National Bravery Awards

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 24 January 2015 presented National Bravery Awards 2014 to 24 awards.
8 girls and 16 boys were conferred with National Bravery Awards. Four of them have been awarded posthumously. The awardees receive a medal, certificate and cash incentive. Also, they will participate in the Republic Day parade.
In addition, Indian Council for Child Welfare (ICCW) provides financial assistance under its Indira Gandhi Scholarship Scheme to those undertaking professional courses such as engineering and medicine. For the others, this assistance is provided till they complete their graduation. The Government of India has reserved some seats for the awardees in medical and engineering colleges and polytechnics.
The selection was made by a high powered committee comprising representatives of various Ministries/Departments, non-governmental organisations as well as Office Bearers of ICCW.

The lists of awardees are

Sanjay Chopra Award
•Devesh Kumar                          

Bapu Gaidhani Award 
•Monika                                          
•Rumoh Meto                         
•Riya Chaudhary                      

Geeta Chopra Award
•Gunjan Sharma                          

Bharat Award
•Resham Fatma                         
General National Bravery Award
•Aqil Mohammad N K            
•Anjith. P             
•Gaurav Kumar Bharti         
•Hiral Jitubhai Halpati         
•Midhun P P             
•Ripa Das         
•Zeal Jitendra Marathe         
•Rajdeep Das             
•Stevenson Lawriniang          
•Ashwini Bandu Ughade             
•Gaurav Kumar Bharti             
•L. Brainson Singh               
•Labhanshu                       
•G. Tooldev Sharma               
•Mhonbeni Equng                  
•Mesak K. Remnalalnghaka         
•Sahanesh R                   
•Balram Dansena                 

About the National Bravery Awards

The National Bravery Award was initiated by the ICCW to give due recognition to the children who distinguish themselves by performing outstanding deeds of bravery and meritorious service and to inspire other children to emulate their examples.
It was in 1957 that two children – a boy and a girl – were first rewarded for their presence of mind and courage. Since then ICCW decided to confer national awards on children every year.
In 1987-88 ICCW instituted the Bharat Award for an exceptionally outstanding, meritorious and gallant deed. The other special awards include the Geeta Chopra and Sanjay Chopra awards (instituted by ICCW in 1978) and the BapuGaidhani Awards (instituted in 1988-89).
Since the inception of the scheme in 1957, the ICCW has given awards to 895 brave children - 634 boys and 261 girls.

Padma Awards 2015

Padma Vibhushan
1 LK Advani- Public Affairs- Gujarat
2 Amitabh Bachchan- Art- Maharashtra
3 Prakash Singh Badal- Public Affairs- Punjab
4 Dr D Veerendra Heggade- Social Work- Karnataka
5 Mohammad Yusuf Khan alias Dilip Kumar- Art- Maharashtra
6 Jagadguru Ramanandacharya Swami Rambhadracharya- Others- Uttar Pradesh
7 Prof Malur Ramaswamy Srinivasan- Science and Engineering- Tamil Nadu
8 Kottayan K. Venugopal- Public Affairs- Delhi
9 Karim Al Hussaini Aga Khan (Foreigner)- Trade and Industry- France/UK
##### Padma Bhushan:
1 Jahnu Barua- Art- Assam
2 Dr Vijay Bhatkar- Science and Engineering- Maharashtra
3 Shri Swapan Dasgupta- Literature and Education- Delhi
4 Swami Satyamitranand Giri- Others- Uttar Pradesh
5 N Gopalaswami- Civil Service- Tamil Nadu
6 Dr Subhash C Kashyap- Public Affairs- Delhi
7 Dr (Pandit) Gokulotsavji Maharaj- Art- Madhya Pradesh
8 Dr Ambrish Mithal- Medicine - Delhi
9 Sudha Ragunathan- Art- Tamil Nadu
10 Shri Harish Salve- Public Affairs- Delhi
11 Dr Ashok Seth- Medicine- Delhi
12 Rajat Sharma- Literature and Education- Delhi
13 Satpal- Sports- Delhi
14 Shivakumara Swami- Others- Karnataka
15 Dr Kharag Singh Valdiya- Science and Engineering- Karnataka
16 Prof Manjul Bhargava (NRI/PIO)- Science and Engineering- USA
17 David Frawley (Vamadeva) (Foreigner)- Others- USA
18 Bill Gates (Foreigner)- Social Work- USA
19 Melinda Gates (Foreigner)- Social Work- USA
20 Saichiro Misumi (Foreigner)- Others- Japan
######## Padma Shri
1 Dr Manjula Anagani- Medicine- Telangana
2 S Arunan- Science and Engineering- Karnataka
3 Kanyakumari Avasarala- Art- Tamil Nadu

Sukanya Samriddhi Account

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 22 January 2015 launched a small deposit scheme Sukanya Samridhi Yojana for girl child under the Beti Bachao Beti Padhao (BBBP) campaign.

The scheme will ensure equitable share to a girl child in resources and savings of a family in which she is generally discriminated against a male child.

Sukanya Samridhi Yojana will enable parents to open bank accounts of girls who are under 10 years of age. 

About the Sukanya Samridhi Account

• Sukanya Samridhi Account will fetch an interest rate of 9.1 percent and provide income tax rebate.

• Sukanya Samridhi Account can be opened at any time from the birth of a girl child till she attains the age of 10 years with a minimum deposit of 1000 rupees. 

• A maximum of 1.5 lakh rupees can be deposited during the financial year. The account can be opened in any post office or authorised branches of commercial banks.

• The account will remain operative for 21 years from the date of opening of the account or marriage of the girl child after attaining 18 years of age.

• To meet the requirement of higher education expenses, partial withdrawal of 50 percent of the balance amount will be allowed after the girl child has attended 18 years of age.