Source document: https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/1694838928594.pdf (India)
MINISTRY OF WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT Revised Guidelines for Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Bal Puraskar Introduction The Government of India had been conferring the award to children for their exceptional achievement.

The awards were given to children for their merit in innovation, scholastic, sports, arts, culture, social service, music or any other field which deserves recognition.

The awards for child welfare were also conferred to Individuals and Institutions.
These awards were given in the following categories: 1.

National Child Award for Exceptional Achievements - since 1996 2.

National Child Welfare Award(Individual) - since 1979 3.

National Child Welfare Award(Institution) - since 1979 4.

Rajiv Gandhi Manav Sewa Award - since 1994 2.

During the selection process of awardees in 2017-18, it was felt that the scheme is unable to elicit adequate response from society.
Hence, Hon’ble Minister, WCD advised to review the scheme to make it more topical & inclusive to encourage children for their merits as well as society centric achievements.

A need was felt to frame comprehensive common guidelines for these awards while incorporating a category of bravery to encourage children for their merits and social orientation.

Scheme should be open to public at large, so as to generate enthusiasm amongst all.

3.
3.

The Government of India now introduces these awards under the name of “Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Bal Puraskar” in two categories i.e 3.1) Bal Shakti Puraskar (Earlier known as National Child Award) 3.2) Bal Kalyan Puraskar (Earlier known as National Child Welfare Award):- a. b.
Individual Institution 3.1 Bal Shakti Puraskar: These awards are to be given as recognition to children with exceptional abilities and outstanding achievement in the fields of innovation, scholastic, sports, arts & culture, social service and bravery which deserves recognition.

3.1.1 Award : • Each awardee will be given a medal, a cash prize of Rs.

1,00,000/-, book vouchers worth Rs.

10,000/-, a certificate and citation.

• Due care should be taken to ensure fair representation of all States/UTs.
• Fair representation of all genders should be encouraged.

3.1.2 Eligibility Criteria: i) Age Limit: A Child who is an Indian Citizen and residing in India and is above the age of (+5) years and not exceeding 18 years (as on 31st August of respective year).

ii) Excellence in any one of the following fields (Achievements that benefit society will be encouraged) : S.No Field of Achievements Remarks 1 Innovation Innovation in the field of science and social science may be considered.
The initiative taken to impact the human lives as well as ecology and environment in a positive manner may be considered.

2 3 4 5 Social Service Leadership skills in motivating and mobilizing society against social evils like child marriage, sexual abuse, alcoholism etc should be encouraged.

Scholastic Consistent achievements in scholastic at National and International level to be encouraged.

Sports Consistent achievements in sports at National and International levels to be encouraged.
Art & Culture Consistent achievements in art & culture at National and International level in art, music (vocal & instrumental), dance, painting or any other form of art/culture.

6 Bravery To acknowledge and encourage:- • Selfless service in the face of risk to her/his own life; • And/or an act of outstanding courage and daring against an adverse natural or manmade situations.
• And/or an exceptional act of mental strength , quick wit and presence of mind in the face of grave danger to self and society iii) The achievement should not be one-off, but carried out over a period of time.

The achievements should be indicative of child’s passion in respective field and suggestive of a bright future in particular field.

iv) Context and background of the child should also be criteria.

For example, achievements of a child in different circumstances should be given weigtage.

3.2.
3.2.

Bal Kalyan Puraskar a).

Individual: These Awards are given as recognition to individuals who have made an outstanding contribution towards service for 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.

The number of awards would be 3(three).

3.2.1 Award: The award consists of a medal, cash prize of Rs.

1, 00,000/- (one lakh), a citation and a certificate to each awardee.
3.2.2 Eligibility Criteria: i) Age Limit: An individual who is an Indian Citizen and residing in India and should have attained the age of 18 years or above (as on 31st August of respective year).

ii) An individual should have made outstanding contribution in any of the following fields: • Child Welfare • • Child Protection Child Development iii) An individual should have worked for the cause of children for not less than 7 years.
iv) Salaried officers of the Institutions will not be eligible for consideration under this category.

b).

Institutions: These awards are given to institutions who have done exceptional work for the cause of children in any field of child welfare.

The number of awards would be 3(three).

3.2.3 Award: The award for institution consists of a medal, cash prize of Rs.

5,00,000/- each and a citation, and a certificate.


3.2.4 Eligibility Criteria: i) The institution should not be entirely funded by the government.

ii) The institution should have been in the field of child welfare for 10 years and should have been performing consistently in the field.

Contribution should have positively impacted the lives of the children.

4.

Procedure for sending nominations: 4.1.

Open nominations from public will be received only through a website.

(i.e:www.nca-wcd.nic.in).


Applications received other than online mode will not be entertained.

4.2 The web portal to accept nominations round the year, while limiting consideration up to 31th August of the respective year, for awards to be given in the month of January, next year.

Applications received after due date will be considered for the awards in the next year.

4.3 Any citizen can recommend a child having exceptional achievement through the online portal.
4.4 Applications received by the due date will be sent to the State/UT and District Collector/District Magistrate, other government/appropriate agencies/organisations for verification of the content and achievements by 15th October.

4.5 Thereafter, the applications will be shortlisted based on the eligibility criteria.

5.

Date of receipt of recommendation: Particulars of the recommended Child/Individual/Institution for the award should be furnished on the web portal by 31st August of the respective year.
6.

Publicity: Wide publicity will be given by the Ministry through advertisement, National News Papers, Social Media (Twitter/Facebook), Government Websites, State/UTs Governments.

7.

National Selection Committee: A National Selection Committee, headed by Minister, MWCD or MoS, MWCD will finalize the names of the awardees for the Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Bal Puraskar.

7.1 Composition: 1.

2.

3.

4.


Minister or MoS, Ministry of Women and Child Development Chairperson Secretary, Ministry of Women and Child Development Additional Secretary , MWCD Member Member Secretary or her/his representative in the Department of School Members Education, Ministry of Human Resource Development, Ministry of Youth Affairs, Ministry of Culture, Ministry of Science and Technology, Ministry of Defence, Ministry of Home Affairs.

5.
5.

Subject expert in each field and child psychologist, sociologists, Members police/paramilitary/defence personnel/disability expert etc.

6.

Joint Secretary(Child Welfare), Ministry of Women and Child Member Development Secretary 7.2 Functions: 7.2.1 To critically scrutinize the shortlisted names, keeping in view the eligibility criteria and finally select the names of children, individual and institutions for conferment of Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Bal Puraskar in both the categories i.e.
Bal Shakti Puraskar, Bal Kalyan Puraskar.

7.2.2 The committee may at its discretion consider inclusion of names/nominations in any or all the categories of awards in addition to the application received.

7.2.3 The National Selection Committee shall finalize their recommendations by 5th December.

7.2.4 The decisions of the National Selection Committee will be final.

8.

Date of Award: These Awards shall be given in the week preceding the Republic Day Week.
8.1 The awards are to be received personally only by the awardee.

8.2 Normally the awards shall not be presented posthumously except in cases of bravery under Bal Shakti Puraskar.

8.3 These awards are only for Indian Citizens.

9.

Arrangements for the Awards: 9.1 MWCD will organize the function/ceremony relating to conferment of the Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Bal Puraskar.
9.2 The Ministry concerned i.e MoD, MHA, MHRD, MoR, MoYA, Ministry of Civil Aviation, MoI&B will be requested to extend necessary support/facilities to the awardees.

9.3 These Awards shall be given in the week preceding the Republic Day Week.

9.4 Arrangements for boarding, lodging, transportation of awardees and their escorts as per admissible norms, shall be done by MWCD.
9.5 MWCD will reimburse the Air fare expenses incurred by the Awardees of Bal Shakti Puraskar as also his/her parents or guardians (maximum two numbers excluding awardee), by Air India in economy class or actual expenses incurred on this account, whichever is less.

Only awardee of Bal Kalyan Puraskar(Individual and Institution), will be reimbursed the Air fare expenses incurred by the Awardees by Air India in economy class or actual expenses incurred on this account, whichever is less, by MWCD.
9.6 Local awardees will be entitled for local transport as per Government Rules.

9.7 Every year, MMTC will provide the medals for the awardees.

9.8 The application of an awardee of a particular year will not be considered in future.

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