Dronacharya Award 2023

The Award is intended to:

1. Honour coaches who have done outstanding and meritorious work on a consistent basis and enabled sportspersons to excel in international events

2. Motivate coaches to dedicate themselves with a singularity of purpose of raising the standard of sportspersons to highest performance in international events and thus bring glory to the country.

Eligibility

1. To be eligible for the award, coach, whether he/she works full time or part time as coach, he/she should have produced outstanding achievement over a period of four years immediately preceding the year in which the award is to be given. During the years when Olympic Games, Commonwealth and Asian Games are held, achievements of the sportspersons, who have been imparted couching, upto conclusion of these Games will also be considered. Nominated coach will have to submit details of periods for which he/she coached the disciple(s) in question against whose performance he/she is seeking the Award. The Ministry reserves the right to seek affidavit from the sportsperson concerned where it is found that more than one coach is claiming credit for achievements of a sportsperson.
2. For 2 awards earmarked for lifetime contribution in coaching, achievements of the coach in producing outstanding sportspersons over a period of 20 years or more will be taken into account.
3. A coach found encouraging the use of drugs/substances banned by the World Anti Doping Agency (WADA) based on a sample collected by the National Anti Doping Agency (NADA) or any other agency authorized by WADA and tested by National Dope Testing Laboratory or any other WADA accredited laboratory, by a sportsperson whom he/she is coaching, will not be eligible for the Dronacharya Award. A coach against whom enquiry is going on/pending in this regard will also be ineligible.
4. Sportspersons who have already been conferred with Dhyan Chand Award will not be eligible to apply for Dronacharya Award.

 

Decoration

1. The Award shall comprise of a statuette, a certificate, ceremonial dress and a cash prize of Rs. 10,00,000/- (Rupees ten lakhs) for Regular and Rs. 15,00,000 for Lifetime which will be presented to the winners at the function for the presentation of the Award to be held at a place and on a date to be decided by competent authority.
2. No Award will be made for a second time to the same person.
3. The Award may be given posthumously if such an occasion arises.

No. of Awardees

Ordinarily not more than 5 awards could be given in any calendar year, Out of these, 2 will be earmarked for lifetime contribution in couching.

Who can nominate ?

1. The nominations for the Award will be invited by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports from nil recognized National Sports Federations (NSFs) recognized by the Government of India, Indian Olympic Association, Sports Promotion and Control Boards and State/UT Governments in the month of January/February each year. The National Sports Federations recognized by the Government of India; the Indian Olympic Association, Sports Promotion and Control Boards and the State/UT Governments may nominate upto two names in a particular year. In case of cricket, for which no National Sports Federation has been recognized by the Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports, nominations from Board for Control of Cricket in India (BCCI) will be invited. For the NSFs do-recognized or under suspension, Sports Authority of India (SAI) will exercise the quota of nominations end make nominations upto a maximum of two eligible coaches for each sports discipline with the approval of Director General, SAI. Nominations beyond maximum two will not be considered. Only the first two nominations sent by the nominating agencies will be considered. Last date for the receipt of nominations will be 30^th April or last working day of April. During the years when Olympic Games, Commonwealth and Asian Games are  held,  last date will be 10 days after conclusion of these Games.
2. Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Awardees of the previous years can also nominate one eligible coach each for Dronacharya Award for the sports discipline for which they themselves were awarded Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna. Arjuna, Dhyan Chand and Dronacharya awardees of previous years can also nominate one eligible coach each for Dronacharya Award in their respective disciplines. Further, Director General Sports Authority of India can also.
3. Notwithstanding the above, Government reserves the right to make upto two nominations of coaches in deserving cases where no such nominations have been received from the agencies mentioned under the Scheme.
4. The authorized signatory for sending nominations will be as follows:-
   • Indian Olympic Association— President/Secretary General.
   • National Sports Federations — President/Secretary General [In the case of Cricket, there is no federation recognized by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports. Nominations for cricket will need to be sent by President/ Secretary General of the Board for Control of Cricket in India (BCCI)].
   • State/UT Governments/Sports Control/Promotion Boards — An officer of not less than the rank of Secretary or Director (Sports) of the organization after taking due approval of the competent authority.
5. Nominations forwarded by any office bearer other than those mentioned in para above will not be considered.
6. Nomination agencies are expected to send nominations of most deserving coach(es) irrespective of whether coaches have applied to them for awards.
7. The nominating authorities are required to certify in the nomination form itself that the nominees are clear from vigilance/disciplinary angles and are not involved in acts of criminal and moral turpitude nature. In case of sportspersons employed with Central Government/State Governments/PSUs or in private organizations, nominating authorities should obtain a requisite report from the concerned employers before certifying that the sportsperson being nominated is clear from vigilance/disciplinary angle and is not involved in any act of criminal or moral turpitude nature. While seeking report from the employer, details of charge sheet/disciplinary action taken/pending, if any, should also be obtained. Copy of the report/certificate obtained from the employer of the coach should be enclosed with the application of the coach being nominated.
8. Copies of the nominations received from organizations other than the National Sports Federations (NSFs) will be sent to the concerned NSF for verification of the details and the achievements and for checking if the nominated coach has ever been warned/penalized for any unfair practice like age fraud/sexual harassment, doping etc. All details in this regard, if any, along with verification report should be sent by the concerned NSF within a week of the receipt of letter from the Ministry.
9. The Award will be made in respect of the calendar year during which the application is invited.
10. The nominations will be sent to the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports in the prescribed proforma giving the achievements of the coaches in international competitions for the previous three years and for the year of the Award.
11. The applications for nomination should be addressed to Director (Sports)/Deputy Secretary (Sports)/Under Secretary (Sports). Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports only
12. Received applications are to be duly stamped and recorded in a register. In addition, all applications received within time will be duly acknowledged to the recommending authority.

Selection Process

1. The Awards will be decided by a Selection Committee constituted by the Government of India as under:-

 

1	Chairperson	To be nominated by the Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports
2	Sportspersons of         eminence (Olympians or previous Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna or Arjuna Awardees)	2 members
3	Previous Dronacharya Awardees from different disciplines	3 members
4	Sports Journalists/Experts/Commentators	2 members
5	Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Target Olympic Podium (TOP) Scheme Secretariat	Ex-officio member
6	Executive Director (TEAMS)/Officer in charge of TEAMS Division, Sports Authority of India	Ex-officio member
7	Joint Secretary (Sports), Department of Sports	Member Secretary

 

 

2. There should be minimum two years of gap before a member other than ex-officio is re-nominated as chairperson or member in the Selection Committee.
3. Not more than one sportsperson of eminence or previous Dronacharya Awardee from a particular sports discipline shall be a member of the Selection Committee to avoid any bias in favour of a particular discipline.
4. A statement of achievements of all those coaches, who fulfill eligibility criteria and whose nominations have been received before last date, will be sent to the members of the Selection Committee at least a week in advance before the meeting of the Selection Committee.
5. The Chairperson in consultation with Member-Secretary may constitute panel amongst the members of the Committee to assist the Committee.
6. The Chairperson may seek advice of experts in specific sports disciplines wherever necessary.
7. Shortlisted nominations from team games may be sent to experts at least a week in advance for their views. The experts may also be asked to attend Selection Committee meetings to clarify the doubts of members. The evaluation criteria may include international recognition, goals scored, player of the match/player of the tournament award, etc of the trainees of the coach.
8. Any person directly or indirectly related to a coach nominated for the Awards shall not be eligible to participate in deliberations of the Selection Committee, concerning that coach.
9. The Committee will determine its own work procedure and will keep in view the guidelines/criteria, if any, framed by the Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports Members of the Selection Committee will give their recommendations as per the provisions of the scheme and the marks criteria of the scheme.
10. The quorum for the meeting of the Committee shall be 75% of the members of the Committee and the Chairperson.
11. The Committee shall select the Award winners by consensus failing which by a majority, decision and give its report to the Government of India within one month of reference.
12. The Executive Director (TEAMS)/Director (TEAMS), Sports Authority of India will be present at the time of deliberations of the Committee in order to  provide information / clarifications, if any, required by the Committee.
13. All the selection proceedings will be treated as “Confidential”, The Chairperson may take necessary steps in consultation with the Member Secretary to maintain strict confidentiality of the deliberations and selection made by the Committee.

Ceremony Details

1. In order to ensure due diligence in the selection of awardees, the Ministry will make necessary character verification prior to finalizing the names of the awardees through the regional centres of SAI, if need be, by taking help of concerned police authorities.
2. The Awards will be conferred in a ceremony by the President of India, ordinarily on 29" August, birth anniversary of Late Major Dhyan Chand. However, during the years when Olympic Games, Commonwealth and Asian Games are held, the date of award ceremony will be finalized keeping in view the closing dates of these Games and in consultation with the Secretariat of the President of India.
3. At the time of the presentation ceremony, the awards will be conferred upon the selected awardees, who are present. No person other than the awardees will collect the award rind prize money at the presentation ceremony. The awardees who are not able to come to receive the award on the National Sports Day, can later receive the same from the Minister-in-Charge for Youth Affairs and Sports.
4. The Government of India may cancel or annual the Award of any recipient for specific reasons including doping and, thereupon, the recipient shall be required to surrender the certificate of honour but it shall be competent for the Government of India to restore the Award once the cancellation and annulment has been withdrawn.
5. The decision of the Government of India in respect of matters covered by this Scheme and interpretation of the provisions of this scheme shall be final and no appeal shall lie against them.
6. A person who is recommended for the Award shall be deemed to have accepted the provisions of the Scheme.
7. Canvassing in any form in respect of an entry will render that entry liable to disqualification.
8. Minister- in-charge for Youth Affairs & Sports will be competent authority for relaxation of any clause, provided there are sufficient reasons (to be recorded in writing) for doing so.