Rajnath approves cash rewards for military personnel who won medals in Asian Games, Asian Para Games

Defence minister Rajnath Singh has approved cash rewards of up to Rs 25 lakh each to the armed forces personnel who bagged medals in last year’s Asian Games and Asian Para Games. For both Asian Games as well as Asian Para Games, gold medal winners will receive a cash reward of Rs 25 lakh each, silver medal winners Rs 15 lakh each and bronze medal winners Rs 10 lakh each, the defence ministry said on Saturday.

“Defence minister Rajnath Singh has approved a financial incentive for the armed forces personnel who bagged medals in the 19th Asian Games and the 4th Asian Para Games held in Hangzhou, China in September-October 2023,” it said.

Several service athletes had made the nation proud in the games and Singh had felicitated them for their outstanding performance.

He had also approved cash rewards to 45 medal winners, including seven para athletes.

“These 45 athletes won nine gold, 18 silver and 17 bronze medals in the Asian Games and one gold, four silver and two bronze medals in the Asian Para Games,” the ministry said in a Statement. “The financial incentive, announced by the Ministry of Defence for the armed forces personnel for the first time, will further motivate these athletes to exhibit an even better performance at qualifying events of the Paris Olympics Games 2024 for which they are currently preparing,” it said.

India’s annual defence production is expected to touch a whopping Rs 3 lakh crore and exports of military hardware is poised to reach Rs 50,000 crore, Rajnath Singh said on Saturday.

In an address at a defence conclave, Singh, delving into structural defence reforms, said the three services used to work in “silos” earlier but now they are ready with better coordination to deal with every challenge jointly.