Sports to remain on state list, amendment bill dropped

The union cabinet today decided to withdraw in the Rajya Sabha a 20-year-old amendment bill that sought to transfer the subject of sports from the state list to the concurrent list.

The union cabinet on Thursday decided to withdraw in the Rajya Sabha a 20-year-old amendment bill that sought to transfer the subject of sports from the state list to the concurrent list.

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Briefing reporters on the decision taken at a cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, cabinet spokesperson and Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni said the bill was withdrawn from the Rajya Sabha because various states lacked political consensus to empower the central government to make legislation or take any decision on sports.

Sports is currently on the state list and only the state governments are empowered to take crucial decisions relating to it.

The bill was introduced in the upper house of parliament in 1988 to make the central government a stakeholder on crucial decisions related to sports issues.