The Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports (MYAS) has constantly been making changes for the better so that no athlete or coach feels left out while applying for the national sports awards. In the past, these awards were presented on August 29 every year, the birth date of hockey legend Dhyan Chand. It was due to the efforts of a former top-ranked bureaucrat in the Sports Ministry that a decision was made to change the dates.
Why? In years when an Asian Games or Olympics were held, these Games sometimes ended after August 29. It is well known that someone like Colonel Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore had to first be presented the Arjuna Award, and then the Khel Ratna. And that, after he had won a silver medal at the 2004 Athens Olympics.
On November 14, the online applications for the awards close. In a huge shift, the MYAS has encouraged athletes and coaches to directly apply online. There are clear reasons for this. In the past, there was a practice where national sports federations had to nominate the athletes. This was a bit dicey, since there had been cases of favouritism. In the worst-case scenarios, certain athletes’ names were totally ignored by some federations. Whether an athlete won a medal at the Paris 2024 Olympics or Paralympics, he or she has to apply online. The window remains open a few more hours.
This is, perhaps the first year that the national federations have not gone public announcing who they have nominated. It is good in many ways, since the federation selecting an athlete was just the first stage. After that, the MYAS and the Sports Authority of India (SAI) had to do due diligence, verification and then present the names before an awards committee, which is nowadays mandatorily chaired by a retired judge.
Bringing a retired judge on board was a good idea since his or her signature on the list of athletes/coaches declared worthy of being award winners meant that legal hassles could potentially be avoided. There have been any number of instances when an athlete who did not win an award approached a court of law. This was not only in poor taste, but also left a bad impression vis a vis another athlete who had won the award.
The 2024 awards nomination process appears to be good. No athlete can feel left out and since it is an online process, everything will be tracked till the last stage. Who gets the Arjuna Awards or the Khel Ratna or the Dronacharya Award is subjective, since the committee decides and a judge has to sign on the sheet containing the names. The last stage will be the Sports minister, Dr Mansukh Mandaviya, approving it. This process cannot be completed in a few days, and nothing can be left to chance. In fact, even suggesting the names of those who could win awards is a bit risky, since India won six medals in the Paris 2024 Olympics and 29 in the Paralympics.
How does one ignore the Indian cricket team winning the ICC T20 World Cup this June in the West Indies? This was also a big achievement. More than the players, most of whom have got some sports award or the other, Rahul Dravid’s name could come up for a Dronacharya award. Even if he has not applied, his name can still be taken up. The awards committee is empowered to make a mention.
This writer was part of one sports awards committee in 2016, which also had PT Usha and Virender Sehwag as members. What stood out at that time was how these legends also did their due diligence. Today, the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) may feel Usha is not pro-AFI. At that time, she certainly made a case for two Arjuna Awards to be given from track and field. This was in sharp contrast to Sehwag saying at the meeting that it did not matter if cricketers were overlooked. His view was that cricketers keep getting something or the other.
This logic cannot be applied today. Will Manu Bhaker get the Khel Ratna award for her two medals? Has she even applied? Even that is a secret. For now, an online process that gives everyone a chance to stake a claim seems the best way forward.
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