All India Council of Sports urged Union Government and State Governments to enhance the sports budget

All India Council of Sports advocated for setting up of Specialised Sports Academies for physically different sportspersons (Paralympics & Deaflympics) and Intellectually different sportspersons (Special Olympics).

Khel Today Bureau

New Delhi:The All India Council of Sports urged the Union Government and State Governments to enhance the sports budget to prepare the country’s athletes for the upcoming international competitions as well as for promotion of sports in the country at par with other leading countries.

14th Meeting of All India Council of Sports (AICS) held on 27th May 2022 at 11.00 am in the Conference Hall of AICS, Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium Complex in New Delhi under the chairmanship of Prof. Vijay Kumar Malhotra, President, AICS.

The All India Council of Sports urged the Union Government and State Governments to enhance the sports budget to prepare the country’s athletes for the upcoming international competitions as well as for promotion of sports in the country at par with other leading countries.

Prof. Malhotra said that India is celebrating for its best ever medal tally in the recently concluded Olympic Games, Paralympic Games and Deaflympic Games. Best ever medal tally in Olympics shows that India’s is emerging as a sports power.

Such an achievement is no doubt the result of your able leadership, guidance and moral support to Indian athletes. Government of India is immensely working on identifying and promoting sporting excellence since 2015 and the result we all seen in Tokyo Olympics, Paralymics and Deaflympics said Prof. Malhotra.

Prof. Malhotra said that indeed performance of our sportspersons have improved but if compared to the showing of athletes from other countries it is clearly understood that we need to develop and market sports at the grass root level. A study has revealed that those countries who were on the top of medal tally invested heavily and prudently in building up the sports culture while we have a very limited budget for sports although the present NDA Government has increased the Sports Budget compared to the previous UPA Governments.

All the Members present in the meeting urged that along with the Union Sports Budget, the State Governments should also enhance their Sports Budget especially in view of the fact the Sports is a State Subject and it is the primary duty of the States to promote sports in their respective states.

Prof. Malhotra informed the Members that State Governments have been requested to consider implementing the suggestions made by AICS for the benefit of physically different sportspersons (Paralympic & Deaflympic Games) and Intellectually different sportsperson (Special Olympic Games) viz. launching of special talent hunt programme, setting up of special sports, developing suitable infrastructure, providing specially designed equipments, Prize Money and employment at par with the general athletes and providing adequate separate budgetary allocation for them from regular sports budget.

Prof. Malhotra further informed that few State Governments like Sikkim, Uttar Pradesh & Andhara Pradesh have implemented prize money and employment related suggestions of AICS and many other states have assured to implement these suggestion in near future.

Other issues like Special drive for recruitment of sportspersons in Territorial Army, Promotion of Sports in remote inaccessible regions in tribal, coastal & hill areas so as to tap the natural sports talent at grass root level, Appointment of Talent Search experts for early identification of young talents and preparing them for national and international competitions and Need to introduce Sports Science in all India Institute of Ayurveda and to develop Syllabus for the same were also discussed in the meeting.

List of Members and special invitees present in the meeting :

Members: Dr. Deepa Malik, Shri Maha Singh Rao, Shri Sushil Doshi, C. Honnappa, Ms. Arunima Sinha, Ms. Prashanti Singh, Ms. Anjali Bhagwat, and Shri Limba Ram.

Special Invitees : Prof. Tanuja Nesari, Shri Tarlochan Singh, ex-MP, Shri Virendra Sachdeva, Lt. Gen. Rajiv Bhalla, Brig. Bhadhuria (TA), Col. Amrik Singh, Shri Ashok Bedi.