new delhi sports minister kiren rijiju on saturday officially announced a massive hike in the prize money in four of the seven categories of the national sports and adventure awards which were given away in a virtual ceremony this year due to the covid19 pandemicthe prize money for the rajiv gandhi khel ratna award has been increased to a whopping rs 25 lakh from the previous amount of rs 75 lakh while arjuna award has been enhanced to rs 15 lakh from rs 5 lakhthe dhronacharya lifetime awardees who were earlier given rs 5 lakh will now be richer by rs 15 lakh while dhronacharya regular winners will be given rs 10 lakh instead of rs 5 lakhthe prize money of dhyan chand award has been increased to rs 10 lakh from rs 5 lakhthe hike will come into effect from this yearthe prize money for the sports awards was last reviewed in 2008 these amounts should be reviewed once every 10 years at least if professionals in every field have seen an enhancement in their earnings why not our sportspersons rijiju said in a releasestar cricketer rohit sharma wrestler vinesh phogat womens hockey captain rani rampal paddler manika batra and rio paralympic goldwinning high jumper mariyappan thangavelu are part of an unprecedented five picked for the rajiv gandhi khel ratna award this yearbesides a whopping 27 athletes have been chosen for the arjuna award while 13 coaches will be conferred with the dronacharya award and 15 others have been shortlisted for the dhyan chand honour