2-Feb-2022: Khelo India Scheme allocation increases by 48% in Budget 2022-23
With a view to achieving the twin objectives of mass participation and promotion of excellence in sports, the Government has decided to continue the Scheme of “Khelo India – National Programme for Development of Sports” over the 15th Finance Commission Cycle (2021-22 to 2025-26) at an outlay of Rs 3165.50 crore.
The Union Minister for Youth Affairs & Sports, Shri Anurag Singh Thakur, thanked the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi for approving the continuation of the Khelo India Scheme. The Minister stated, “On behalf of the Ministry and all stakeholders, I express our deep gratitude to the Prime Minister for extending the tenure of the Khelo India Scheme for another five years as well as bringing it into national prominence by increasing its budgetary allocation by 48% in Budget 2022 and including it in the PM’s Awards Scheme.”
The Khelo India Scheme is the flagship Central Sector Scheme of the Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports. It aims at infusing sports culture and achieving sporting excellence in the country thus allowing the populace to harness the power of sports through its cross-cutting influence. The Khelo India programme includes playfield development; community coaching development; promotion of community sports; establishment of a strong sports competition structure at both school and university level as also for rural / indigenous sports, sports for persons with disability and women sports; filling up of critical gaps in sports infrastructure, including creation of hubs of sports excellence in select universities; talent identification and development; support to sports academies; implementation of a national physical fitness drive for school children; and sports for peace and development.
The basic objectives, vision and structure of the extant Khelo India Scheme have been retained. However, on the basis of the experience of this Ministry while implementing the extant Scheme as well as the evaluation/recommendations of the Third Party Evaluator, the components of the Scheme have been rearranged and rationalized by merging/subsuming some of the similar components with the larger ones, thus condensing the twelve existing components into following five components:-
- Creation and Upgradation of Sports Infrastructure
- Sports Competitions and Talent Development
- Khelo India Centres and Sports Academies
- Fit India Movement
- Promotion of Inclusiveness through Sports
The other features of the Scheme are broadly retained for continuity and strengthening of the established good practices. Besides, the Scheme has been rationalised by making it leaner and simplifying the structure and approval process, as well as by removing the redundancies and syntactical deficiencies. Also, ‘Khelo India Winter Games’ have been included under the ‘Sports Competitions and Talent Development’ component. The ‘Fit India Movement’ has been introduced as a separate and dedicated component.
The primary focus of the Scheme is to create a national-level platform for the athletes to showcase their talent and to identify them for further grooming and financial support. The Khelo India Games have been a harbinger of this effort. From 2017 to 2021, three editions of Khelo India School and Youth Games, one edition of Khelo India University Games and two editions of Khelo India Winter Games have been hosted, giving talented young sportspersons a chance to win their way to a Khelo India Scholarship and be trained for higher levels of competition by the best coaches and in state-of-the-art sporting complexes. The Games have seen a participation of over 20,000 athletes, with close to 3,000 athletes identified as Khelo India Athletes (KIAs) who are currently training at Khelo India Academies, revamped SAI Centers, and are given an Out of Pocket Allowance of ₹10,000 per month, besides being supported for training, equipment, diet and education.
Grants-in-aid have also been given for construction as well as upgradation of sports infrastructure projects under the “Utilization and Creation/Upgradation of Sports Infrastructure” vertical of the Khelo India Scheme. This Ministry has sanctioned 282 sports infrastructure projects of various types amounting to Rs. 2,328.39 crores across the country, during the last 5 years, catering to different categories of sports disciplines and sportspersons.
14-Aug-2021: Union Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment Dr. Virendra Kumar launches TAPAS
Union Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment Dr. Virendra Kumar launched an online portal TAPAS (Training for Augmenting Productivity and Services), developed by the National Institute of Social Defence, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment in the presence of Ministers of State, Shri Ramdas Athawale and Sushri Pratima Bhoumik.
The idea of TAPAS was conceptualised at a time when exploring the online medium for work and education had become imperative due to the outbreak of Covid 19 pandemic. What fuelled it further was the Ministry’s vision of ensuring maximum participation of stakeholders and volunteers working in the field of social defence for better training and capacity building.
TAPAS is the initiative of National Institute of Social Defence (NISD), Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, to provide access to lectures by subject experts, study material and more, but in a manner that it supplements the physical classroom without compromising on the quality of teaching. The main objective of introducing the course modules is to impart training and enhance the knowledge and skills for the capacity building of the participants. It can be taken up by anyone who wishes to enhance his or her knowledge on the topics and there is no fee for joining. The five basic courses are on Drug (Substance) Abuse Prevention, Geriatric/Elderly Care, Care and Management of Dementia, Transgender Issues and on comprehensive course on Social Defence Issues.
Dr. Virendra Kumar congratulated NISD team for the initiative and said that the online medium of learning will enable the Ministry in reaching out to an even larger number of people working in this area of social defence. He urged everyone to enroll for the course for a better understanding of issues such as substance abuse prevention, elderly care, transgender welfare and beggary prevention. “Everyone working in the field of social defence is encouraged to enroll for the course. It is an online course and one can utilise this facility to its full potential,” Dr. Virendra Kumar said.
“In our education system, where the offline mode of teaching is so deeply entrenched, this course will lead the path of change and open up new possibilities. There is no dearth of respect and regard for our age-old guru-shishyaparampara, but there’s no reason why it can’t be transited to the online medium. Hence, let us embark on this new journey and increase our horizon when it comes to learning and gaining knowledge,” he further added.
Mr. R. Subrahmanyam, Secretary, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, informed that TAPAS is a standard MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) platform with course material such as filmed lectures and e-study material. It also includes discussion forums to support and encourage interactions among students and course coordinators.
Ms. Radhika Chakravarthy, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, further highlighted the components of TAPAS. The platform has been made with a quadrant approach, she said. There will be a virtual class where an expert or a resource person will give a lecture about the subject with the help of animated info graphics and Power point presentations. The participants will be provided with informative material like articles, case studies and other study material on the related topic, which can be downloaded for future reference. After completing each module, students can assess their understanding of the subject with the help of a multiple-choice quiz. There is also a discussion forum on the portal on which they can raise their doubts with the course coordinator.
9-Aug-2021: ‘Seekho Aur Kamao’ Scheme
Seekho Aur Kamao is a skill development scheme for youth of 14 - 35 years age group and aiming at providing employment and employment opportunities, improving the employability of existing workers, school dropouts etc. In the last 7 years appx. 3.92 lakh persons have been benefitted under this employment oriented scheme.
The scheme ensures 75% placement, out of which 50% should be in organized sector. As per scheme guidelines, the implementing organizations will be required to establish linkages with placement services, and for the candidates interested in self-employment after availing the training, the organization shall arrange easy micro finance/ loans for them through financial institutions, National Minority Development Finance Corporation (NMDFC), banks etc.
Post placement support of Rs. 2000/- per month is provided to placed trainees for two months as placement assistance.