New Delhi, Oct 27: Javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra, who became only the second Indian to win an individual Olympic gold at the Tokyo Games, and silver medal-winning wrestler Ravi Dahiya were on Wednesday recommended for the Khel Ratna as an unprecedented 11 athletes were selected for the country's highest sporting honour.

Boxer Lovlina Borgohain, who won a bronze at the Tokyo Olympics, seasoned hockey goalkeeper PR Sreejesh and woman cricket Test skipper Mithali Raj were also recommended for the Major Dhyanchand Khel Ratna by the selection committee.

Iconic Sunil Chhetri also became the country's first footballer to be selected for the honour.

Last year, five athletes were picked for the award while four were selected after the 2016 Rio Games.

The announcement of the national sports awards was delayed in order to consider the performance of the para-athletes in the Tokyo Paralympics (August 24 to September 5).

Shooter Avani Lekhara and Manish Narwal, javelin thrower Sumit Antil and shuttlers Pramod Bhagat and Krishna Nagar, who all have won a gold each in the Tokyo Paralympics, completed the list of those recommended for the Khel Ratna.

The committee also picked 35 athletes for the Arjuna award, eight more than last year's number of awardees.

Cricketer Shikhar Dhawan, para TT player Bhavina Patel, para shuttler Suhas Yathiraj and high jumper Nishad Kumar are among those selected for the Arjuna award.

Members of the men's hockey team that won a historic bronze in the Olympics will also receive Arjuna award.

Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.



Bengaluru: The Karnataka government on Tuesday issued an order implementing internal reservation within the 15 per cent quota earmarked for Scheduled Castes in appointments and admissions.

As per the order, 5.25 per cent reservation has been allocated to Left-hand communities under Category-A, 5.25 per cent to Right-hand communities under Category-B, and 4.50 per cent to other touchable Scheduled Caste communities under Category-C.

The government said the decision follows the recent Cabinet meeting held in view of the interim order of the High Court. It was decided to temporarily adopt the 50 per cent overall reservation ceiling and continue recruitments subject to the final verdict of the court.

Accordingly, the 15 per cent SC reservation in recruitment and admissions will now be distributed among the three categories in the prescribed ratio.

The order further stated that 20 per cent of posts or seats available under Category-C must be reserved for 59 most backward castes within the Scheduled Castes. If eligible candidates from these 59 castes are not available, the vacancies or seats should be filled by candidates from other communities within Category-C.

For implementing the revised quota in recruitment, authorities have been directed to follow a 400-point roster system. Where fewer than three Scheduled Caste roster points are available in any cadre, the reserved posts should be treated as general SC category posts for appointment purposes.

The government has also directed departments to revise ongoing recruitment processes by incorporating internal reservation. Notifications already issued without such quota distribution are to be withdrawn and fresh revised notifications issued immediately.

The order added that if the court upholds the enhanced 24 per cent reservation for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, the additional 6 per cent posts should be treated as backlog vacancies and filled accordingly.

The government has instructed all recruiting authorities to take urgent steps to fill 56,432 posts already cleared by the Finance Department through direct recruitment.