Braveheart to innovator: 49 kids feted
NEW DELHI: Nine-year-old Lalkansung was playing near a pond in his village, Mualbem, in Manipur’s Churachandpur district when he heard a commotion.
Three girls, all teenagers, were washing their clothes and fell into the pond. They were drowning. Lalkansung jumped into the pond and rescued them one by one. And then he went and informed a village elder.
On Wednesday, his act of bravery earned him recognition from President Ram Nath Kovind.
He met Union minister of women and child development Smriti Irani in the national capital on Thursday. But Lalkansung said he had no idea what the fuss was about.
Lalkansung was one of the 49 children who were awarded the 2020 Bal Shakti Puraskar in six categories — innovation, social service, scholastic, sports, art and culture, and, bravery.
The children, in the age group of five and 18 years, received ~1 lakh each. They are likely to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday and will be guests at the Republic Day parade in Delhi.
Interacting with the children, Irani said: “Let your friends know about the achievements of Lalkansung, and of other children from other parts of the country.”
Among the awardees was 11-year-old Aruna Chandrase
THE AWARD WAS GIVEN IN SIX CATEGORIES — INNOVATION, SOCIAL SERVICE, SCHOLASTIC, SPORTS, ART AND CULTURE, AND, BRAVERY
khar, who said she used to be bullied in school. With help from her sister, she invented a watch that can detect the lowering of body temperature — which can happen when one is scared.
Her watch can spray a concoction of chilli on an attacker or bully.
“I was studying in a school in Kerala, where the students would tease me since I was Tamil. The bullying got worse, and one day, they cornered me in karate class and several of them kicked me,” Aruna said.
Parth Bansal, 17, said he invented a utility stick for his grandmother suffering from Parkinson’s.
The patented stick illuminates with a light when his grandmother needs to move.
Kanpur-based Parth Bansal, who loves dabbling in robotics and has invented a prototype of a 3D printer, among other items, wanted to launch his own start-up after making it to the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT)-Kanpur.
Then there was Vinayak Bahadur, 14.
Despite his hearing and speech impairment, he excelled in the field of badminton, winning several awards.
“My father [who too is hearing and speech impaired] would push me to strive better, and I managed to gain some confidence before I won my first tournament,” he said.