Navy officer's daughter gets PM award for mountaineering feats

The daughter of a Navy officerhas been awarded the Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Bal Puraskar,the highest national civilian award for citizens below the ageof 18, for commendable feats in mountaineering.

The Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Bal Puraskar, formerlycalled the National Child Award for Exceptional Achievement,was instituted in 1996 to given recognition to childrenexhibiting outstanding abilities in the fields of innovation,education, social service, arts and culture, and sports.

In a release, the Navy said Kaamya Karthikeyan, aClass VIII student of Mumbai's Navy Children School anddaughter of Commander S Karthikeyan, is currently on a missionnamed 'Saras', and aims to complete the 'Explorer's GrandSlam'.

It entails climbing the highest peaks on sevencontinents and skiing to the North and South Poles, andKaamya, at 14 years of age, hopes to become the youngest inthe world to achieve the feat, a Navy spokesperson said.

''She has so far scaled the highest peaks in Africa,Europe, Australia and South America. She has also set worldrecords for being the youngest girl to summit Mount Aconcagua,the highest peak in South America, and the youngest to skifrom the summit of Mount Elbrus, the highest peak in Europe,''he said.

''Earlier, in August 2017, Kaamya became the youngestin the world to summit Mount Stok Kangri and world's youngestgirl to climb any peak above 20000 feet,'' he added.