Rajya Sabha
Development of sports infrastructure is an issue being given a lot of importance by the Government. Several methods to ensure the development are being implemented. One of them being private-Public Partnership. There are two existing schemes that focus on the Private-Public Partnership mode for the development of sports infrastructure in the country viz., the National Sports Development Fund Scheme and the State Sports Academy Scheme. Under the National Sports Development Fund Scheme, there is a provision to accept contributions from different entities , including corporates. On receipt of such contributions, the Government also contributes on a matching basis for augmenting the corpus. However, there has been negligible contribution by the corporate sector to NSDF. The objects of the fund include creation of sports infrastructure. The State Sports Academy Scheme involves a financing pattern in the ratio of 51:25:24 between the Private sponsor, the Central Government and the State Government. The Central Government contribution is restricted to 25% of the capital cost subject to a ceiling of Rs.218 lakhs ; and 25% of the recurring costs subject to a maximum of Rs.17 lakhs per annum for a period of 3 years. The cost of the land is not included in the scheme and is required to be provided gratis by the State Government or the sponsor.
Apart from this the Sports Authority of India has also developed extensive infrastructure for sports training which is being further expanded and upgraded. Emphasis is also being given for maximum utilization of the infrastructure created in different parts of the country for events such as the National Games , SAF Games , Afro-Asian Games , etc. , and under the State Governments Schemes. All this is in addition to the proposed creation of State-of-the-art infrastructure in the context of the Commonwealth Games 2010 and Commonwealth Youth Games 2008.
The Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports is also considering the launching of a scheme – “Panchayat Yuva Khel Abhiyan” with the objective of developing basic sports infrastructure, and promoting games and sports activities, at the village/sub-district level, both as an essential ingredient of the development of the Youth and to significantly expand the catchment for sporting and nurturing of sports talent. Consultations are being held in this regard with all the stakeholders concerned with a view to finalizing the proposal.
This information was given by Shri Mani Shankar Aiyar, Minister of Panchayati Raj, Youth Affairs & Sports and DoNER in the Rajya Sabha today in a written reply to a question by Shri Rajeev Chandrasekhar and Shri Motiur Rahman.
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(Release ID :27191)