Union Minister of Youth Affairs & Sports Shri Anurag Singh Thakur virtually interacted with Sports Ministers of respective States and Union Territories across India today. Following the major success of the Olympics and Paralympics in Tokyo, today’s meeting was to draw the road map to prepare our athletes for the future Olympics, Asian Games and CommonwealthGames and how States are contributing to promote sports at grass root level.During the virtual meeting Secretary of Department of Sports Shri Ravi Mittal was also present.
During the discussion, the Minister asked the States and UTs to send their feedback on making a common pool of cash awards for the athletes where both the Central and the State Governments can accumulate the funds, so that players of all states will get equal benefit after winning medals. Sports is a State subject and the overall motive of the interaction was to urge them to organize sporting events across rural and urban areas for able-bodied and para-athletes as well as play a key role in the identification of talents at grassroots level. The promotion of school level sports and support to the School Games Federation of India (SGFI) was another key point of discussion.
After the meeting, Shri Anurag Thakur said that today’s meeting was very fruitful and we have agreed to meet at least twice in a year to evaluate the progress and how we can come up with better infrastructure, more coaches and more trainers andphysiotherapist. Shri Thakur added that we will be holding regional meetings in various zones. Apart from that we will be looking to createa Dashboard, where the data related to sports infrastructure will be available of each state, district, block. The dashboard will give all relevant information like how many coachesare available, what kind of sports will be played in those indoor stadium or outdoor gamesetc and sll these details will be available at the click of a button.
Shri Thakur also said that there will be a talent hunt programme for various sports,so that we can catch them young and train them well for future events. Shri Thakur further said that we haverequested the states to have more events and competitions to give greater exposure to the athletes, so that they can participate inmore events at the State level, District level and the National level.
Shri Thakur added that as Prime Minister says about cooperative federalism, all the states will come together along with national sports federations, educational institutes, central government as well as other stakeholders to prepare our athletes for the future championships and also to create better infrastructure to win more medals in the future.
At present, there are 24 KISCEs across 23 States and UTs while 360 KICs have opened across various districts in the country. Shri Thakur requested the States to contribute to their full capacity in giving the future champions of India with all the crucial amenities including best of coaching, infrastructure, medical facilities.
The Fit India movement, launched on National Sports Day 2019 by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, also has been a game changer in inculcating the habit of fitness through various campaigns conducted thereon, like the Fit India Freedom Run, the Fit India Mobile App, Fit India Quiz, etc. Shri Thakur requested the State and UT Sports Ministers to participate and promote the above campaigns. Shri Thakur also urged States and UTs to send in proposals to open up KISCEs, KICs as well as academies to further the cause of strengthening the sports ecosystem of the nation.
