WGAI blames IGU for golfer Aditi missing Arjuna award
New Delhi, Sep 25 : In a scathing attack on the Indian Golf Union for failing to nominate Aditi Ashok for this year's Arjuna award, the Women's Golf Association of India (WGAI) on Tuesday said it will approach Sports Minister Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore while not ruling out the possibility of a parallel body for governing women's golf in the country.
Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the launch of the 12th edition of the Hero Indian Open, WGAI Secretary General Champika Sayal said she was shocked to not find teenaged Aditi's name among the list of 20 Arjuna awardees, who were conferred the awards at a glittering ceremony at Rashtrapati Bhavan here on Tuesday.
"We were shocked to know that Aditi's name was not there in the Arjuna Awards list. In fact, we wanted her to be nominated immediately after the Rio Olympics but that was not done," she said.
Sayal alleged that the Indian Golf Union (IGU), the governing body for the sport in the country, had given a "bizarre" reason of "two athletes from the same sport can't be nominated for the award" after the WGAI questioned the absence of Aditi's name from the Arjuna award list.
"The fact is a deserving player has been denied the Arjuna award and that's a massive loss. The IGU is not doing anything and at the same time it is not willing to give the charge," she said.
"We don't get access to what is happening in IGU, no meetings, no circulars. Unfortunately, when we see the sport is not being developed we can't do anything," she added.
However, on being questioned, IGU Director General Major General Bibhuti Bhushan (Retd) shifted the blame on the golfer, saying she did not sign the form required for nomination.
"We recommended two names this year -- Shubhankar Sharma and Aditi. But according to the process, you send the form to the player, so they can sign it. We waited till the last day, Shubhankar signed the form but Aditi did not," he said.
This year, Shubhankar is the only recipient of the Arjuna award from the discipline.
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Time has come to implement Women's Reservation Act: PM Modi's letter to LS, RS floor leaders
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New Delhi (PTI): Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said that the time has come for the implementation of the Women's Reservation Act in its true spirit and the 2029 Lok Sabha elections and Assembly elections are conducted with the quota for women in place.
In a letter to the floor leaders of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, ahead of the three-day special sittings of Parliament, Modi also asked all members to come together in one voice to pass the amendments to the women's reservation law, officially known as Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam.
"After extensive deliberations, we have reached the conclusion that the time has now come to implement the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam in its true spirit across the country.
"It is imperative that the 2029 Lok Sabha elections and Assembly elections are conducted with women's reservation in place," the Prime Minister said in his letter dated April 11.
The Budget Session of Parliament has been extended, and a special three-day sitting of the House has been convened on April 16 to 18.
The Women's Reservation Act will ensure an increase in the number of Lok Sabha seats to 816, of which 273 will be reserved for women.
The provision to provide 33 per cent reservation to women in the Lok Sabha and state assemblies was brought by amending the Constitution in 2023.
However, the women's quota would have come into effect only after the completion of the delimitation exercise on the basis of the 2027 Census. This meant the reservation would not have become enforceable before 2034 if the present law remains as is.
To implement it from the 2029 Lok Sabha elections, changes were needed in the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam; hence, the government is holding a special session to pass the amendments to the law.
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