Small Wonders: PM to confer bravery awards on 25 children on eve of Republic Day

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will confer National Bravery awards on 25 children this year on the eve of Republic Day. Among the awardees, nine are girls. Five awards will be given posthumously.

On 16th June 2013, the eight-and- a-half-years-old Mahika Gupta was in Kedarnath valley where she had gone with her family and relatives to offer prayers at Kedarnath temple.

At around 7 P.M., when she was alone in the hotel room with her younger brother, floodwaters triggered by torrential rainfall in Uttarakhand slammed into the structure.

The lights went out and the room was filled with water and debris. Mahika saw her four-year-old younger brother being swept away in the floodwaters. Acting fast, she pulled her brother out and they then stayed in the room clinging to a window rod before finally managing to get out.

According to her father Deepak Gupta, Mahika was in a state of shock for weeks after the incident.