Stevenson selected for national award for saving the life of 9-yr-old boy
SHILLONG: Fourteen-year-old Stevenson Lawryngiang of Meghalaya has been selected for the National Bravery Award, 2014 for saving the life of a nine-year-old boy on July 4 2013.
A resident of Pungsaniang village near Mairang, West Khasi Hills, Lawryngiang is among the 24 brave hearts who have been invited to Delhi where Prime Minister Narendra Modi will present the awards on the eve of Republic Day.
The children will then take part in the Republic Day Parade.
Eight girls and 16 boys have been selected for this year’s National Bravery Awards. Four of the awards have been given posthumously.
Stevenson, a student of Lawphiah Presbyterian School and son of Dias Kharsyntiew, has been selected for the award for saving the life one Calvin Stone Basaiawmoit of Tihbah village near Langtor.
Recalling the incident, a relative of the boy while speaking over telephone from Delhi said that Stevenson while returning from school saw three boys shouting for help to save the life of Calvin, who got drowned while swimming in a pond.
“He (Stevenson) took off his school uniform and jumped into the pond. He managed to pull Calvin out of the pond,” he said.
It may be mentioned that the National Bravery awards were initiated in 1957 by the Indian Council for Child Welfare (ICCW).
President Pranab Mukherjee on Thursday met the 20 children, who would be conferred this year’s National Bravery Award, at Rashtrapati Bhavan.
‘Bharat Award’, the highest of the National Bravery Awards, winner Resham Fatima from Uttar Pradesh was among those awardees who met Mukherjee.
The President spent time with the children listening to them besides posing with them for a photograph.
This year’s Geeta Chopra Award has been given to Gunjan Sharma from Assam.
16-year-old Devesh Kumar of Uttar Pradesh was selected for Sanjay Chopra award as he had displayed outstanding courage while confronting two chain-snatchers.