Sports Authority of India’s budget was reduced from ₹7.41 crore to ₹653 crore
With a view to aid India’s preparations for the Commonwealth Games and Asian Games this year, the allocation for the Union Sports Budget has been increased to Rs. 305.58 crores.
The allocation in the last budget was Rs. 2596.14 which was later revised to Rs. 2757.02 crores. At present it is at a new high of 3062.60 crores. It is likely to be revised during the financial year based on the requirements of the players and suggestions from the National Sports Federations.
It is important to note that there was no announcement of an increase in any allocation for the training and preparation of the players. On the other hand, the budget includes a hike of Rs. 316.29 crore for the government’s ambitious, flagship scheme Khelo India. From nominal Rs. 97.52 crore when it was presented in 2015-16, the budget of Khelo India has been increased from last year’s Rs. 657.71 crore to Rs. 974 crores – about 30 per cent of the entire sports budget.
Although the allocation for National Sports Federations is Rs. 280 crore, reducing the budget for National Sports Development to Rs. 25 crore last year from Rs 16 crore
Sports Authority of India, which has given Rs. 160.41 crore to reach Rs. 660.41 last year, now you will get Rs. A slight shortfall of Rs 653 crore. 7.41 crores.
On the bright side, the fund allocated for awards to players has seen a significant increase from Rs. 245 crores to Rs. 357 crores. A small hike has been made in the incentives for the players, whose budget has been fixed at Rs. 55 crores.
Surprisingly, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in her budget speech mentioned Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming and Comics (AVGC) for its huge potential to provide employment to the youth. He further announced that the AVGC Promotion Task Force would be constituted to recommend ways to realize this potential, build domestic capacity to meet the markets and global demands.
,