President to confer Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Bal Puraskar on Tuesday

New Delhi : President Ram Nath Kovind will confer the Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Bal Puraskar 2019 at Rashtrapati Bhawan on Tuesday, said an official release on Monday.

The awards will be given to 26 shortlisted recipients, including a joint award, under the category of innovation, scholastic, sports, arts & culture, social service and bravery.

According to Women and Child Development Ministry, which had this year shortlisted the children, said that a total of 783 applications were received for the Baal Shakti Puruskar.

"Two individuals and three institutions will also be awarded under National Child Welfare Awards category (now renamed as Bal Kalyan Puraskar). The names of awardess were finalized by the National Selection Committee under the Chairpersonship of WCD Minister Maneka Gandhi," it said in a statement.

The WCD Ministry has introduced a revamped award scheme under "Pradhan Mantri National Children Awards" which will be given in two main categories.

Bravery Awards have also been added to these awards, said the Ministry.

The Bravery awards were earlier organised by ICCW. However, following the petition, the Centre dissociated itself from ICCW and revamped the scheme of National Awards for children in 2018 to include Bravery as an additional component in the Pradhan Mantri National Children Awards.