President Draupadi Murmu awarded the Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Bal Puraskar 2024 to nineteen children on Monday. Among the winners were Aaditya Vijay Brahmane, 12, from Rajasthan who sacrificed his life to save his cousins Harsh and Shlok from drawing in the river while playing.
The list includes a nine-year-old mountaineer, R Surya Prasad, from Andra, who was awarded for accomplishing his feat of scaling Mount Kilimanjaro at the age of nine. The six-year-old ‘Google boy,’ Armaan Ubhrani, for his outstanding prowess in mathematics and science. Anushka Pathak, 8, captivated people across 22 states by establishing herself in ‘Katha Vachan’n (religious text narration).
Arijeet Banerjee, 13, a prodigy who plays the traditional Pakhawaj, has had a major impact on the cultural landscape. He also received the Bharat Ratna MS Subbulakshmi Fellowship and the Asia Book of Records. 17-year-old Aryan Singh is recognised for his work on an AI robot that integrates state-of-the-art technologies such as the Internet of Things to help improve the lives of farmers.
The 13-year-old Hetvi Kantibhai Khimsuriya has created 250 works of free-hand painting despite suffering from cerebral palsy. She also donates her monthly pension to support differently-abled children.
