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The Union Minister for Youth Affairs and Sports, Shri Sunil Dutt has called upon the States to arrive at a consensus on the issue of the proposal to place Sports on the Concurrent List of the Constitution to meet the expectations of over a billion countrymen to make the country excel in sports. He was addressing the National Conference of the Youth Affairs and Sports Ministers and Secretaries of the States and Union Territories here today. Shri Sunil Dutt said that this proposal has had a long chequered history but the time has come when we should rise above the political considerations and should make a united effort to improve the conditions of sports in the country.
Shri Dutt said that the concern of the common man about the functioning of National Federations which are charged with the development of various games and the run up to the next Commonwealth games and Asian Games in 2006 and the Commonwealth Games 2010, makes it imperative that the Centre and the States work together and meet the expectation of the people that the nation excels in sports.
Referring to the practice of sports disciplines having been classified as “Priority, General and Others”, the Minister said that such a straitjacketed system leaves no incentive for improvement in performance and may also lead to complacency in some disciplines. “We have therefore decided to review the classification of the disciplines so as to link assistance with performance in Olympic/global competition and certain important international events”, he said and added, “While remaining alive to the preferences given to our rural and indigenous sports, the assistance given for a sports discipline would be primarily linked to premium on excellence and performance”.
The Minister also said that assistance for National Tournaments would also be linked to holding of Tournaments at State and District levels. Similarly, assistance to senior level Tournament would be linked to significant incentive for holding junior and sub junior level Tournaments, he added.
The Minister also announced that the Government is in the process of setting up of a National Anti Doping Agency as a registered Government society in the line with the world- wide move on the part of Governments to be pro active in the fight against doping.
Speaking on the issues relating to the youth, the Minister said that the Centre is in the process of a formulating a National Plan of Action under National Youth Policy, 2003. It may be recalled that an intersectoral national committee has already been set up headed by the Secretary, Youth Affairs and Sports, Smt. Meenaxi Anand Chaudhary to finalize this Action Plan.
Emphasizing the need to take care of the youth of the country, the Minister said that youth are the reservoir of human capital and the future growth of the country depends largely on the strategy of developing this capital. He said that the challenge before us is to inculcate the values of democracy and secularism in our youth. He said that the main task before us is to develop the youth, who comprises of 40% of our population, as a healthy, capable and competitive resource, empowered and willing to capture the global opportunities. This he said would require effective cooperation, coordination and understanding between the Centre and the States.
He said there is a need for all the States to formulate their own youth and sports polices in consultation with all the stakeholders. State Plans of Action under the policies should also be formulated for the speedy implementation of the policies, the Minister added.
In another major initiative, the Minister informed that a new scheme to set up National Youth Centre in Delhi and State Youth Centres in the State Capitals has been proposed in the 10th Five Year Plan. He asked the States to explore the possibility of allocating land in the vicinity of youth hostels. He said that setting up of District Youth Resource Centres on the similar pattern would also be considered in selected districts.
Shri Sunil Dutt also informed that the Rajiv Gandhi National Institute on Youth Development (RGNIYD) has been revitalized and energized with four new divisions and it would soon be able to function as the think tank for youth development and turned into a Centre of Excellence. Referring to another initiative of his Ministry, Shri Dutt said that we have launched the Gandhi Gramodaya Sankalp Abhiyan on 2nd Ocotber 2004 under which 500 villages have been adopted from each district with the intention of making them self-reliant in a year.
A large number of Ministers in-charge of Youth Affairs & Sports and the Secretaries are participating in the one-day meet.
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