Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju announces hike in prize money

NATIONAL | AUG 29, 2020:

Youth Affairs and Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju on the occasion of National Sports Day announced that the prize money in four of the seven categories of the National Sports and Adventure Awards has been enhanced.

The prize money for the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award has been increased to 25 lakh rupees from the previous amount of 7.5 lakh rupees. Arjuna Award has been enhanced to 15 lakh rupees from 5 lakh. The Dronacharya (Lifetime) awardees, who were earlier given 5 lakh rupees will now be given 15 lakh rupees as cash prize, while Dronacharya (Regular) will be given 10 lakh instead of 5 lakh rupees per awardee. Dhyan Chand Award Awardees will be given 10 lakh rupees instead of 5 lakh rupees.

Speaking about the decision, Rijiju said, the prize money for the Sports Awards was last reviewed in 2008 and should be looked into once every 10 years.

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The Minister was talking to the media after paying floral tributes to hockey wizard Major Dhyanchand at his statue in Dhyan Chand Stadium in Delhi this morning. Rijiju congratulated the winners of the National Sports Awards for their accolades and honours they brought to India.

He said that the performance of Indian athletes at the international level has gone up as compared to the past. He stated that well-performing athletes have to be recognised and rewarded and therefore, the number of awardees in the National Sports Awards has also gone up this year.