PM Modi to interact with children awardees

New Delhi, Jan 23: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will interact with the Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Bal Puraskar awardees at 4 p.m at his residence on Tuesday.

The government confers these awards on children for their exceptional achievement in six categories namely Innovation, Social Service, Scholastic, Sports, Art & Culture and Bravery. Each awardee is given a medal, a cash prize of Rs 1 lakh and a certificate. This year, 11 children from across the country have been selected for the awards. They include 6 boys and 5 girls, belonging to 11 states and UTs.

In order to reward the children for acts of bravery, the awards were instituted in 1996. In 2018, the award was renamed as ‘Bal Shakti Puraskar’.

The awards are facilitated by the Ministry of Women and Child Development. The ministry releases guidelines before the selection of the awardees. An ideal candidate must be an Indian and also living in India. He or she must be in the age group of 5 to 18 years. Those above or below this age group are not eligible for the award.