Bal Veerta Award: Uttarakhand Government: Brave Children: The Uttarakhand government will now honor the state’s brave children annually with the ‘Bal Veerta Award’ (Child Bravery Award). Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami announced this award on Independence Day. The Department of Women Empowerment and Child Development has now finalized the blueprint for the scheme.
Under the scheme, one brave child will be selected annually from each of Uttarakhand’s 13 districts. Thus, a total of 13 children will receive the Bal Veerta Award at the state level. Each selected child will be presented with a cash prize of ₹51,000 and a citation by the Chief Minister.
Applications to open soon
Applications for this year’s Bal Veerta Award will be invited soon. Subsequently, the children will be selected through a prescribed process.
Opportunity for children up to 18 years of age
Children up to the age of 18 will be eligible for the award. It will include children who have demonstrated indomitable courage in saving a life or while facing a difficult situation.
Additionally, children who have performed extraordinary and courageous feats in sports, adventure sports, and other fields will also be considered eligible for the award.
Selection of one child from each district
The government has included all 13 districts of the state in the scheme. One child will be selected from each district, and all selected children will subsequently be honored at the state level.
The government believes that this initiative will recognize the children’s courage and inspire others to show bravery and perform well in challenging situations.
Scheme to be launched on the lines of the Central initiative
The Central Government also honors brave children on Republic Day. However, due to the limited number of children selected at the central level, not every brave child receives this honor. In view of this, the Uttarakhand government has decided to institute a state-level bravery award for children. Chief Minister Dhami had announced this on Independence Day.
The Department of Women Empowerment and Child Development has been designated as the nodal department for the scheme. The department will oversee the processes of application, selection, and conferral of the awards.
Minister Rekha Arya stated that the framework for the state’s child bravery award scheme has been prepared, modeled after the central government’s initiative. She added that this would honor the courage of brave children and boost their morale.
