Bhubaneswar, Jul 20: The newly elected Mohan Charan Majhi government in Odisha renamed the 'Biju Patnaik Sports Award' as ‘Odisha Rajya Krida Samman’, officials said on Saturday.

According to a notification, issued by the Odisha Sports and Youth Services Department, the State government will confer ‘Rajya Krida Samman’ in eight categories annually, subject to availability of suitable candidates.

However, the cash rewards remain unchanged.

The lifetime achievement award for promoting sports will carry a cash prize of Rs 3 lakh, while Rs 2 lakh will be awarded for outstanding performance in sports, and Rs 1 lakh for excellence in coaching.

Similarly, a cash award of Rs 1 lakh will be given in each of the following categories - best contribution to sports promotion, excellence in sports journalism, para-sports person of the year, upcoming athlete of the year (junior category), and sports technical official/support staff of the year.

The award recipient must be a resident of Odisha and free of any criminal convictions. It will be conferred only once per lifetime per category and can be awarded posthumously to the next of kin.

The Sports and Youth Services Department secretary will constitute a five-member scrutiny committee comprising senior officials and coaches of the department with sports director or the senior most officer of the department as head of the panel.

The awards will be presented in a special ceremony on National Sports Day (August 29) every year, the notification said.

Notably, the Biju Patnaik Sports Award scheme was launched by then Naveen Patnaik government in 2001-2002.

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