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Arjuna Award
Civilian award for outstanding individual achievements in National Sports
Sponsored by	Government of India
Established	1961
First awarded	1961
Highlights
Total awarded	151
← Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna

The Arjuna Award, officially known as the Arjuna Awards for Outstanding Performance in Sports and Games, is the sports honour of Republic of India. It is awarded annually by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports. Before the introduction of the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna in 1991–1992, the Arjuna award was the highest sporting honour of India. As of 2020, the award comprises "a bronze statuette of Arjuna, certificate, ceremonial dress, and a cash prize of ₹15 lakh (US$18,000)."

Name

The award is named after Arjuna, a character from the Sanskrit epic Mahabharata of ancient India. He is one of the Pandavas, depicted as a skilled archer winning the hand of Draupadi in marriage and in the Kurukshetra War, Lord Krishna becomes his charioteer teaching him the sacred knowledge of Gita. In Hindu mythology, he has been seen as a symbol of hard work, dedication and concentration.

History

Instituted in 1961 to honour the outstanding sportspersons of the country, the award over the years has undergone a number of expansions, reviews, and rationalizations. The award was expanded to include all the recognised disciplines in 1977, has introduced indigenous games and physically handicapped categories in 1995 and introduced a lifetime contribution category in 1995 leading to creation of a separate Dhyan Chand Award in 2002. The latest revision in 2018 stipulates that the award is given only to the disciplines included in the events like Olympic Games, Paralympic Games, Asian Games, Commonwealth Games, World Championship and World Cup along with Cricket, Indigenous Games, and Parasports. It also recommends giving only fifteen awards in a year, relaxing in case of excellent performance in major multi-sport events, team sports, across gender and giving away of at least one award to physically challenged category.

The nominations for the award are received from all government recognised National Sports Federations, the Indian Olympic Association, the Sports Authority of India (SAI), the Sports Promotion and Control Boards, the state and the union territory governments and the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna, Arjuna, Dhyan Chand and Dronacharya awardees of the previous years. The recipients are selected by a committee constituted by the Ministry and are honoured for their "good performance in the field of sports over a period of four years" at international level and for having shown "qualities of leadership, sportsmanship and a sense of discipline".

Recipients

A total of 151 awards were presented in the 2000s – thirty-one in 2000, followed by fourteen in 2001, twenty-one in 2002, fifteen in 2003, fifteen in 2004, fifteen in 2005, fourteen in 2006, eleven in 2007 and fifteen in 2009. Individuals from twenty-six different sports were awarded, which includes nineteen from hockey, eighteen from athletics, thirteen from wrestling, twelve from shooting, nine from badminton, eight each from cricket and kabaddi, seven from chess, six each from boxing and rowing, five from table tennis, four each from archery and billiards & snooker, three each from golf, judo, lawn tennis, swimming, volleyball, weightlifting and yachting, two each from equestrian, football and powerlifting, and one each from basketball, gymnastics and squash.

A major controversy arose in 2001 when Milkha Singh refused to accept the lifetime contribution honour in athletics, being the only sportsperson to date to do so. Milkha Singh, nicknamed The Flying Sikh, was the first Indian athlete to win an individual athletics gold medal at a Commonwealth Games and is best remembered for his fourth-place finish in the 400 metres final at the 1960 Summer Olympics in which he had entered as one of the favourites; his time of 45.73 seconds stood as the Indian national record for almost 40 years. A biographical Bollywood film based on his life, Bhaag Milkha Bhaag, was released in 2013 to critical and commercial success. His reasoning for declining the award included being clubbed with other sportspersons who were not deserving, politicization and lobbying for the award instead of specialists selecting the winners, and the awarding of players who had one good performance in their lifetime in a non-notable competition rather than awarding consistent performers and medalists at the most prestigious international competitions. The "other sportspersons" have been commonly interpreted as Rachna Govil, awarded the lifetime contribution honour of 2000 in athletics, and Kalpana Debnath, awarded the lifetime contribution honour of 2000 in gymnastics. The former was then the deputy director of Sports Authority of India and the latter was then warden of the National Institute of Sports girls hostel in Patiala. Asian discus champion Anil Kumar challenged both the awards in the Delhi High Court, claiming that both awards seemed less on their individual merits and achievements and more on the political influence and lobbying. Due to the stature of Milkha Singh and the attention the controversy garnered, the Sports Ministry revamped the selection system from the year 2002 onwards and introduced a new award for lifetime achievement in sports, the Dhyan Chand Award. Despite him never accepting the award, Singh's name is on the official awardees list.

List of recipients

Explanatory notes

1. The cash prize was introduced in the year 1977–1978 as a scholarship of ₹200 (US$2.30) a month for 2 years. It was revised to one time cash prize of ₹5,000 (US$59) in 1986, to ₹20,000 (US$230) in 1987, to ₹50,000 (US$590) in 1993, to ₹1.5 lakh (US$1,800) in 1998, to ₹3 lakh (US$3,500) in 2001, to ₹5 lakh (US$5,900) in 2009, and to ₹15 lakh (US$18,000) in 2020.

References

1. ^ "Revised Scheme of Arjuna Award" (PDF). Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports (India). 7 September 2018. Archived (PDF) from the original on 29 December 2020. Retrieved 22 September 2020.
2. Chhetri, Vivek (30 May 2015). "Team spirit at its peak for Arjuna". Telegraph India. Archived from the original on 1 October 2020. Retrieved 22 September 2020.
3. "Vishwanathan Anand gets Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award" (PDF) (Press release). Press Information Bureau, India. 18 August 1992. Archived (PDF) from the original on 29 December 2020. Retrieved 22 September 2020.
4. Davis, Richard H. (26 October 2014). The Bhagavad Gita. ISBN 978-0-691-13996-8.
5. "Sports Ministry unveils new look Sports Awards" (Press release). Press Information Bureau, India. 26 August 2009. Archived from the original on 28 November 2020. Retrieved 22 September 2020.
6. Bhardwaj, D. K. "India in Sports: Some Fabulous Achievements". Press Information Bureau, India. Archived from the original on 13 August 2017. Retrieved 11 February 2017.
7. "Cash awards for Arjuna winners" (PDF) (Press release). Press Information Bureau, India. 12 October 1977. Archived (PDF) from the original on 29 December 2020. Retrieved 22 September 2020.
8. "Arjuna Awards further expanded" (PDF) (Press release). Press Information Bureau, India. 24 May 1995. Archived (PDF) from the original on 29 December 2020. Retrieved 22 September 2020.
9. ^ "List of Arjuna Awardees (1961–2018)" (PDF). Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports (India). Archived (PDF) from the original on 18 July 2020. Retrieved 12 September 2020.
   • "Winners of Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna, Arjuna and Dronacharya Awards Announced" (Press release). Press Information Bureau, India. 2 August 2001. Archived from the original on 29 December 2020. Retrieved 24 September 2020.
   • "Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna & Arjuna Awards announced" (Press release). Press Information Bureau, India. 19 August 2008. Archived from the original on 29 December 2020. Retrieved 24 September 2020.
   • "Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna, Arjuna Awards and other Sports Awards Announced" (Press release). Press Information Bureau, India. 29 July 2009. Archived from the original on 29 December 2020. Retrieved 24 September 2020.
10. ^ Mohan, KP (9 August 2017). "India's national sports awards have lost meaning thanks to the government's constant tinkering". Scroll India. Retrieved 30 September 2020.
11. Sharma, Aabhas (5 July 2013). "India's first celebrity athlete". Business Standard. Retrieved 20 September 2020.
12. Pritam, Norris (6 November 1998). "38 Year Old Indian Record Falls". IAAF. Retrieved 20 September 2020.
13. "Bhaag Milkha Bhaag box office collections top Rs 102 crore". Business Today. 12 August 2013. Archived from the original on 29 December 2020. Retrieved 30 September 2020.
14. "Winners Honoured at 61st National Film Award Function". NDTV. 3 May 2014. Archived from the original on 29 December 2020. Retrieved 20 September 2020.
15. "Milkha Singh not to accept Arjuna Award". The Tribune. 16 August 2001. Archived from the original on 29 December 2020. Retrieved 30 September 2020.
16. ^ Ugra, Sharda; Vinayak, Ramesh (3 September 2001). "Milkha Singh refuses Arjuna Award, says not all awardees are deserving". India Today. Archived from the original on 29 December 2020. Retrieved 30 September 2020.
17. Mohan, K. P. (10 January 2014). "An illogical points system for Arjuna award". The Hindu. Retrieved 30 September 2020.
18. "Two years Scholarship for winners" (PDF) (Press release). Press Information Bureau, India. 27 October 1978. Archived (PDF) from the original on 29 December 2020. Retrieved 22 September 2020.
19. "Arjuna Award for 1986 to 13 Sports persons" (PDF) (Press release). Press Information Bureau, India. 12 January 1988. Archived (PDF) from the original on 29 December 2020. Retrieved 22 September 2020.
20. "Value of cash prize enhanced" (PDF) (Press release). Press Information Bureau, India. 30 May 1989. Archived (PDF) from the original on 29 December 2020. Retrieved 22 September 2020.
21. "Arjuna awards, Dronachrya awards for 1998 Presented" (PDF) (Press release). Press Information Bureau, India. 22 July 1993. Archived (PDF) from the original on 29 December 2020. Retrieved 22 September 2020.
22. "Value of cash prize enhanced" (Press release). Press Information Bureau, India. 1 September 1998. Archived from the original on 29 December 2020. Retrieved 22 September 2020.
23. "Arjuna Awards scheme Revised" (Press release). Press Information Bureau, India. 3 April 2002. Archived from the original on 29 December 2020. Retrieved 22 September 2020.
24. "Several initiatives undertaken for transformation of sports" (Press release). Press Information Bureau, India. 22 December 2009. Archived from the original on 1 October 2020. Retrieved 22 September 2020.
25. "Enhancement of cash amount of Sports Awards 2020" (PDF). Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports (India). 27 August 2020. Archived (PDF) from the original on 29 December 2020. Retrieved 22 September 2020.

External links

• Official Website

v t e National Sports Awards
Awards	Sports Arjuna Award Dhyan Chand Award Dronacharya Award Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Trophy Khel Ratna Award Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puruskar Others Tenzing Norgay National Adventure Award (presented together)
Recipients	By year Arjuna Arjuna (1961–1969) Arjuna (1970–1979) Arjuna (1980–1989) Arjuna (1990–1999) Arjuna (2000–2009) Arjuna (2010–2019) Arjuna (2020–2029) Others Dhyan Chand Dronacharya Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Trophy Khel Ratna Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puruskar By sport Olympic Archery Athletics Badminton Basketball Boxing Cycling Equestrian Fencing Football Golf Gymnastics Hockey Judo Lawn Tennis Rowing Shooting Swimming Table Tennis Volleyball Weightlifting Winter Sports Wrestling Non-Olympic Adventure Sports Ball Badminton Billiards & Snooker Bodybuilding Carrom Chess Cricket Kabaddi Kho Kho Lawn Bowls Mallakhamb Motor Sports Mountaineering Polo Powerlifting Roller Skating Squash Wushu Yachting Others Parasports Tenzing Norgay National Adventure Award

• Recipients of the Arjuna Award
• Indian sports trophies and awards
• Lists of Indian award winners