G. Iniga of Sankar Higher Secondary School, Sankar Nagar near Tirunelveli.
| Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
On January 26, a student from a rural background in the district will be in New Delhi to take part in the Republic Day celebrations.
G. Iniga, daughter of mason Ganesan, is a Class VIII student at Sankar Higher Secondary School, Sankar Nagar. She will be one among the privileged gathering as she won this enviable place through her writing skills about a braveheart who laid down his life for the nation.
The Ministry of Defence (MoD), in association with the Ministry of Education and MyGov had launched ‘Project Veer Gatha’ under Gallantry Awards Portal (GAP) in 2021 with the aim to disseminate the details of acts of bravery of the gallantry awardees and the life stories of these bravehearts among the students so as to raise the spirit of patriotism.
Interdisciplinary and art-integrated activities like poem, paragraph, essay, painting, multimedia presentation, short video are activities to be submitted by individual students as the project to recreate achievements of warriors of India or gallantry award winners, military strategies adopted by the bravehearts through creative mediums, connecting to contemporary contexts for inspiration. The project isorganised ahead of Republic Day celebrations every year.
Veer Gatha has been a phenomenal success and this year, the the Ministry of Defence had organised virtual, face-to-face awareness programmes and sessions for schools across the country.
Ms. Iniga entered the competition by writing an essay on Captain Manoj Kumar Pandey, an Indian army officer who posthumously received India’s highest military decoration of Param Vir Chakra award for his audacious courage during Kargil War 1999. This won her a place in the elite group of 100 students from across India who will be witnessing the Republic Day celebrations in New Delhi.
“I read about Manoj Kumar Pandey in my textbook and collected more information about him for my essay competition. I’m thrilled to be going to New Delhi for the Republic Day celebrations,” says Ms. Iniga, who wants to join the Indian Army.
Published – January 22, 2026 09:24 pm IST
