When was the Arjuna award first given?

The Arjuna Award was instituted in 1961 as the highest national recognition for outstanding performance in Sports and Games in the Olympics, Asian Games, Commonwealth Games, World Cup, World Championship disciplines and Cricket. As per the revised scheme from April 2002,the objective of Arjuna Awards is to recognize outstanding performance of sports persons,at international level only.

The Arjuna Award trophy

The winners will be decided by a Selection Committee comprising of a Chairperson, who is a sports person of eminence and 12 other members distinguished in the field of sportsincluding 5 Olympians and 4 Arjuna Awardees from different disciplines, 2 Sports Administrators and a Member-Secretary of the Committee who would be the Director/Deputy Secretary (Sports) from the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports. The Chairperson of the Committee in consultation with the Member-Secretary may constitute panels from among its members to assist the Committee in choosing the winners. Under the scheme, the awardee is given a bronze statuette of Arjuna, a scroll and a cash prize of 3 lakh rupees along with a monogram, a blazer and a tie.

Only international level performance of sportspersons will be taken into account when deciding the awardees. Sports persons found positive for use of drugs banned by the International Olympic Committee in any laboratory accredited by International Olympic Committee will not be eligible for the Arjuna Awards. The maximum number of awards given in a year would be 15, one award in each discipline. However, in the year succeeding Asian Games and Commonwealth Games an exception could be made for a second award being given to a sports person in those disciplines in which more than 5 medals have been won in the Asian/Commonwealth Games.

Some images of awards being presented to sportspersons.

The nominations for the award will be invited by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports from all recognized National Sports Federations recognized by the Government of India, Indian Olympic Association (IOA) and State/UT Governments in the month of January each year. As per the revised scheme, the last date for the receipt of nominations will be 31 st May of the same year.Over the years the scope of the award has been expanded and a large number of sportspersons who belonged to the pre-Arjuna Award era were also included in the list. Further, the number of disciplines for which the award is given was increased to include indigenous games and the physically handicapped category. The Government has recently revised the scheme for the Arjuna Award. As per the revised guidelines, to be eligible for the Award, a sportsperson should not only have had good performance consistently for the previous three years at the international level with excellence for the year for which the Award is recommended, but should also have shown qualities of leadership, sportsmanship and a sense of discipline. From the year 2001, the award is given only in disciplines falling under the following categories: