PM's TEN SUGGESTIONS
FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF SPORTS
The Prime Minister, Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee
has suggested to the Indian Sports Council a ten-point programme
for effective development towards achieving excellence in sports.
These suggestions were placed before the meeting of the Indian
Sports Council held here today under the Chairmanship of Shri
V.K. Malhotra, Chairman of the Council. The full text of Prime
Minister’s suggestions is as under:
1. Inspired by the heart-warming performance
of our players and athletes in the Commonwealth Games in Manchester
and in the Asian Games in Busan, we should now aim at winning
at least six medals, with two Golds, at the 2004 Olympic Games
in Athens. Similarly, our aim at the Beijing Olympics in 2008
should be to win at least 15 medals with six Golds. Let us recognize
that making India a strong player in diverse international sports
is an essential element of achieving our goal of making India
a Developed Nation by 2020.
2. However, let no player or athlete
take a short-cut in trying to achieve success in sports. Recent
reports of drug use are distressing. I do not believe that there
is truth in all these cases. Nevertheless, our sportspersons should
keep away from such temptation.
3. We have to make the working of the
Sports Authority of India and the various sports federations more
transparent and accountable. These institutions should recognize
that our sportspersons, and not administrators and officials,
are the most important entity in our strategy to achieve excellence
in sports.
4. Good coaches should be appointed
to remove shortcomings in sports training in India and to make
it world-class. Our promising sportspersons should be given maximum
opportunities for training abroad. Wherever needed, we should
bring good foreign coaches to train the best sports talent in
India.
5. We should ensure a secure and attractive
career track, both in government and in the private sector, for
medal winners in the National Games, Commonwealth Games, Asian
Games and the Olympics.
6. All business houses and commercial
establishments that take loans from banks and financial institutions
should be encouraged to set aside some resources for the development
of sports. We should create maximum incentives for them to create
sports infrastructure in their neighbourhood and to sponsor sports
events at the district, State, national and international levels.
7. We have to create a robust sports
and health development culture in India, involving all sections
and all age-groups of our population. For this, the most important
step to take is to make sports a compulsory part of the school
curriculum. Let not carrying their heavy schoolbags become the
only physical exercise for our children. We should expand sports
infrastructure and facilities in schools, colleges and universities,
with adequate provision of resources by the Ministry of Human
Resource Development and State Governments.
8. We should create an effective National
Sports Talent Search system, so that extraordinary sporting talent
is identified at a very young age. Such promising girls and boys
should be picked up for a special track of training and development.
9. In our country people usually stop
playing any sports once they complete their school or college
education. Adults, especially women, feel shy of playing or exercising
in public places. We have to change this reality. I would like
that every able-bodied Indian should devote at least one hour
in a week to sports and physical exercise. To achieve this objective,
society should come forward to create low-cost facilities to benefit
maximum number of people. The guidelines for the MPLAD scheme
may be suitably amended, so that MPs can make their funds available
for this purpose. All new housing colonies should be mandated
to create broad-based sports facilities.
10. I would like to assure the countrymen,
especially our young men and women, that speedy development of
sports will not be thwarted on account of shortage of resources.
The All India Council of Sports has made a good suggestion that,
in order to achieve the above objectives, the provision for sports
in the Tenth Five Year Plan should be raised five times. I accept
this suggestion and place it before the meeting of the National
Development Council for its approval. At the same time, I urge
all the State governments to fully discharge their responsibility
in the promotion of sports.
I would like to emphasise that achieving the
above objectives cannot be the responsibility of the Sports Ministry
alone, or of the government alone. The Centre and State Governments,
non-governmental organizations, business establishments, and other
constituents of society have to work together in a spirit of partnership.
While concluding, the Prime Minister said, "These
are only my suggestions. I would like that the Ministry of Sports
and Youth Affairs, together with the All India Council of Sports,
hold wide consultations with all the stake-holders and prepare,
within the next 100 days, an effective National Action Plan to
achieve Excellence in Sports".
