National Sports Awards 2020

IN NEWS

• Government of India has announced National Sports Awards -2020 to be conferred upon the sportspersons, coaches, entities and university.

About

• The five Khel Ratna winners for this year would be star cricketer Rohit Sharma, wrestler Vinesh Phogat, Paralympic gold-winner Mariyappan Thangavelu, TT player Manika Batra, and women's hockey team captain Rani Rampal.
• Awards will be held virtually on 29 August, the National Sports Day, instead of the Rashtrapati Bhavan this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

About National Sports Awards

National Sports Awards are given every year to recognize and reward excellence in sports. It comprises the following awards –

1. Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna

• It is the highest sporting honour of India. It was instituted in 1991–92. The recipient(s) is/are honoured for their outstanding performance in the field of sports over a period of four years at international level.

2. Dronacharya Awards

• It was instituted in 1985 to honour eminent Coaches for producing medal winners at prestigious International sports events.

3. Arjuna awards

• It was instituted in 1961. To be eligible for the Award, a sportsperson should have had not only good performance over the previous four years at the International level but also should have shown qualities of leadership, sportsmanship and a sense of discipline.

4. Dhyan Chand Award

• It was instituted in 2002. It is an award for life-time achievements in sports.

5. Tenzing Norgay National Adventure Award

• It is the highest national recognition for outstanding achievements in the field of adventure on land, sea and air.

6. Maulana Abul Kalam Azad (MAKA) Trophy

• It was instituted in 1956-57 to honour the top overall performing university in the Inter-University Tournaments.

7. Rashtriya Khel Protsahana Purushkar

• It was instituted from 2009 to recognize the corporate entities (both in private and public sector) and individuals who have played a visible role in the area of sports promotion and development.

National Sports Awards 2020 List

1. RAJIV GANDHI KHEL RATNA AWARD

S. No.	Name of the Sportsperson	Discipline
1.	Shri Rohit Sharma	Cricket
2.	Shri Mariyappan T.	Para Athletics
3.	Ms. Manika Batra	Table Tennis
4.	Ms. Vinesh	Wrestling
5.	Ms. Rani	Hockey

2. DRONACHARYA AWARD

A. Life- Time Category

S. No.	Name of the Coach	Discipline
1.	Shri Dharmendra Tiwary	Archery
2.	Shri Purushotham Rai	Athletics
3.	Shri Shiv Singh	Boxing
4.	Shri Romesh Pathania	Hockey
5.	Shri Krishan Kumar Hooda	Kabaddi
6.	Shri Vijay Bhalchandra Munishwar	Para Powerlifting
7.	Shri Naresh Kumar	Tennis
8.	Shri Om Parkash Dahiya	Wrestling

B. Regular Category

S. No.	Name of the Coach	Discipline
1.	Shri Jude Felix Sebastian	Hockey
2.	Shri Yogesh Malviya	Mallakhamb
3.	Shri Jaspal Rana	Shooting
4.	Shri Kuldeep Kumar Handoo	Wushu
5.	Shri Gaurav Khanna	Para Badminton

3. ARJUNA AWARD

S. No.	Name of the Sportsperson	Discipline
1.	Shri Atanu Das	Archery
2.	Ms. Dutee Chand	Athletics
3.	Shri Satwik Sairaj Rankireddy	Badminton
4.	Shri Chirag Chandrasekhar Shetty	Badminton
5.	Shri Vishesh Bhriguvanshi	Basketball
6.	Subedar Manish Kaushik	Boxing
7.	Ms. Lovlina Borgohain	Boxing
8.	Shri Ishant Sharma	Cricket
9.	Ms. Deepti Sharma	Cricket
10.	Shri Sawant Ajay Anant	Equestrian
11.	Shri Sandesh Jhingan	Football
12.	Ms. Aditi Ashok	Golf
13.	Shri Akashdeep Singh	Hockey
14.	Ms. Deepika	Hockey
15.	Shri Deepak	Kabaddi
16.	Shri Kale Sarika Sudhakar	Kho Kho
17.	Shri Dattu Baban Bhokanal	Rowing
18.	Ms. Manu Bhaker	Shooting
19.	Shri Saurabh Chaudhary	Shooting
20.	Ms. Madhurika Suhas Patkar	Table Tennis
21.	Shri Divij Sharan	Tennis
22.	Shri Shiva Keshavan	Winter Sports
23.	Ms. Divya Kakran	Wrestling
24.	Shri Rahul Aware	Wrestling
25.	Shri Suyash Narayan Jadhav	Para Swimming
26.	Shri Sandeep	Para Athletics
27.	Shri Manish Narwal	Para Shooting

4. DHYAN CHAND AWARD

S. No.	Name of the Sportsperson	Discipline
1.	Shri Kuldip Singh Bhullar	Athletics
2.	Ms. Jincy Philips	Athletics
3.	Shri Pradeep Shrikrishna Gandhe	Badminton
4.	Ms. Trupti Murgunde	Badminton
5.	Ms. N. Usha	Boxing
6.	Shri Lakha Singh	Boxing
7.	Shri Sukhvinder Singh Sandhu	Football
8.	Shri Ajit Singh	Hockey
9.	Shri Manpreet Singh	Kabaddi
10.	Shri J. Ranjith Kumar	Para Athletics
11.	Shri Satyaprakash Tiwari	Para Badminton
12.	Shri Manjeet Singh	Rowing
13.	Late Shri Sachin Nag	Swimming
14.	Shri Nandan P Bal	Tennis
15.	Shri Netarpal Hooda	Wrestling

5. TENZING NORGAY NATIONAL ADVENTURE AWARDS 2020

S. No.	Name of the Sportsperson	Category
1.	Ms. Anita Devi	Land Adventure
2.	Col. Sarfraz Singh	Land Adventure
3.	Shri Taka Tamut	Land Adventure
4.	Shri Narender Singh	Land Adventure
5.	Shri Keval Hiren Kakka	Land Adventure
6.	Shri Satendra Singh	Water Adventure
7.	Shri Gajanand Yadava	Air Adventure
8.	Late Shri Magan Bissa	Life Time Achievement

6. MAULANA ABUL KALAM AZAD (MAKA) TROPHY

1.

Panjab University, Chandigarh

7. RASHTRIYA KHEL PROTSAHAN PURUSKAR

S. No.	Category	Entity recommended for Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puruskar, 2020
1.	Identification and Nurturing of Budding and Young Talent	1. Lakshya Institute 2. Army Sports Institute
2.	Encouragement to sports through Corporate Social Responsibility	Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) Ltd.
3.	Employment of sportspersons and sports welfare measures	Air Force Sports Control Board
4.	Sports for Development	International Institute of Sports Management (IISM)

Atal Bimit Vyakti Kalyan Yojana

IN NEWS

• The ESI (Employees' State Insurance) Corporation during its 182nd meeting held under Minister of State for Labour and Employment (I/C) has taken important decision to provide Relaxation in eligibility criteria and enhancement in the payment of unemployment benefit under Atal Bimit Vyakti Kalyan Yojana, towards improvement in its service delivery mechanism and providing relief to workers affected by COVID-19 pandemic.

About Atal Bimit Vyakti Kalyan Yojana

• Rolled out by ESI for providing unemployment allowance to workers rendered jobless due to changing employment pattern.
• It aims to financially support those who lost their jobs or rendered jobless for whatsoever reasons due to changing employment pattern.
• Its beneficiaries will be insured persons covered under Employees’ State Insurance Act, 1948 for period of two years continuously.
• Under this scheme, workers will be able to draw 47% of their total contributions towards ESIC after remaining unemployed for at least three months from date of leaving their previous jobs.
• They can choose to receive the cash at one go or in instalments. It will be applicable to all factories and establishments employing at least 10 workers.

Relaxed Eligibility Criteria

• The payment of relief has been enhanced to 50% of average of wages from earlier 25% of average wages payable upto maximum 90 days of unemployment.
• Instead of the relief becoming payable 90 days after unemployment, it shall become due for payment after 30 days.
• The Insured Person can submit the claim directly to ESIC Branch Office instead of the claim being forwarded by the last employer and the payment shall be made directly in the bank account of IP.
• The Insured Person should have been insurable employment for a minimum period of 2 years before his/her unemployment and should have contributed for not less than 78 days in the contribution period immediately preceding to unemployment and minimum 78 days in one of the remaining 3 contribution periods in 02 years prior to unemployment.

‘HARIT PATH’ A Mobile App to Monitor Plantation

IN NEWS

• The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), a public sector undertaking under the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, has developed a mobile App called ‘Harit Path' to monitor location, growth, species details, maintenance activities, targets and achievements of each of its field units for each and every plant under all plantation projects.

ABOUT

• National Highways Authority of India was set up by an act of the Parliament, NHAI Act, 1988.
• According to an NHAI release, to commemorate 25 years of its service to the nation, it has also recently undertaken ‘Harit Bharat Sankalp’, a nation-wide plantation drive which is in line with its commitment to promote environment protection and sustainability. NHAI Planted 25 Lakh Plants in 25 Days to Mark its Silver Jubilee Year
• The nation-wide plantation drive has been actively taken up by NHAI’s regional offices to achieve the collective target of making greener national highways. Maximum number of over 5.0 lakh plants has been planted in Uttar Pradesh, followed by over 3.0 lakh in Rajasthan and 2.67 Lakh in Madhya Pradesh along the national highways.
• In order to ensure 100% survival of the plants, avenue plantation of minimum height of 1.5-meter have been emphasized along the national highway.

KEY CONTROL

• In order to track the growth and health of the plants, photographs along with data of the plants captured using Harit Path shall be uploaded every 3 months on NHAI’s AI powered Big Data Analytics platform – Data Lake.
• Highway contractors shall be accountable for proper upkeep and maintenance of the plantation and liable to replace the missing/dead plants. Performance and growth of the plants shall be linked to the payment to the contractors for this work.

CONCLUSION

• NHAI has been undertaking plantation drives from time to time to develop eco-friendly National Highways and has constantly addressed ecological concerns by adopting environment-friendly methods. The launch of ‘Harit Path’, mobile app will further facilitate creation of Green Highways across the country.

After Hagia Sophia, Turkey’s Historic Chora Church also Switched to Mosque

IN NEWS

• Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan reconverted the historic Chora church, one of Istanbul’s most celebrated Byzantine buildings, into a mosque on Friday, a month after opening the famed Hagia Sophia to Muslim worship.

CHORA CHURCH

• The mediaeval Church of the Holy Saviour in Chora, built near the ancient city walls of Constantinople, contains 14th century Byzantine mosaics and frescoes .
• They were plastered over after the city was conquered by the Muslim Ottomans in 1453, but brought to light again when – like Hagia Sophia – the building was converted to a museum by Turkey’s secular republic more than 70 years ago.

HAGIA SOPHIA

• Hagia Sophia officially the Great Mosque of Ayasofya and the Church of Hagia Sophia is a Late Antique place of worship in Istanbul that has served as a Greek Orthodox Christian patriarchal cathedral, briefly a Roman Catholic cathedral, later an Ottoman mosque, and a museum. Completed in 537, during the reign of the eastern Roman emperor Justinian I, it was then the world's largest interior space and the first to employ a fully  pendentive dome

GLOBAL REACTION

• The move was sharply criticized by church leaders and some Western countries, who said that reconverting Hagia Sophia exclusively for Muslim worship risked deepening religious rifts.
• Last year a Turkish court annulled a 1945 government decision converting Chora – known as Kariye in Turkish – into a museum run by the Education Ministry.