The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation conferred the Goalkeepers Global Goals Awards to PM Modi for the progress India has made in providing safe sanitation under his leadership.
At the same ceremony, Payal Jangid, a 17-year-old girl from Rajasthan made the entire nation proud when she received the Changemaker Award.
Recognised for her work towards the abolition of child labour and child marriage, Payal became the first Indian ever to receive this award.
Coming from Hinsla village in Rajasthan, Payal fought against her own marriage when she was just 11 years old. She not only opposed the marriage but also succeeded in stopping it.
Since then, she has been a strong advocate of child rights. Devoted to the cause of children, Payal works towards discouraging child marriage and persuading parents to let their children study.
As the head of the Bal Panchayat (Children’s Council) in her village, she even goes door-to-door to speak to the families.
Speaking at the ceremony, she said:
“We had to work hard to make the elders realise that they were prohibiting us from getting our education. I want every child in the world without education to be helped, and given a chance.”
Her village comes under the Nobel Prize recipient Kailash Satyarthi’s Bachpan Bachao Andolan (BBA) and is categorised as ‘Bal Mitra Gram’.
Payal has been working towards making her village children-friendly, under the mentorship of Kailash Satyarthi and child rights activist Sumedha Kailash.
The world will surely see change with young changemakers like Payal taking the initiative.