New Delhi, 29-November-2012: The Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Youth Affairs & Sports Shri Jitendra Singh has said that details of sports promotional schemes of Sports Authority of India (SAI) are as follows:
(i) Under the “National Sports Talent Contest Scheme (NSTC)”, children in the age group of 8 to 14 years are trained in indigenous games & martial arts;
(ii) Under the “Army Boys Sports Company Scheme (ABSC)”, children in the age group of 8 to 16 are imparted training in 13 sports disciplines;
(iii) SAI’s Training Centres(STC): There are 58 STC residential training Centres across the country and the children in the age group of 12 to 18 are imparted training in 28 sports disciplines.
(iv) Under the “Scheme of Special Area Games(SAG)”, children in the age group of 12 to 18 years from inaccessible tribal, rural and coastal areas of the country are imparted training in modern competitive sports on both residential and non-residential basis. There are 20 SAG Centres across the country.
(v) Under the “Centre of Excellence (COE)”, trainees in the age group of 12 to 25 and above are imparted training. Under the COE, those sportspersons who have shown performance at National level competitions are trained for preparing national teams for international mega events like Olympic, Asian Games, Commonwealth Games, etc.
(vi) The “Come and Play Scheme” was introduced in 2011-12 for spotting and nurturing talent in the age group of 8-17 years in the SAI’s stadia in Delhi and its regional centres in different parts of the country in all popular Sports disciplines like Archery, Athletics, Badminton, Basketball, Boxing, Cricket, Fencing, Football, Gymnastics, Handball, Judo, Kabaddi, Lawn Tennis, Swimming, Table Tennis, Taekwando & Wrestling.
In a written reply in the Rajya Sabha today Shri Jitendra Singh said, scheme-wise details of number of medals won by SAI’s trainees at national and international tournaments/games during 2009-10 to 2011-12 are given in Annexure.
Study on poor State of sports
The Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Youth Affairs & Sports Shri Jitendra Singh has said that the Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports reviews the position about the state of sports in its meetings with the State Government and National Sports Federations. During the Annual Conference of State Sports and Youth Affairs Ministers, various issues including development of sports infrastructure in States are discussed. Meetings are also held at regular intervals with the National Sports Federations (NSFs). Further, Long Term Development Plans (LTDPs) for promotion and development of specific sports disciplines are finalized in consultation with concerned NSFs.
In a written reply in the Rajya Sabha today Shri Jitendra Singh said, since ‘Sports is a State subject, primary responsibility for development of sports is that of the State Governments. However, the Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports and Sports Authority of India supplement the efforts of the States for broadbasing of sports facilities in rural areas, the Ministry had introduced a centrally sponsored scheme titled ‘Scheme of Panchayat Yuva Krida and Khel Abhiyan (PYKKA)’ in 2008-09 aiming at creation/development of basic playfields in all village panchayats and block panchayats of the country in a phased manner over a period of ten years and conducting sports competitions from block level to national level. In 2010-11, Government introduced a central sector scheme titled ‘Scheme for Assistance for the creation of Urban Sports Infrastructure’ (USIS). Under the USIS, assistance is given to States/UTs for construction of multi-purpose halls and laying of synthetic athletic track, synthetic hockey field and synthetic turf for football ground.
For promotion and development of specific sports disciplines, the Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports and SAI supplement the efforts of NSFs under their various schemes, the Minister added.
Honing sports talent of tribals
The Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Youth Affairs & Sports Shri Jitendra Singh has said that Sports Authority of India (SAI) has a provision for posting trained coaches of National Institute of Sports (NIS) at its training Centres across the country including at state and district coaching centres run by the State Governments on demand.
In a written reply in the Rajya Sabha today Shri Jitendra Singh said, as SAI has been facing acute shortage of coaches in different Sports disciplines for its own various training Centres/programmes, a policy decision has been taken to post coaches for SAI’s own Schemes only.
The Minister said, SAI is implementing various Sports Promotion Schemes such as National Sports Talent Contest (NSTC), Army Boys Sports Companies (ABSC), SAI Training Centres (STC), Special Area Games (SAG), Centres of Excellence (COE) and Come & Play to nurture sports talents to achieve excellence at National and International level. The Special Area Games Schemes being implemented by SAI is specially oriented towards scouting and nurturing sports talent in rural, hilly, tribal and coastal areas of the Country.
Press Information Bureau
Government of India
Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports
