A Country of Brave Women | 101 Heartland

We met a pair of National Bravery Award Winners to see how their lives changed after being honoured.

Asma Khan and Hala Baraf are recipents of the prestigious Veer Bapu Gaidhani Award, presented at the Republic Day Parade on 26th January every year. During the July 2005 floods in Mumbai, a 13 year old Asma saved 40 children from drowning. In 2013, the then 15 year old Hala saved her sister from a panther attack. Winners of the National Bravery Awards are flown to Delhi, where they are felicitated as a part of the Republic Day parade. But what happens to their lives after the ceremony ends? Host Smriti Dewan spent a day with two of the bravest people in India, learning that their courage is perhaps the only thing keeping their lives and the lives of those around them going.

Outside the metros and beyond the urban jungle live the sons and daughters of India’s heartland. This series tells their stories. 101 Heartland celebrates both unique communities and individual tales of hope, struggle, and reform. From the village of Bouncers just outside Delhi to the fascinating story of Ram Kumar Tyagi, once a wanted man but now a coach for aspiring female wrestlers, 101 Heartland tells stories for the heart, from the heartland.