Assistance to Athletes in the Country

The Government, through its various Schemes, provides financial assistance to the sportspersons, either directly or through the respective National Sports Federations (NSFs) towards their training, coaching, participation in national and international tournaments, sports equipments and incentives in the form of cash awards, pension and sports awards. This was stated by Shri Ajay Maken, Minister of State (I/C) for Youth Affairs & Sports, in the Rajya Sabha today, in a written reply to a question by ShriRajiv Pratap Rudy. The Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports implements the following Schemes for the benefit of athletes:

(i)                 Scheme of Assistance to National Sports Federations (NSFs)

(ii)               National Sports Development Fund (NSDF)

(iii)             Scheme of Talent Search & Training

(iv)             Scheme of Special Cash Awards for Winners of medals in international sports events and their coaches

(v)               Scheme of Pension to Meritorious Sportspersons

(vi)             Scheme of National Sports Awards, viz., Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna , Arjuna Awards, Dronacharya Awards, Dhyanchand Awards, Rashtriya Khel ProtsahanPuruskar and Maulana Abul Kalam Azad (MAKA) Trophy.

(vii)           National Welfare Fund for Sports persons.

In addition to the above, the Sports Authority of India (SAI) is implementing the following Schemes for identification and nurturing of identified talented sportspersons:

(i)                 National Sports Talent Contest (NSTC) Scheme,

(ii)               Army Boys Army Boys’ Sports companies (ABSC) Scheme,

(iii)             SAI Training Centers (STC) Scheme,

(iv)             Special Area Games (SAG) Scheme,

(v)               Centres of Excellence (CoE) Scheme.

Details of financial assistance provided during the last three years are given in the table below:

(Rs. in crore)

S. No.	Name of the scheme	Amount of actual expenditure
		2009-10	2010-11	2011-12
1.	Sports Authority of India	206.15	347.00	250.90
2.	Scheme of Assistance to National Sports Federations (NSFs)	50.53	81.44	100.00
3.	National Sports Development Fund (NSDF)	3.11	2.58	5.39
4.	Scheme of Talent Search & Training	1.00	7.00	2.00
5.	Scheme of Special Cash Awards for Winners of medals in international sports events and their coaches	5.50	34.00	11.74
6.	Scheme of Pension to Meritorious Sportspersons	6.50	30.50	3.50
7.	Scheme of National Sports Awards, viz., Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna , Arjuna Awards, DronacharyaAwards, Dhyanchand Awards, Rashtriya KhelProtsahan Puruskar and Maulana Abul KalamAzad (MAKA) Trophy	1.24	1.37	1.54

The Minister further stated that as regards, number of sportspersons who are on training abroad,  115 sportspersons were sent on training during 2011-12 under the Scheme of Assistance to NSFs, National Sports Development Fund and the Scheme of Talent Search & Training, the Minister added.