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Rooting for rural sports
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An ambitious programme by the Centre will give rural sports a big boost
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PHOTO: CH. VIJAYA BHASKAR
BACK TO THE ROOTS Efforts are on to see that traditional sports are kept alive
Trinidad & Tobago, Togo, Ivory Coast. These are the hitherto little known nations which are now in the news by qualifying for the ongoing 2006 World Cup soccer finals in Germany. But, India, a giant in terms of its size and population, is No.117 in FIFA world rankings.
According to a study by the Union Sports Ministry's Concept Plan, a staggering 30.5 of the 40 croreIndian youth have nil or only marginal access to organised sports and games. Of these 20 crore boys and girls are in rural areas.
With the intent of bringing this vital segment into the sports arenas, the Panchayati Raj Yuva Shakti Khel-khood Abhiyan is most likely to be launched by the Centre very soon in coordination with the respective State governments at an estimated annual budget of Rs.170 crore (five-year outlay being 850 crores).
The plan envisaged by former Sports Secretary to the Maharashtra Government, S. Shankar Menon, hopes to identify an average of 10 talented sportspersons in each of the 6000 blocks. This will be in addition to SAI's present plans of expanding its talent base.
Significantly, it is not the State Sports Authorities which will be directly involved in this Centrally-sponsored scheme but the 2.5 lakh Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangathans spread all over the country which incidentally are likely to monitor the day-to-day sports activities.
A one-time grant of Rs.50,000 to each Panchayat will focus on preparing new playgrounds, involving Panchayats for maintenance, specific gender budgeting by each Panchayat, identification of competition games at block and district-level, fixing of annual competitions at district and village panchayat level and Gram Sabhas will be sensitised to ensure inclusion of women and weaker sections in sports activities.
Moreover, each Panchayat will be given an annual grant of Rs.10,000 for maintenance, Rs.25,000 per annum for popularisation of sports, talent-scouting, Rs 10,000 for organising annual block level rural sports meets, Rs 50,000 per annum for district-level events.
The key for the success of this ambitious sports programme perhaps lies in the fact that the 50,000 village panchayats will dispose of the grants in accordance with the procedures worked out by the Centre and the State governments, which share the funding with special concession given to the North-Eastern States as well.
This is truly taking sports to the grassroots!
V.V. SUBRAHMANYAM
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