PRIME MINISTER’S ADDRESS AT THE
INAUGURATION OF ALL
INDIA SPORTS CONGRESS
The Prime Minister
Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee inaugurated All India Sports Congress,
here today. Union Minister for Human Resources Development Dr.
Murli Manohar Joshi, Union Minister for Sports and Youth Affairs,
Shri Vikram Verma, President, All India Council of Sports Prof.
V.K. Malhotra, Minister of State, Shri Vijay Goel, and senior
sports administrators, sportspersons and ministers from various
states were present on the occasion.
Following is
the full text of the inaugural address by the Prime Minister:
"It gives me
great pleasure to be with all of you this morning. I would like
to congratulate Prof. Malhotra, President of the All India Council
of Sports, and Shri Vikram Verma, Minister of Youth Affairs &
Sports, for taking the initiative to convene a Sports Congress
of this nature.
This meet gives an
opportunity to eminent sportspersons, sports administrators and
officers, both from the Centre and the States, to deliberate on
the challenges facing Indian sports. I am sure that you will,
with your collective experience and wisdom, find ways to achieve
resurgence of sports in India.
As I see it, the
tasks before us are two-fold. One, to achieve excellence in international
sporting events. And secondly, to popularize a robust sports culture
among the masses, especially among children and the youth.
India’s recent successes
at the Commonwealth and the Asian Games have kindled some hopes
of an upswing in our performance in international events. I especially
congratulate our women athletes and players for their remarkable
performance.
Nevertheless, we
have a long way to go. For a billion-strong population, we can
do much more by way of sporting achievements in the larger arenas
like that of the Olympics. I urge sports federations and all other
bodies managing sports in India to draw up a strategic sports
development plan to get medals at the international level.
I also call upon
our sportspersons to develop a strong winner’s instinct. It is
rightly said that in sports – as in all other human endeavours
– those who wish to win never quit. And quitters never win.
All of us know that
the biggest bane of Indian sports has been the absence of what
one could describe as a ‘sports culture’ and the inadequate sports
infrastructure in most of our educational institutions. We have
so far not accorded due importance to sports, physical training
and Yoga as an instrument of human resource development. As in
most developed and even in some developing countries, the subject
of sports needs to become an integral part of the educational
curriculum and effective steps should be taken in this direction.
The Ministry of Human Resource Development and the Ministry of
Youth Affairs & Sports should chalk out a time-bound action
plan to achieve this objective. Let us, today, adopt a motto of
‘Fit and Strong India’ and try to make sports a part of our lifestyle.
Another imperative
is to broadbase interest and participation in sports. Today there
is a big gap in this regard between cricket and other sports.
No one can possibly grudge the focus that cricket receives, because
it is a game that excites the young and the old alike all over
the country. What we need to do is to increase the attention on
other sports. In this context, I welcome the recent revival of
popular interest in hockey.
A good beginning
has been made by launching a new National Sports Policy in 2001.
I urge all concerned to implement it with dedication and determination.
We have already enhanced the outlay for sports in the Xth Plan
to Rs.1145 crore from Rs. 472 crore in the IXth Plan. Now, the
State Governments and the private sector need to follow the lead.
The sports federations too, should make earnest efforts to raise
additional resources through corporate sponsorship deals and other
means and reduce their dependence on the Government.
There should be all-out
efforts to mobilise resources from all possible quarters for the
development of sports. The Government has provided necessary incentives
to business houses in terms of tax exemptions and other facilities.
The Finance Ministry may consider the suggestion for granting
100% tax benefit to Business Houses for creation and maintenance
of sports infrastructure, sponsoring sports championships, and
for sponsoring sportspersons for participation in international
sports meets. I shall soon convene a meeting of all the leading
business houses to encourage them to substantially enhance their
support to sports.
Prof. Malhotra has
suggested that the existing Sports Development Fund be renamed
as the Prime Minister’s Sports Development Fund, at par with the
Prime Minister’s Relief Fund. He thinks that this would attract
more contributions from organisations and individuals alike. I
accept this suggestion.
I am happy to announce
that sports bodies will be allowed to generate their own resources
for maintenance, upgradation and creation of facilities and no
deduction will be made from their Non-Plan allocation.
Today, I would like
to make a few suggestions for further strengthening our efforts
to achieve the objectives laid down in the National Sports Policy.
- I understand that sports in most
countries are managed primarily by sports federations of respective
disciplines. These federations and similar other bodies need
to be transparent and accountable in their functioning. Everyone
needs to recognise that sports federations exist to promote
sports and sportspersons and not for serving narrow interests.
A self-regulating Code of Conduct needs to be evolved to guide
the functioning of all Sports Federations in the country.
- Availability of expert and outstanding
coaches is the need of the hour. There is an absolute necessity
to upgrade the quality of coaches by providing them with training
abroad by foreign experts and also by bringing in outstanding
foreign coaches to the country for training of our coaches and
sportspersons. If necessary, guidelines in this regard should
be relaxed for the purpose of achieving good results.
- To bring about a major shift in
the present scenario and take sportspersons to the highest possible
levels, professionalism in sports needs to be evolved. For this,
there is a need to offer attractive career options for the sportspersons,
both in Government and the private sector. We have made some
reservation of jobs for outstanding sportspersons in the Government
departments, both at Central and State level. This needs to
be implemented with sincerity and commitment. In addition, the
private sector, too, has to play a big role in this direction.
- All new housing colonies, schools,
and colleges should be mandated to create sports infrastructure
facilities. These measures may require legislative and administrative
initiatives on the part of the Centre and the State Governments.
I would suggest that all State Governments, the Ministries of
Urban and Rural Development, Human Resource Development, and
the University Grants Commission take serious note of this suggestion
and take steps to implement the same in a time-bound manner.
- There is a big scope to encourage
local sports clubs and gymnasiums to expand the scope of their
activities. This would also generate substantial self-employment
and employment opportunities for our youth. I understand that
the Council has submitted a proposal to the Finance Ministry
in this regard. It may be suitably examined.
- Guidelines of the MPLAD Scheme
may be amended to allow use of upto Rs. 20 lakh per annum for
purchase of sports equipment, creation of sports infrastructure
and sports promotional activities.
- The Ministry of Rural Development
may consider spending a portion of its budget for creating sports
infrastructure and facilities in rural areas.
- Promotion of traditional Indian
sports, both nationally and internationally, should receive
our special attention.
With these few words
I commend you to your deliberations, and hope that something concrete
and fruitful would emerge from this Congress. August 29, which
is observed as the National Sports Day every year, is only a couple
of days away. Let us mark this day as a watershed for Indian sports
by adopting the goal of making India a fully developed sporting
power by 2020."