Budget 2018: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley allocates Rs 2196 crore to Sports in Union Budget

# The Sports Authority of India (SAI), entrusted with the task of organising national camps, has been granted a total of Rs 429.56 crore, compared to last year’s Rs 481.

# The National Service Scheme has received an allocation of Rs 160 crore, compared to Rs 144 crore last year.

# The National Youth Corps has been given been granted Rs 80 crore, compared to Rs 60 crore last year.

# The assistance to national sports federations has been increased to Rs 342 crore from Rs 302.18 crore.

# The biggest department to benefit with the increase of budget for sports is Khelo India project which has been alloted Rs 520.09 crore from Rs 320 crore last year.

# Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangathan has received Rs 255 crore in the new budget which is 40 crore more than last year.

# Sports and Youth Services has received an amount of Rs 1935.15 crore in comparison to last year’s Rs 1712.06 crore.

# The allocation for the scheme for the Benefit of North Eastern Area, has been revised to Rs 173.16 crore this year as compared to Rs 148.4 crore last year.

# Enhancement of Sports Facility in Jammu and Kashmir, however, saw a decline of Rs 25 crore. The department has been allotted Rs 50 crore as compared to last years’s Rs 75 crore.

The hike in the Sports budget comes at a time when Indian athletes are preparing for the Commonwealth Games and Asian Games this year. This will be followed by Tokyo Olympics in 2020.

It is also a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, “When we say India has to grow on the world stage, it does not only mean having a strong army and powerful economy. It includes people of India distinguishing themselves as scientists, artists and sportspersons. Today, we have in our midst eminent sportspersons. I am sure they would have faced many obstacles but they did not give up and went on to distinguish themselves. I am confident that India will scale these heights. I trust our youth.”