Rs. 1,756 crore for revised ‘Khelo India’ project
September 21, 2017
20 universities to be nominated as hubs of sporting excellence
The Union Cabinet, chaired by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has approved a total budget of Rs. 1,756 crore for the next three years for the revised project of ‘Khelo India’, which would aim to combine ‘sports for all’ and ‘sports for excellence’.
As part of the drive, every year 1000 talented youngsters, in specific sports disciplines, would be identified and given a financial support of Rs. 5 lakh each per year, for eight consecutive years.
In a release issued here on Wednesday, the Union Government stressed that 20 universities across the country would be nominated as hubs of sporting excellence, and help the students pursue both education and competitive sports simultaneously.
The ambitious programme aims to cover about 20 crore children in the age group of 10 to 18 in a national physical fitness drive and support them suitably to achieve the target.
The attempt would also be to tune the standard of competition at the school and colleges level, and help the interested students gain access to competitive sports.
Technology would be put to maximum use for sports promotion through mobile apps and interactive websites towards achieving maximum utilisation of sports infrastructure, among other things.
The government views the whole exercise in sports, as a way towards gradual development of individuals, communities, economy and eventually the nation.
The restructured ‘Khelo India’ scheme is expected to have a favourable impact on the sports ecosystem, in terms of infrastructure, community sports, talent identification, coaching for excellence, competition structure and sports economy.
