The applications must be received by 30 September to be eligible for selection.
Awardees are selected by a committee constituted by the ICCW. This committee consists of representatives from leading government and non-government organizations, such as the secretariats of the president and the vice-president, the Central Social Welfare Board, the Indian Police, All India Radio, Doordarshan, the National Bal Bhavan, SOS Children's Villages of India.

Ceremony

The awards are usually announced on 14 November, Children's Day, or in January the following year, and later presented by the prime minister on the eve of the Republic Day, and prior to this the President hosts a reception in their honour, where the children meet the media. On 26 January, the awardees take part in the Republic Day Parade at Rajpath, New Delhi.

List of awards

Bharat Award

Sanjay Chopra Award

Geeta Chopra Award

Bapu Gaidhani Award

Other recipients

Note: Many others who have received these awards are not listed in this due to the unavailability of the complete information about them.