India winning more medals now result of govt’s proactive push: Anurag Thakur in LS

Thakur said through National Sports Development Code and other measures, the government was bringing about great changes in sports administration.

“We are promoting role of sportspersons in associations. Now, we can see that women have 50% voting rights in the sports organisations. Sports is a state subject and states have to play an important role in promotion of sports. Many members have raised the issue of transparency in sports associations. We have taken every necessary step so that National Sports Code is implemented strictly,” Thakur said.

On the issue of assistance to sportspersons, Thakur said, “Earlier [before 2014] in 16 years, only Rs 86 crore assistance was given to sportspersons. In the past eight years we have increased this amount to Rs 300 crore. We have also given out Rs 158 crore to former champions in various ways.”

The minister said more than 27,000 players have participated in the Khelo India programme and during these events, 12 national records were broken, of which 11 were broken by women.

He said sports competitions organised by MPs in some parts of the country have been very successful and urged all parliamentarians to organise such events.

On sports infrastructure, Thakur said, “We are building 298 sports infrastructures across the country at a cost of Rs 2,736 crore. Earlier, only Rs 600 crore was being spent. We have started opening 1,000 Khelo India centres in rural areas of which 700 have been completed. We have made an inventory of over 16,000 indoor stadiums, open grounds, shooting ranges, athletic tracks or hockey grounds. It has taken a long time and still some states have not provided data.”

To prevent doping controversies, Thakur said, the government had tied up with National Forensic Science University for testing of nutritional supplements so that sportspersons do not end up consuming any prohibited substance and get banned.

BJP member Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, who is also chairman of the Indian Wrestling Federation, demanded that since India did not have a national sports, wrestling should be declared as the one.

“Pakistan has a budget of Rs 10 lakh and our budget is Rs 19 crore. No country is providing as many facilities in wrestling as India is,” Singh said, adding how two gold medallist wrestlers from Japan had been appointed as mere clerks.

Olympic medallist and former sports minister Rajyavardhan Rathore asked Thakur to ensure that such infrastructure facilities which are being built only by central funds are completed quickly and all sports vacancies are filled through a central agency.

Participating in the discussion earlier, Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said, “There is no dearth of sporting talent and potential in the country but we do poorly on the global stage. The government has failed to identify and utilise this potential. The budgetary allocation for sports is too meagre to achieve anything. The allocation for Nehru Yuva Kendra has been reduced. The Khelo India campaign started with great euphoria, but actual expenditure under the programme has been consistently declining. The allocated money is not being spent.”

Ritesh Pandey of the BSP raised the issue of underutilisation of funds, shortage of coaches and poor talent utilisation. “Sports associations have become a den of corruption. A high-level committee should be set up to also examine how associations are promoting caste-based discrimination. The scheduled castes and tribes have great pool of talent, it must be tapped,” he said.

Congress’s Kodikunil Suresh focused on water sports in Kerala. JDU’s Kaushalendra Kumar asked for stadium in every panchayat and BJP’s Pushpendra Singh Chandel demanded that schools and colonies that do not have a playground must not get recognition.