Kailash Satyarthi NGO child rights activist receives 2020 Diana Award

By Our Representative
Neeraj Murmu, a former child labourer, has been conferred with the prestigious 2020 Diana Award instituted in the memory of the late Princess of Wales in a virtual ceremony. Rescued by Nobel Peace Laureate Kailash Satyarthi's Bachpan Bachao Andolan (BBA) from mica mines in 2011, Murmu, now 21, hails from Giridih in Jharkhand.
The award is conferred by the charity of the same name and has the support of the late princess' two sons, the Duke of Cambridge and the Duke of Sussex. Congratulating Murmu, P Nagasayee Malathy, executive director (programmes), Bal Mitra Gram (BMG), a Kailash Satyarthi Children’s Foundation programme, said, "We are proud that he has taken up great initiatives such as promoting education among former child labourers.”
Working with the BMG, a grassroots initiative that promotes child-centric village development in which empowerment of children is the key, after his rescue, Murmu attended school and pledged to end child labour in his village.
He went on to establish a local school to ensure that all children were able to access the right to education. He has enabled 200 underprivileged children in his village to get education and has rescued 20 child labourers from mica mining and enrolled them in his school.
Murmu has led several rallies and campaigns aimed at highlighting the importance of education. This caused a spike in enrollments in local government schools. Some of the children are now empowered and aspire to usher positive change in their respective villages in Giridih.

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