The Uttar Pradesh Vidhan Parishad, the upper house of the bicameral state assembly, has decided to honor Saurabh Singh, the “wonder boy” who topped the prestigious International Discovery exam conducted by the National Aeronautics Space Administration (NASA), The Times of India reported.

In the first ever tribute of its kind, legislators at the Vidhan Parishad decided not just to honor Saurabh, but also to donate a month’s basic pay by each legislator as contribution towards his higher studies.

The young achiever would receive Rs. 300,000 ($6,818) as donation from 100 legislators in the Vidhan Parishad, the report said.

A native of Narhi village, 34 miles from Ballia, Uttar Pradesh, Saurabh, who is now preparing for the entrance examination to the Indian Institute of Technology

(IIT), went to the Gyanpeethika Senior Secondary

School and secured 72 percent marks in the high school exam.

His father is a teacher, while his mother works in the state health department.

By the dint of his excellent performance, Saurabh has outperformed two other illustrious Indians who have cleared the NASA examination ––– President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, who secured the seventh position way back in 1960, and astronaut Kalpana Chawla, who cleared the exam in 1988.

A legislator, Om Prakash Sharma, was quoted as saying in the report that the honor bestowed upon Saurabh was a unique one and that it spoke highly of a House which has had eminent luminaries from various fields as its members.

(Compiled from news dispatches)