Padma Award Demand To K D Jadhav Raised Again

 The demand to award Padma Vibhushan to K D Jadhav, independent India's first athlete to win an Olympic medal in individual sport (Wrestling), has been made again. Jadhav's son, Ranjit Jadhav has urged the Sports Ministry that his father be given the honour posthumously. Some Members of Parliament (MPs) from Maharashtra have also supported the demand.

However, this year the Sports Ministry has not recommended any name in the sports category for the Padma awards to the Home Ministry. It was being expected that the Sports Ministry would give names of the athletes who performed well and won medals in the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics but that didn't happen.

 K D Jhadav: His Life, Struggle and Achievements

 Khashaba Dadasaheb Jhadav was the first Indian athlete of independent India to win an Olympic medal in an individual sport. He had won bronze in Wrestling at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics.

Born on 15 January 1926 in the Satara district of Maharashtra, Jadhav belonged to a Dalit family. His father, Dadasaheb Jhadav was a wrestling coach. He was the one who introduced Jadhav to the world of wrestling when he was just 5 years old.

At the age of 8, Jadhav defeated the local champion in just 2 minutes and emerged as the undisputed champion of his area.

He also contributed to the Quit India Movement in 1942, involved in providing hidings to revolutionaries and circulating letters against the British Raj.

His first sporting experience on an international stage came in 1948 at London Olympics. Facing financial constraints, Jadhav's journey was funded by the Maharaja of Kolhapur. Trained by former lightweight World Champion Rees Gardner, Jadhav finished 6th in the flyweight section, which didn't make him win any medal but considered a surprisingly good performance being his first time.

He trained hard for the next Olympics. In 1952, at Helsinki Olympics, he defeated wrestlers of Canada, Mexico and Germany but could not get through the Soviet Union wrestler Rashid Mammadbegov. He had to satisfy himself with bronze. Still, he created history by becoming the first Indian to win a medal at Olympics in an individual sport. Before him, India got Olympic medals in Hockey, a team sport.

Continuing the winning streak, he defeated the World Champion from Japan when the Japanese wrestlers toured India in 1953. In 1955, Jadhav joined the Bombay Police force as Sup Inspector and retired as Assistant Police Commissioner in 1983, serving for 27 years.

 The Neglect:

Even after contributing this much to sports, wrestling and public service, his struggles did not come to an end.

After retirement from Police service, he had to fight for pension benefits. Also facing the neglect of the sports federation, he spend the final stages of his life in poverty.  In 1984, he met with a tragic road accident and died on 14 August that year.

After years of efforts by his relatives and people who wanted his contributions to be recognized, Jadhav was awarded the Chhatrapati Puraskar by the Maharashtra government posthumously for 1992-93.  the central government gave him the Arjun Award in 2001, almost 50 years later of his Olympic win.

An Unfulfilled Demand

Jadhav is the only Olympics medal winner, since the 1952 Olympics till the 2016 Olympics, who didn't get awarded the Padma award.

There have been demands earlier also by some of the MPs to give him the award but nothing fruitful came out.

Ranjit Jadhav has again raised the issue and getting support from some Maharashtra MPs. What is left to be seen is the government's decision.

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