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Ministry can't be blamed for dismal show: Dutt
Sports Minister Sunil Dutt on Friday said the ministry only acts on the inputs of the federations and has no direct role to play.
Declining to take the blame for India's dismal performance at the Athens Olympics, Sports Minister Sunil Dutt on Friday said the ministry only acts on the inputs of the federations and has no direct role to play.
The Minister also remained non-committal on reining in the guilty federations, saying they were autonomous bodies.
"Sports is a state subject. Federations are autonomous bodies and the centre can only contribute in terms of money," Dutt told reporters on the sidelines of a function of the Sports Ministry officials in New Delhi.
"How can the Sports Ministry be held responsible for the poor performance of sportsmen? We rely on what information the federations give to us."
Asked why action was taken only against the coaches and not the Weightlifting Federation of India in the doping fiasco, he said "coaches were under contract so we took action against them. The federations are autonomous."
Dutt said his Ministry would hold meetings with federation officials and State Sports Ministers and work out a plan to give fillip to sports in the country.
The Minister said lack of "sports culture" in the country was an area of grave concern and advocated the need for advanced academies where sports and education could be pursued simultaneously.
"Around 40 to 50 per cent dropout is recorded at the school level due to lack of recreational facilities," the minister said. "Once we start respecting and honouring sportsmen, the youth will come forward to make their future in this arena."
The Minister said lack of funds were also hampering the Ministry.
"The funds are very limited with the Sports Ministry. We have just Rs 400 crore out of which Rs 200 crore goes for providing services," he said.
He assured that if his Ministry got appropriate funds, then it could bring advancements in the field of sports.
On India's performance at the Olympics where the country managed just one silver medal, he said, "there was improvement in our performance as we missed medals by a fraction of seconds. But there are still miles to go."
