Gautam Gambhir shares pic of Army veteran begging in Delhi, defence min assures 'quick' action
New Delhi, Feb 2: Cricketer Gautam Gambhir Saturday urged the Ministry of Defence to help a man, claiming to be war veteran, after he spotted him begging in Connaught Place here.
The ace cricketer posted a picture of the man on Twitter and said that he could not get support from the Army due to "technical reasons".
"He's Mr Peethambaran, who served in the Indian Army in 1965 & 1971 wars which can be verified by his ID. He claims due to technical reasons he can't get support from d Army," Gambhir tweeted.
"I'd urge @adgpi @DefenceMinIndia @SpokespersonMoD to intervene as he is begging at A block Connaught Place," he said in the tweet.
Responding to the tweet, the defence ministry assured a "quick and complete" response.
"We appreciate the concern raised by you and assure that the response will be quick and complete. @adgpi," the defence spokesperson tweeted.
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Dhyan Chand lifetime award to be replaced by Arjuna lifetime
New Delhi, Oct 24: The sports ministry on Thursday announced the discontinuation of the Dhyan Chand Award for lifetime achievement from this year onwards and the introduction of the Arjuna Award Lifetime in its place in a bid to "rationalise" the various sporting honours of the country.
Instituted in 2002, the Dhyan Chand Lifetime Award, named after hockey wizard Major Dhyan Chand, is given to individuals in disciplines that are part of the Olympic Games, Paralympic Games, Asian Games and Commonwealth Games, among others.
In 2023, the award was given to former shuttler Manjusha Kanwar, ex-hockey exponent Vineet Kumar and kabaddi player Kavitha Selvaraj.
"The various schemes for sports awards have been rationalised wherein Arjuna Award (Lifetime) has been introduced in place of Dhyan Chand Award. To recognise the efforts of coaches at grassroots/development level, they are now eligible for the Dronacharya Award," said a ministry statement.
"The Arjuna Award (Lifetime) has been introduced and will be given for life time contribution to sports development.
"Further, to recognize the Khelo India scheme, the Maulana Abdul Kalam Azad (MAKA) Trophy will be given to the University for Overall Top Performance in Khelo India University Games," it added.
The last date for applying for the national sports awards for 2024 is November 14.
