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Uttar Pradesh sports policy to aim at producing more medal winners
The policy will kick off a new era in sports skill and UP could be given the status of a champions’ state in the country, says sports minister Girish Chandra Yadav
The much-awaited sports policy of the Uttar Pradesh government is all set to become a reality.
State sports minister Girish Chandra Yadav on Thursday announced the policy would be sent for the cabinet’s approval at the upcoming winter session of the state legislature, starting December 5.
The new sports policy aims to better the chances of Uttar Pradesh’s athletes winning more medals in the Olympic Games by providing them better training and infrastructure facilities, besides helping them financially to achieve their goals.
Suggestions and recommendations of all the stakeholders on the final draft of the sports policy, including all the state sports associations, federations, and also the Uttar Pradesh Olympic Association, were discussed at a meeting on Thursday.
Yadav said that all the suggestions/amendments would be duly incorporated in the final policy before being sent for cabinet approval.
“The state government is committed to development of sports and welfare of sportspersons in the state. To achieve this goal, a sports policy was a must and it was being discussed for the last many years. But now the time has come when the government is all set to formulate this,” he said while releasing the 30-page draft of the sports policy.
He said that UP Sports Policy-2022 was made to establish sports promotion and development as a leader.
“The policy will kick off a new era in sports skill and UP could be given the status of a champions’ state in the country. This will also help the state better its sports eco system,” he added.
In fact, the final draft of the policy supports the privatization of sports and the sporting infrastructure in the state.
The then sports minister Raghuraj Pratap Singh aka Raja Bhaiya had first proposed the privatisation of sports infrastructure in 2004 on the pattern of China and other big sporting nations.
“The time has come when we need to think about the privatization of sports and sporting infrastructure as this would not only help the state produce medal winners at the national and international level in a good number, but also allow the state sports associations and federations to have international standard infrastructure with the support of private players,” additional chief secretary (sports) Navneet Sehgal said on Thursday.
He also asked the representatives of all the stakeholders, including UPOA secretary-general Anandeshwar Pandey, at the meeting to come forward to take responsibility for running various government sporting infrastructures on their own with the help of private players like the Wrestling Federation of India has been taking help of the JSW, which has been helping Indian athletes in various disciplines.
“We have already told the WFI people about the different government’s locations to establish their own centres in Uttar Pradesh, and the government is ready to extend them full support for the further development of wrestling in the state,” said Sehgal, adding, “An initial corpus of ₹100 crore would be set up for the overall development of sports and the sportspersons through this policy.”
“The funds will be used mainly for sports equipment support, overseas exposure tours, overseas training camps, appointment of physiologists, psychologists and overseas coaches. Along with this, sports infrastructure on PPP model will be given to sports federations to increase sports activities. District sports centres will be set up in every district.”
He also said the under the proposed sports policy, a playground will be established in every village.
“At present, there are about 30 thousand playgrounds in Uttar Pradesh, including rural and urban areas and this policy aims to increase this to 60 thousand. Along with this, many new provisions have also been made in the proposed policy. Under this, financial facility will also be made available to private sports academies. Provision has been made in the policy to get children selected in sports colleges through a committee.”
As per the provisions in the new sports policy, at least 14 Centers of Excellence will be set up in the next five years for high-quality training of residential athletes, representing the state and the country in national and international competitions.
“Apart from this, five permanent performance centres will also be established in the state. Deployment of physio, trainer and dietician will be ensured at every divisional headquarters. A talent search committee will be constituted in every district to search for sports talents,” he added.
