new delhi hailing the important role of youth in nation building pm modi on monday underlined the growing prowess of india in innovation and the startup sphere as he conveyed the nations pride in the fact that some major global companies are being led by young indian ceostoday we feel proud when we see the youth of india excelling in the world of startups we feel proud when we see that the youth of india are innovating taking the country forward the pm said at the virtual awards ceremony in which he conferred select children with the pradhan mantri rashtriya bal puraskar for accomplishments across fields including innovation the pm awarded certificates to the recipients digitally using block chain technologythe pm also lauded the children for showing their modern and scientific thinking in the vaccination programme since january 3 in just 20 days more than 40 million children have got the corona vaccine he said highlighting the leadership children have shown in the swachch bharat abhiyan he appealed to them to be ambassadors for vocal for local and lead the campaign of aatmanirbhar bharatmodi said policies and initiatives in all sectors are keeping youth at the centre he cited initiatives like startup india stand up india digital india and make in india this he said is in sync with the speed of the youth of india who are leading this new epoch both here and abroad among those present at the ceremony was women and child development minister smriti iranithe prime minister also remembered the contribution of birbala kanaklata barua khudiram bose and rani gaidinilu to the freedom struggle these fighters had made the countrys freedom the mission of their lives at a very young age and dedicated themselves for it he saidtalking about the unveiling of a hologram statue of freedom fighter subhas chandra bose at the india gate he said the biggest inspiration we get from netaji is of duty and of nation first and you have to proceed on your path of duty for the countryhe also recalled his visit to the nowshera sector of jammu and kashmir on diwali last year where he met baldev singh and basant singh who had played the role of child soldiers in the postindependence warthey helped our army at such a young age without caring about their life the prime minister cited examples of the bravery and sacrifice of the sons of guru gobind singhtwentynine children including 14 girls were awarded in six fields innovation scholastic achievements sports arts and culture social service and bravery each child has been given a medal a cash prize of rs 100000 and a certificatethe pm also greeted everyone on the occasion of national girl child day