Collective efforts required to put India on world sports platform

Sports Ministry’s budget increased by more than 240 percent in the last ten years

By Jaswant Claudius (Senior Sports Journalist)

A person who understands the importance of sports in society proves to be a boon for the coming generation. Education, business, art, science, communication, health, housing, drinking water, defense, food, transport etc. are such areas which are directly related to the daily life of man. In today’s hectic life, if a person is not physically healthy, then assume that he has not understood the difference between the art of living and success.

The interesting thing is that when we talk about sports, most people understand that going to the playground and doing exercise or workout is everything, but the truth is something else. Every day as soon as we bring our feet under the bed, we actually start physical activities. When we walk inside the house, pick up a glass of water, we start the practice of sports. There are 47 types of events in athletics, among which running, jumping, skipping, throwing, walking are the main ones. In your daily life at home, you get involved in some or the other event of athletics. Hence, sports are the basis of life. It is the way to remain physically fit.

Thus, we see sports going on in the life of every person as a physical activity. On often doing a comparative study of the population of our country and the achievement of our players at the international level, it is clear that the players of our country are really talented but they lag behind other countries in terms of excellent infrastructure and training. Sports is a central subject in India, in such a situation, the future of the players of our country depends on the guidelines and budget allocation of the Central Government. Since independence, efforts have been made to promote sports in our country. Major international multi-sport events include Asian Games in 1951, 1982 and Commonwealth Games in 2010. From 1961, the tradition of awarding Arjuna Award, later Bharat Ratna, Padma Bhushan, Bhushan and Padma Shri to sportspersons for special achievements in the field of sports began. The tradition of giving cash, land, government jobs, public sector undertakings and employment in private industrial institutions to sportspersons or a team for their special achievements also began. Now the tradition of giving national level awards to the best sportspersons, coaches and active sportspersons after retirement has also begun. Indian Olympic Association and national and state sports associations associated with it are also being provided funds for the upliftment of sports and sportspersons. Narendra Modi has been the Prime Minister of the country since 2014, since then, through the Indian Sports Authority, there has been a systematic process of creating awareness about sports in our country through Khelo India for emerging players and providing modern infrastructure, training, proper food to the players. Provision of funds in the budget is necessary for all this. In this direction, the Sports Ministry of the Government of India has allocated about Rs 2600 crore for the world of sports from 2014 to 2025-26 only for the Sports Ministry. In 2014-15, the budget of the Sports and Youth Welfare Department was Rs 1643.00 crore, in which about Rs 650 crore was for sports. Now in 2025-26, a budget of Rs 3794.30 crore has been kept for the Sports and Youth Welfare Department. In this, the budget of the Sports Ministry, which was about Rs 650 crore in 2014-15, has now become about Rs 2600.00 crore. This means that the current central Narendra Modi government has provided sufficient budget to make India a prestigious place in the world sports arena. In such a situation, it is a challenge for our country’s sports administrators, politicians, parents, players, trainers, etc., all the people associated with sports to select talented players from every corner of India, especially Olympic sports and tradi