The President of India, Ram Nath Kovind will confer the Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Bal Puraskar 2019 at Rashtrapati Bhawan. The awards will be given to 26 shortlisted awardees including one joint award for National Child Award (now renamed as Bal Shakti Puraskar) under the category of innovation, scholastic, sports, arts & culture, social service and bravery.
A total of 783 applications were received for the Baal Shakti Puruskar this year. 2 individuals and 3 institutions will also be awarded under National Child Welfare Awards category (now renamed as BalKalyanPuraskar). The names of awardess were finalized by the National Selection Committee under the Chairpersonship of WCD Minister, Maneka Sanjay Gandhi. The Ministry of Women and Child Development, Government of India has introduced a revamped award scheme under the name of “Pradhan Mantri National Children Awards”.
These awards will be given in two main categories. Bravery Awards have also been added to these awards now. The categories are as follows:
1) Bal Shakti Puraskar (erstwhile known as National Child Award)
2) Bal Kalyan Puraskar(erstwhile known as National Child Welfare Award).
A Child who is an Indian Citizen and residing in India can apply for National Child Award by registering on the web portal, filling the requisite information and attaching the relevant documents. In order to draw wide response from public, any citizen of India can nominate any child who has achieved excellence in any of the field. Individuals who are citizen of India and have made an outstanding contribution for the cause of children in the field of Child Development, Child Protection and Child Welfare for not less than 7 years and have a positive impact on the lives of children and Institutions who have done exceptional work for the cause of children in any field of Child Welfare for 10 years can apply for the National Child Welfare Award.
The logo for the award has been crowdsourced through a social media based competition. The awards are being hosted prior to 26th January so as to ensure that children get to participate in the Republic Day Parade.