Haryana government awards wonder-boy Rs.10 lakh

For his exceptional intelligence quotient (IQ) and memory, five-year-old wonder-boy Kautilya Pandit was rewarded with Rs.10 lakh by the Haryana government Friday.

Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda handed over the Rs.10 lakh reward in the form of a fixed deposit and a certificate to the boy. The boy's name recalls the author of "Arthashastra" (Economics), a treatise of political economy, and advisor of Chandragupta Maurya who ruled a vast swathe of north India in the third century BC.

"The state government would provide every possible support to enable him to further excel in the field of education," Hooda announced, after honouring the boy, a resident of a village in Karnal district, 140 km from Chandigarh.

Kautilya has mastered an exceptional sweep of knowledge, with particular interest in current affairs. His knowledge far surpasses the normal for a five-year-old, and he has held TV audiences spellbound.

Originally from village Kharhar in Jhajjar district, Kautilya's family resides at present at Kohand village of Karnal district.

"Kautilya studies for two-and-a-half hours daily. Kautilya has a knack of probing things. He has an enviable knowledge of almost every field, including world geography, the states of India, their chief ministers, languages and religions. But he has a special expertise in the world map," Kautilya's father, Satish Sharma, told Hooda.

Kautilya's grandfather, Jai Kishan Sharma, from whom he appears to have assimilated much knowledge and information, grandmother Vidyavati, parents Satish and Sumita Sharma and other members of his family were present at the function to honour the boy.

Kautilya has appeared in TV news shows, and has been invited to the "Kaun Banega Crorepati" (KBC) quiz programme on TV, where he shared the dais with superstar Amitabh Bachchan.