Sports ministry denies recommending Dhyan Chand's name for Bharat Ratna

Amidst reports emerging that Indian hockey legend Major Dhyan Chand was the first choice for Bharat Ratna, the highest civilian award in India, and not the legendry Indian cricketer Sachin Tendulkar, the ministry of youth affairs and sports has denied all the allegations stating that it had not recommended Dhyan Chand for the conferring of Bharat Ratna award in 2013-14.

“There is no such proposal from the ministry of youth affairs and Sports recommending the name of Late Major Dhyan Chand for conferring of Bharat Ratna in 2013-14,” the sports ministry replied in response to a question asked in Rajya Sabha.

The ministry, however, said that the then sports minister Jitendra Singh did make a suggestion to the Prime Minister Office for honouring the hockey wizard with Bharat Ratna and the same was noted by Manmohan Singh, who was the then Prime Minister.

The Government also confirmed that no changes will be made in the criterion of conferment of Bharat Ratna to any citizen of India. “Bharat Ratna is the highest civilian award of the county. It is awarded in recognition of exceptional service/performance of the highest order in any field of human endeavour.

“The recommendations for the Bharat Ratna are made by the Prime Minister to the President of India. No formal recommendations for this are necessary. There is no proposal to make any change in this regard,” said Sarbananda Sonowal, the minister for youth affair and sports.