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No Bharat Ratna Award for bravery this year

Onkar Singh in New Delhi

The Indian Council for Child Welfare has decided not to award the Bharat Ratna Award for bravery on anyone this year. Though the ICCW received over 800 entries from all over the country, none of those qualified for the coveted prize.

Speaking to rediff.com after she introduced 15 children selected for other bravery awards to the media, ICCW chairperson Sunita Gadgil said the Council would bring about changes in the format of selection.

"This year we found that there were far too many cases of children saving someone from drowning. The other acts of bravery were also not up to the mark," she said.

Does this mean that she is not happy with this year's winners? "No, I am not saying that. The children who won the awards definitely deserve to be honoured. But the number of entries is going up every year. Though we have laid down a procedure for selecting children, in some cases rules are not being strictly adhered to. Thorough guidelines will make the process of selection much easier," she felt.

She denied that there was any corruption in the selection process. "How can there be?" she asked. "There is no monetary transaction involved at all."

The selected children (one of them posthumously) and their parents, meanwhile, were too happy to face photographers and reporters.

"I am happy that I am here to collect the Sanjay Chopra Award for my brother Rupesh Mansukhlal," Divya Punjani of Maharashtra said. "My brother was a keen kabaddi player. Fifteen-year-old Rupesh and I were sleeping in the same room when a thief entered and started removing my earrings. I woke up and said, 'Bhai chor, bhai chor.' He immediately started chasing the thief.

"The thief threatened my brother with a knife. But he was not one who could be threatened. Though the thief stabbed him he continued to give him chase. After some distance he was stabbed again and he fell down. When my parents and I reached him he was in bad condition. He died soon after.

"I am happy that his act of bravery has been recognised. But it would have been better if he had been alive," she said.

Fourteen-year-old Rashmi Srivastava from Madhya Pradesh and her brother Harsh had a special reason to celebrate. They are the first ones from the same family to have won two different awards for the same act. While Rashmi was awarded the Geeta Chopra Award, Harsh shared the Bapu Gayadhani award with 13-year-old Jitendra Kumar Sharma of Rajasthan and Pisli Suting from Meghalaya.

"My two children were coming back from the school when they saw two bulls fighting with each other. One of the bulls charged a boy who was standing nearby. Rashmi and Harsh saved the life of the child by diverting the bull's attention. Rashmi is a judo expert," a beaming Rajinder Singh, the father of the two children, said.

The other recipients are: Y Jayadev Singh (Manipur), R Kuppuraman (Pondicherry) Sreejesh S R, Ayswarya S R, Gisha John (Kerala), Kartikeya S Jain (Uttar Pradesh), S Suguna, S Kavitha (Tamil Nadu), and Nem Chand Niralkar and Sunil Singh Thakur (both from Madhya Pradesh).

The children will receive a silver medal, a certificate and cash award. Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee will honour them today, January 24, and they would take part in the Republic Day celebration.

The ICCW initiated the National Bravery Award Scheme in 1957. Since then a total of 555 children -- 415 boys and 140 girls -- have been honoured.

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