THE MINISTER OF STATE (INDEPENDENT CHARGE) FOR
YOUTH AFFAIRS & SPORTS
(SHRI VIJAY GOEL)
(a) to (c): ‘Sports’ is a State subject and the primary responsibility of development of Sports rests with the State Governments and the concerned National Sports Federations (NSFs) including organizing training camps for football at village level. NSFs are responsible and accountable for the overall management, direction, control, regulation, promotion and development of respective sports disciplines. The Government only supplements the efforts of recognized NSFs, including the sports discipline of football, by providing financial assistance for training and participation of sportspersons/teams in international tournaments abroad, holding of national and international tournaments in India, purchase of equipment, training of national teams/sportspersons under Indian and foreign coaches with requisite technical & scientific back up. Government has recognized All India Football Federation (AIFF) which is responsible for promotion and development of football in the country. Also Government has placed football in the “Priority” Category so that it gets maximum assistance under the Scheme of Assistance to the NSFs.
To popularize football in the country, the Government, in collaboration with FIFA, has launched an outreach program named “ Mission XI Million” whereby various programmes are to be held in 30 cities in the country in the run up to FIFA Under-17 Football World Cup 2017. This programme is aimed to associate atleast 11 million students, parents, coaches, teachers etc. by way of holding workshops, seminars, contact programs, competitions etc. During 2016-17, an amount of Rs. 30.00 crores was allocated by the Government to effectively implement this programme in the country. During the current financial year Rs. 10.00 crores has been earmarked for this Programme.
Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, through Sports Authority of India (SAI) is also implementing the following sports promotional schemes across the country to identify talented sports persons in the age group of 8-25 years and nurture them to excel at national and international competitions:
? National Sports Talent Contest Scheme (NSTC)
? Army Boys Sports Company (ABSC)
? SAI Training Centre (STC)
? Special Area Games (SAG)
? Extension Centre of STC/SAG
? Centre of Excellence (COE)
? National Sports Academies (NSA)
Football is one of the sports discipline among 27 sports discipline being implemented by SAI in the above mentioned Sports Promotional Schemes.
In order to promote Football at the grass root level and to excel at National and International competition, under SAI Schemes, the talented Football players in the age group ranging from 8-25 years are identified, and trained in SAI Sports Centres.
To promote football discipline on single discipline basis, Sports Authority of India (SAI) has introduced Regional Football Academy (RFA) Scheme and accordingly 04 such RFAs have been set up at New Delhi, Thiruvananthapuram, Imphal and Kolkata. At present, 129 talented football players are being trained with international standard facilities.
(d) Funds released under the Scheme for Assistance to NSFs for the promotion and development of football during the last three years and current year are as under:
<pre>Rupees in lakhs
2014-15
2015-16
2016-17
2017-18 (up to June, 2017
131.63
154.30
909.53
359.27</pre>
(e) For development and promotion of sports, including football, in schools and colleges, the Government has recognized School Games Federation of India (SGFI) and Association of Indian Universities (AIU) respectively and provides them same level of assistance as are available to National Sports Federations (NSFs) in ‘Priority’ Category.
(f) The Football World Cups are allotted by International Football Federation (FIFA) on the basis of biddings by the national bodies. Government has granted permission to AIFF for hosting of FIFA Under-17 Football World Cup which is scheduled to be held in India in October, 2017. Besides that the Government has not received any other proposal from AIFF in the recent past to grant permission for bidding to host any of Football World Cup.
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