THE MINISTER OF STATE (INDEPENDENT CHARGE)FOR YOUTH AFFAIRS AND SPORTS
(SHRI JITENDRA SINGH)
(a): Review of various Schemes of the Ministry including that of Arjuna Award is
an ongoing process, wherein the schemes are reviewed/modified from time to time.
(b): Existing eligibility criteria for National Sports Awards viz. Rajiv Gandhi Khel
Ratna Award, Dhyanchand Award, Dronacharya Award and Arjuna Award are given in Annexure.
(c): All nominations received from the National Sports Federations, Sports Control
Boards, IOA, State/UT Governments and Sports Authority of India are sent to the Sports
Authority of India for scrutiny/verification of achievements. Thereafter, A Screening
Committee under the Chairmanship of Joint Secretary (Sports) and consisting of Government
Observers of concerned sports disciplines and Director (Teams), SAI verifies the
achievements. All nominations received are placed before the Selection Committees
which are constituted as per provisions of the respective schemes. Selection Committees
give their recommendations on the basis of evaluation and assessment of performance,
achievements, etc. Recommendations of Selection Committees are approved by the Minister-
in-charge of the Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports.
(d): Players from Carrom and Tennis are also eligible to apply for Arjuna Award. In
the past, players from these disciplines have been given Arjuna Awards.
(e): As per the Scheme of Arjuna Awards, disciplines falling under the following
categories are to be considered for Arjuna Awards :
# Olympic Games/Asian Games/Commonwealth Games/World Cup/Word Championship
disciplines and cricket or any equivalent recognized international tournament.
# Indigenous Games
# Sports for Physically challenged
As the list of sports disciplines considered for Arjuna Awards is quite exhaustive, there
is no proposal to include more sports disciplines for Arjuna Awards. The Selection
process is transparent and is based on careful assessment and evaluation of performance,
achievements etc. of the nominees.
(f): The details of Arjuna Award conferred to the eligible sports persons during each of
the last three years and the current year, sports discipline-wise are given in the table
below:
S. No. Sports Discipline Number of Sportspersons Year Year Year Year 2010 2011 2012 2013
1 Archery 0 1 2 1
2 Athletics 2 2 2 0
3 Badminton 0 1 2 1
4 Boxing 1 1 1 1
5 Billiards 0 0 1 1
& Snooker
6 Chess 1 0 0 1
7 Cricket 1 1 1 1
8 Football 1 1 0 0
9 Gymnastics 0 1 0 0
10 Golf 0 0 0 1
11 Hockey 2 1 1 1
(Men/Women)
12 Judo 0 0 1 0
13 Kabaddi 1 2 1 0
14 Polo 0 0 1 0
15 Shooting 1 1 3 1
16 Squash 0 0 1 1
17 Swimming 1 1 1 0
18 Table Tennis 0 0 0 1
19 Tennis 0 1 0 0
20 Volleyball 1 1 0 0
21 Wrestling 1 1 3 2
22 Weightlifting 0 1 1 0
23 Wushu 0 1 1 0
24 Yatching 1 0 0 0
25 Para-Sports 1 1 2 1 TOTAL 15 19 25 14
