PIB Delhi – ‘Sports’ being a State subject, the responsibility to promote sports culture at the grass root level rests primarily with the respective State/Union Territory Governments. The Union Government supplements their efforts. However, this Ministry runs a Central Sector Scheme, namely, the ‘Khelo India – National Programme for Development of Sports’ Scheme (Khelo India Scheme). Under the ‘Talent Search and Development’ component of the Khelo India Scheme, talent search is organised at the grassroots level in two categories sports potential talent identification and proven talent identification. The country has been divided into 05 zones, namely North, East, West, South, and North-East Zones to carry out talent identification. Grassroot Zonal Talent Identification Committees are formed to reach out to each and every corner of the country to shortlist the potential and proven athletes.
Further, under the National Sports Talent Contest (NSTC) scheme, talented children are selected in the age group of 8-14 years and they are trained through a well-structured system in the Sports Authority of India (SAI) Centres. The performance of the trainees in the battery of tests and achievements at the time of induction is clearly documented. The scouting of the talent in indigenous games is done on the basis of open competitions among participants. Selection is done by a selection committee consisting of representatives of SAI, National Sports Federations (NSFs), SAI coaches, guru/mentor of the concerned game, etc. The sports persons identified on this basis are offered admission after age verification, medical examination, etc. In order to provide quality coaching of global standards to sportspersons, SAI recruits elite and medal-winning sportspersons as coaches.
Further, as a part of the Government’s vision to strengthen the sports ecosystem in the country at the grassroots level, a low-cost, effective sports training mechanism has been developed with past “Champion Athletes” as Coaches and Mentors for the trainees at the various Khelo India Centres across the country which would also ensure a sustained source of income for them. Under the ‘Utilisation and creation/upgradation of sports infrastructure’ component of the Khelo India Scheme, this Ministry has sanctioned two sports infrastructure projects, namely, “Construction of Swimming Pool at Swarnim Gujarat Sports University”, Valavav, District Vadodara, at an amount of ₹ 5.00 crore and “Construction of Sports Complex at Naranpura”, District Ahmedabad, at an amount of ₹583.99 crore, in the State of Gujarat during the last three years. This information was given by Minister of Youth Affairs & Sports Shri Anurag Thakur in a written reply in Lok Sabha today.
