Can’t compete with just Rs 400 crore, says Dutt

Minister for Youth affairs and Sports Sunil Dutt made the point in Lok Sabha today that for excellence in the field of sports, the governmen...

Minister for Youth affairs and Sports Sunil Dutt made the point in Lok Sabha today that for excellence in the field of sports, the government is required to allocate more funds.

‘‘You cannot compete with the best in the world in Rs 400 crore,’’ he said while addressing the house. He also made a strong case for shifting sports to the concurrent list, removing it from under Centre’s control. He said the Centre had its limitations, sandwiched as it was between the states and the National Sports Federations.

Patting his own back, Dutt mentioned his ministry has been assisting sports persons in their training. He disclosed that Lt Col Rajyavardhan Rathore, the winner of the first individual silver medal at the Olympics, was the single largest beneficiary under the National Sports Development Fund being operated by his ministry. Over Rs one crore as assistance had been sanctioned for his training purposes, the minister added. Dutt agreed to the plea made by several MPs that sports should be linked to the educational curriculum. Dutt was replying to a calling attention motion by Asian Games gold medal winner and MP Jyotirmoyee Sikdar.

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Critical of the existing process for selection and assessment of coaches, Sikdar said there was a need for more transparency. She also called for periodical assessment of coaches, development of country-wide sports infrastructure and guarantee of jobs to sports persons. According to her, there was no need to bring foreign coaches to India. ‘‘Instead of persisting with some coaches for decades without yielding results, their performance should be reviewed regularly,’’ she said.

She added, functioning of sports federations should also be assessed and no managing committee of any such federation should have more than two consecutive terms.

To highlight the apathy of the government, she pointed to her own case. Despite being an Asian Games gold medal winner , Sikdar said, she has not received pension all these years. It was only after becoming a MP and a member of the Human Resources Development Ministry Committee, she suddenly started getting such benefits. She said problems faced by her were still being faced by other sport persons.

She also raised the issue of arbitrary criteria for selection of sportspersons for prestigious awards. Sikdar said though she had won the gold medal at the Bankok Asiad, another medal winner received the Dronacharya award much before her.

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Dutt, in his reply, listed the important strategies being pursued by the Centre. He said it covered finalisation and implementation of long term development plans for various disciplines.