NEW DELHI: The Union Youth Affairs and Sports Ministry is in the process of finalising a proposal for integration of sports with primary education to discover talent, particularly in rural areas.

The "Panchayat Yuva Khel Abhiyan" is the revival of the rural sports infrastructure scheme of the Ministry that was wound up in 2005-06, Union Youth Affairs and Sports Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar told presspersons here on Monday. The scheme aims at synergising sports with primary education schemes including the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan and at the level of Navodaya Vidyalaya. The Ministry has discussed the concept with the Union Human Resource Development Ministry.

Quoting University Grants Commission statistics, he said of 650-700 million people up to 35 years of age, only 50 million have access to organised sports, 30 million through schools and the remaining through sports clubs. Again, close to 450 million youth live in the rural areas that lack sports infrastructure. The scheme envisages synergising the two organisational networks — 2.5 lakh youth clubs and Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangathans and 2.5 lakh Panchayati Raj institutions.

He said the non-availability of playgrounds, lack of basic infrastructure and sponsoring of tournaments in rural areas demanded remedy.

"Though sports is a State subject and the State must provide the infrastructure we will try and help the local governments in providing basic facilities at the rural level. I am suggesting convergence of various rural development programmes, including the NREG scheme for the purpose. We can get basic playgrounds made in all panchayats by this way," he said.

Not too happy with the Sports Authority of India for coaching just 10,000 sportspersons from a country of a billion people, he pointed out that Cuba — with a population of less than that of the national capital region — trained 10 times more the number trained here. "Organised sports is not reaching the corner where talent is found," he added.

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