Lok Sabha Question No. 717 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2020-09-17
Subject: Assistance to Sportspersons
Ministry: YOUTH AFFAIRS AND SPORTS
Asked by: Subhash Ramrao Bhamre, DNV Senthilkumar. S., Supriya Sadanand Sule, Manickam Tagore B, Amol Ramsing Kolhe, Kuldeep Rai Sharma

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF YOUTH AFFAIRS AND SPORTS (DEPARTMENT OF SPORTS)

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.717

TO BE ANSWERED ON 17.09.2020

## Assistance to Sportspersons

## 717.   DR. SUBHASH RAMRAO BHAMRE:

DR. DNV SENTHILKUMAR S.:

SHRIMATISUPRIYA SULE:

SHRI MANICKAM TAGORE B.:

DR. AMOL RAMSING KOLHE:

SHRI KULDEEP RAI SHARMA:

Will the Minister of YOUTH AFFAIRS AND SPORTS be pleased to state:

- (a)  whether  the  Government  has  constituted  a  single  selection committee for selecting awardees for various sports awards for the year 2020 and if so, the details thereof alongwith its composition;
- (b)  the  number  of  persons  in  various  categories  who  will  be shortlisted to be given sports awards for the year 2020;
- (c) whether many of the sportspersons after retirement are forced to live in poverty as there is no support from the Government and if so, the details thereof and the reasons therefor;
- (d) whether the Government will provide assistance for livelihood to these sportspersons after their retirement as they are suffering a lot due to covid-19 pandemic and if so, the details thereof; and
- (e)  the  other  steps  taken  by  the  Government  to  encourage  more persons  to  take  up  sports  as  their  career  and  offering  them  good financial remuneration during their active participation in the sports and after their retirement?

## ANSWER THE MINISTER OF STATE (INDEPENDENT CHARGE) FOR YOUTH AFFAIRS AND SPORTS [KIREN RIJIJU]

(a): Yes Sir. Department  of Sports has constituted Selection Committee for selecting awardees for National Sports Awards 2020. The composition of the committee is  given below:

|   S.No. | Name of the Members                                       | Position         |
|---------|-----------------------------------------------------------|------------------|
|       1 | Justice Mukundakam Sharma, Retired Justice, Supreme court | Chairperson      |
|       2 | Shri VirenderSehwag (Cricket)                             | Member           |
|       3 | Shri Sardar Singh (Hockey)                                | Member           |
|       4 | Ms MonalisaBaruah Mehta (Table Tennis)                    | Member           |
|       5 | Ms Deepa Malik (Para Athletic)                            | Member           |
|       6 | Shri VenkatesanDevarajan (Boxing)                         | Member           |
|       7 | Shri Manish Batavia, Sports Commentator                   | Member           |
|       8 | Ms Neeru Bhatia, Sports Journalist                        | Member           |
|       9 | Shri Alok Sinha, Sports Journalist                        | Member           |
|      10 | Shri Sandip Pradhan, Director General, SAI                | Member           |
|      11 | Commander (Retd.) Rajesh Rajagopalan CEO, TOPS            | Member           |
|      12 | Shri L.S. Singh, Joint Secretary (Development)            | Member Secretary |

(b): The National Sports Awards ceremony 2020 was held on 29 th August, 2020 virtually and following numbers of sportspersons/entities were

## awarded different sports awards. The details are given below: -

|   S. No. | Name of Sports Award                    |   No. of Sports Persons given Awards/entities |
|----------|-----------------------------------------|-----------------------------------------------|
|        1 | Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award           |                                            05 |
|        2 | Dronacharya Award (Regular Category)    |                                            05 |
|        3 | Dronacharya Award (Life Time category)  |                                            08 |
|        4 | Arjuna Award                            |                                            27 |
|        5 | Dhyan Chand Award                       |                                            15 |
|        6 | Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puruskar Award |                                            05 |
|        7 | MaulanaAbulKalam Azad (MAKA) Trophy     |                                            01 |

(c) to (e): This Ministry is implementing the Scheme of 'Pension to Meritorious Sportspersons' for providing lifelong monthly pension to medal  winners  of  Olympic  Games,  Asian  Games,  Commonwealth Games, etc. after they retire from active sports and the Scheme of ' Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay National Welfare Fund for Sportspersons'  (PDUNWFS)'  for  providing  financial  assistance  to sportspersons of yesteryears now living in indigent circumstances. Further,  Government  has  enhanced  the  prize  money  of  National Sports Awards recently i.e. for Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award from Rs 7.5 lakh to Rs 25 lakh, for Dronacharya Award (Regular Category) from  Rs  5  lakh  to  Rs  10  lakh,  for  Dronacharya  Award  (Lifetime Category) from Rs 5 lakh to Rs 15 lakh, for Arjuna Award from Rs 5 lakh to Rs 15 lakh and for Dhyan Chand Award from Rs 5 lakh to Rs

10  lakh.  Further,  Cash  award  is  given  to  the  sportspersons  for winning  medals  in  international  sports  events  under  'The  Special Awards  to  Medal  winners  in  International  Sports  events  and  their Coaches  Sch eme'. There  is  provision  of  upto  5%  reservation  in direct recruitment in Group 'C' posts for meritorious sportspersons in Central Government. On this, recently, the Government has also increased the number of sports discipline from 43 to 63 in the list of games. Further under the National Sports Development Fund(NSDF), Special  assistance  is  also  provided  for  various  sports  promotion activities.

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