LAL BAHADUR SHASTRI NATIONAL ACADEMY OF ADMINISTRATION PHASE V TRAINING PROGRAMME FOR IAS OFFICERS STARTEGIC PLAN FOR DEPARTMENT OF SPORTS, GOVERNMENT OF INDIA By Ajay Nath,IAS(MP:82) Ramesh Abhishek,IAS(BH:82) 07 JANUARY 2011 1 CONTENTS Section Page I - Purpose of the Strategic Plan - 3 II - Vision,Mission,Goals,Objectives & Functions - 4 III - Assessment of the Situation - 6 IV - Proposed Solutions & Policy Options - 10 V - Implementation Framework - 15 VI - Linkage between Strategic Plan & RFD - 16 VII - Cross Departmental Issues - 18 VIII- Monitoring & Reviewing - 19 The changes made in this Revised Draft after the presentation on 7th January have been indicated in BOLD 2 STARTEGIC PLAN FOR DEPARTMENT OF SPORTS, GOVERNMENT OF INDIA SECTION I : PURPOSE OF THE STARTEGY 1. RATIONALE FOR SPORTS DEVELOPMENT o The importance of Sports and Physical Education in the overall development of the individual is well understood and appreciated. The benefits from sports and other forms of physical activity on health are also now widely acknowledged. Sports are also an effective medium for youth and community development. It also promotes national integration by inculcating and fostering the spirit of unity, solidarity and brotherhood/sisterhood among the people of the country. o Sports also capture the imagination of the people and are deeply rooted in public consciousness, on the issue of achieving sporting honors at the international and world stage. With the euphoric environment created by spectacular successes in Software, IT, Communication and Industry, the public gaze is also shifting to sports. The nation is being urged by popular public sentiment to prove its prowess in the field of sports and secure its rightful place in the community of nations. Thus the potential of sport as a tool to reach personal, community, national and international development objectives is immense. People are also interested in how sport can be used as a tool for addressing some of the challenges that arise from humanitarian crises and in conflict and postconflict settings. o In recent times, the sports industry has grown into a multi-billion dollar industry the world over and most nations are making giant strides to catch up with the elite few who saw sports industry as a viable sector with enormous financial and economic potential and are now reaping huge benefits for that foresight. It is only sports that offer at the world stage an arena where nations can legitimately compete with each other to earn top honors and supremacy. 2. NEED FOR THE STRATEGY The potential of sports development in the country has not been realized. India’s performance at the international level is not commensurate with its potential and certainly not in keeping with its status as an emerging economic powerhouse. Infrastructure of sports and State support for development of sports is still highly inadequate. 3 Access of most people to sports facilities is limited. There is no mass participation of people in sports activities. There are few incentives for sportspersons to achieve excellence. They are discouraged from taking up sports as a career as their employment opportunities are limited. The existing pension scheme for sportspersons is also inadequate. Private sector participation in most sports is minimal affecting mobilization of societal resources for its promotion. The present incremental way of addressing these concerns will not achieve the vision of the Ministry in the next 5 or 10 years. A bold strategy is required that would mobilize Central and State government resources as well as private sector participation to completely change the way sports are being promoted in India. This would include bringing in structural changes in the administration of sports in the country to cleanse it of vested interests that contribute little to development of sports and only cling to their offices by manipulation. This strategy seeks to align the strong public demand to achieve sports excellence at all levels and ensure India’s emergence as a world sports power commensurate with the country’s status as a major emerging economy and to ensure inclusive growth of the sector through mobilization of State as well as community resources. SECTION II : VISION, MISSION, GOALS, OBJECTIVES AND FUNCTIONS VISION India should emerge as a major sporting nation by the year 2020 with a strong sporting culture. MISSION To promote Sports for All and Physical Education on the national agenda at par with Education and health so as to derive multiple benefits offered by them in terms of youth development, social inclusiveness, community development and sports related economic activities. To also promote allround excellence, including the promotion of clean sporting environment. 4 To foster pride, honour and patriotism in our youth through properly organised, managed and coordinated sport programmes. GOALS AND OBJECTIVES Popularization of Sports for All by way of integration of sports and physical education with education and health. Provide basice infrastructure facilities, community coaches and organise sports competitions in rural and urban areas Augment availability of advanced/modern sports infrastructures with state of the art facilities across the country To mobilize communities to strengthen the culture of learning and teaching in schools through their direct involvement in sport activities. To create access to mass participation, competitive and high performance sport through the provision of talent identification opportunities. To promote all round excellence in sports with emphasis on o specialization in key sports disciplines o improved management of sports, including the promotion of clean sports environment o assuring the physical well-being of athletes o Work closely with the state Governments in achieving these objectives Expand specialized coaching faciities, both domestic and foreign, at all levels. Our sportspersons are given all necessary facilities, including international exposure, to excel in sports at the international level. Increase participation of women and the disabled in sports Provide incentives to sportspersons through provision of appropriate awards. Special focus on sports development in North East Promotion of transparency and accountability in National Sports Federations. Manage post Commonwealth legacy in terms of facilities so as to further promote sports in the country 5 Development of dope free sport Mobilize public and private sector expertise and resources for development of sports FUNCTIONS Approve Panchayat Yuva Krida aur Khel Abhiyan(PYKKA) centres Train community coaches Include school playgrounds as PYKKA centres under the oversight of education authorities Hold rural and urban competitions for identification of young talent Nurture young talent through an integrated mix of coaching, schooling and providing adequate nourishment Set up community sports complexes to encourage inclusive participation of girls and marginalized communities Include sports in school curriculum Initiate consultations for inclusion of sports in the Concurent List of the Constitution and for necessary legislation on cleaning up of sports Federations Add sports as part of Corporated Social Responsibility Provision of employment for talented sportspersons Formulate pension and insurance schemes for sportspersons Use mass media to create a favourable atmosphere for development of sports SECTION III : ASSESSMENT OF THE SITUATION: SWOT ANALYSIS Strengths India has a population of more than a billion people and thus a huge base to build our efforts on. More importantly, half of India’s population is less than 25 years old and that 6 means that there is a base of more than 250 million people in India on which we have to concentrate our efforts on. This foundation of young people is more than the total population of most countries of the world. We have been blessed with a large geographical area as compared to most other countries. Moreover, most parts of the country have temperate climate that could enable playing of games and sport throughout the year unlike many other countries in Europe and America where participation in many outdoor sports is limited only to some months in the year. India has a rich tradition of participation of large parts of the population in sporting activities both in urban and rural areas. India has the advantage of the existence of a sound and expanding structure of sport facilities in the country. Though it will be argued elsewhere in this paper that this structure needs significant expansion if we are to achieve our goals, nevertheless, it needs to be recognized that over the last 25 years, the Central Government with the support of the State Governments, has through the creation of the Sports Authority of India (SAI) established sport infrastructure and training facilities which is a good foundation to build on. India is now slowly emerging from the fringes at the international level to a stronger position than ever before in a number of sporting events and this increasing strength in our sporting base has to be aggressively improved. This is amply demonstrated by the good performance of the Indian contingent in the recent Commonwealth games coming to second position with the best ever haul of over 100 medals in these games. India also improved its performance in the recent Asian games as compared to our performance in the last few games. India has thousands of schools across the length and breadth of the country. Many of these schools have access to playgrounds and these can be utilized aggressively to broadbase participation in sporting activities. In addition, the Ministry of Sports, GOI has promoted the Panchayat Yuva Krida aur Khel Abhiyan (PYKKA) under which it offers grants to States/UT’s for development of playfields in panchayats, and also grants for acquisition of sports equipments etc. This is an excellent scheme which is under implementation and later on it has been argued that we need to build on this and expand it to cover identified areas in the first phase which offer the best scope for early results in terms of sporting success. 7 Weaknesses The sports sector has been a non-priority area so far. For example, in the 11th plan the Ministry of Sports & Youth Affairs has been allocated Rs.5305 crores. When this is compared with the total plan resources, this amounts to just 0.145 % of the total. The total budget of the Department of Sports for 2010-11 is Rs.3117 crores and in 2009-10 and 2008-09, the corresponding figures were Rs.2967 crores and Rs. 1311 crores respectively. These indicate that the Central Government has not given this sector as much importance as it deserves. Sports being a State subject at present, the Central Government cannot legislate on any issue related to sports. This becomes a serious handicap in dealing with matters such as ‘cleaning up’ sports federations which have mostly become a den of vested interests which is another major problem in promotion of sports in the country. An analysis of India’s performance in the international competitions gives an indication of our strengths and weaknesses. It would be instructive to know where India has stood in the Olympics and the Asian Games. o Since independence, India has won only six gold medals out of which five were in hockey in various Olympic games. India has also won one silver and seven bronze medals. In 1948 Olympics, India ranked 22 in the medal tally amongst participating countries and this worsened to 71st position in 1996. India was ranked 50th in the Beijing Olympics. In the Asian games, India ranked 2nd in 1951 and this came down to 11th in 1990; India was placed 6th in the recently held Asian games in China which is lower than what it was in 1951. The number of gold medals won by India was only 3% of the total golds on offer in the recently concluded Asian Games. A comparison with China is illustrative of where we actually stand. China won 200 gold medals in these games which were about 50 % of the total gold medals at stake while India won 14 gold medals, which as mentioned earlier comes to about 3% of the total. o To sum up, India’s performance leaves much to be desired especially keeping in view the fact that India has the second largest population in the world and one of the largest land mass. It may also be borne in mind that India has a population close to that of China and almost 50% of India’s population is less than 25 years of age as compared to 34.2 years for China. Yet, we won only 7% of the gold medals won by China. This is not to belittle India’s improving performance in sports across disciplines but only to show the long way ahead in achieving excellence in sports. It is also seen that till recently there has not been any success in broad basing the participation of the community in sporting activities. Efforts were made earlier for such participation through the running of Nehru Yuva Kendras but these were confined to 8 some promotional activities at the Block/District level on a very small scale for it to have a significant impact. PYKAA attempts to bridge this gap but the scale of this has to be increased so as to rapidly cover more areas of this country to enable India to create enabling conditions to have as many children as possible both in rural and urban areas playing sports. It may be kept in mind that through mass participation of youth in Australia, more than 1,50,000 children were taking part in sports programmes. With India’s large population in mind, it should not be difficult to increase this number many times over. Few competitive events especially at junior and sub-junior levels are organized at present. Thus, budding sportspersons do not get opportunities of honing and developing their skills. Not surprisingly, there is no coherent system in place to tap talent. The present system is more of talent coming up on its own which is then claimed by Sports Authority of India (SAI) centres and developed. Moreover, participation of girls in sports activities is not as much as that of boys. This is especially so in rural and semi urban areas. This gets reflected in the figures of participation in SAI centres. In many centres, girls comprise only about 20% to 30% of total trainees. The infrastructure facilities available are simply not enough for a large country such as India. Although SAI has now 10 Regional Centres/sub-centres, this is clearly insufficient. There is shortage of playgrounds in both urban and rural areas. The facilities and equipment available to sportspersons are not of international standard and this militates against the emergence of top class talent. Typically, sport persons have a career span of only 10 to 12 years. It is often seen that in India, many children give up their promising careers in sports due to the uncertainties of getting a livelihood after their career in sport is over. The existing pension scheme has a very limited coverage and scope and does not inspire confidence among sportspersons that they would be supported financially after the end of their sports career. In India, the involvement of the corporate sector in sports leaves much to be desired. Although some sports and sportspersons have attracted sponsorship, this does not cover a large number of sports covering promising sportspersons. The corporates are at present not involved on a large scale in organizing leagues or holding other competitions at the district and state levels at junior and sub junior levels. Opportunities There are sufficient public resources now with country’s economic growth to develop this sector. 9 The large available pool of youth can be mobilized to compete and perform well in sports. Private sector in India is now an emerging giant that can be engaged and brought in to help the country emerge as a powerful sporting nation in the world. This would also open up in future many more commercial opportunities for the private sector. The tremendous interest in sports of the large and growing middle class in the country can also be commercially exploited to fund the development of sports. Media can be utilized to create a culture of sports in the country and also mobilize mass support for finding public and private resources to develop the sector. Threats Central Government may not provide the kind of financial resources that are needed for the proposed policies as there are many other competing priorities that may be considered more important. Sports is a State subject and States may not take much interest in funding sports development as its not considered a priority and considerations of electoral politics may continue to allocate greater resources for sectors such as health, education, roads and the like that give tangible results in the short run. Most of the national and State sports bodies in the country are virtually hijacked by vested interests and they may not allow proper development of the sector. Since such vested interest include leaders of most national political parties, there may be considerable resistance to any effort by the government to address this problem. Inclusion of sports in the school curriculum may be resisted by the educationists and education administrators. Private sector may not be forthcoming in sponsoring development of those sports that are not considered commercially attractive. SECTION IV : PROPOSED SOLUTIONS AND POLICY OPTIONS 1. High priority to sports and greater resources for sports through government and private sector A fundamental requirement of achieving our vision for achieving excellence in sports and for universal participation of the community and children in particular, it is 10 imperative to closely examine the budgetary requirements of this sector. Although our strategy lays emphasis on increasing the role of the private corporates as well as the public sector corporations as part of their corporate social responsibility (CSR), it is an undeniable fact that the bulk of resources in the initial period will have to come from Government sources, both Central and State. The Centre would closely work with the State Government with an assistance pattern that encourages the State Governments to allocate more resources for promotion of these objectives. Since sport is a state subject, the role of the State Government will necessarily have to be that of a facilitator par excellence in this regard. The Central Government would allocate significantly more resources to the Ministry of Sports than it does at present. More than Rs 12,000 crores was spent on creation and development of sporting facilities for the Commonwealth games held in New Delhi in 2010. Also, Rs 678 crores was spent on training of athletes for this event. These investments have produced tangible results. India for the first time came second in the Commonwealth games with more than 100 medals. India’s performance in the Asian games was also laudable with it winning 14 gold medals. In short, with more resources and their productive use, the standard of sports improved in the country with better training, better exposure to international competition, better coaching and better sport facilities. The momentum gained has to be maintained and expanded to enable India reach its true potential in sports at the world stage in the next 10 years. Attempts should be make to involve the corporate sector, in addition to their other voluntary involvement, in promoting and sponsoring competitions including running of league competitions at the junior and sub-junior levels in all districts and blocks of the country. Sports would be included in the corporate social responsibility policy that has been laid down in the guidelines for Public Sector Undertakings of the Central Government. It would be our endeavour to ensure greater involvement of the PSUs in development of sports in the country. At present, 3% of net profits are to be spent on CSR. The issue of spending at least 1 % of such profits on sports development would be taken up with the Department of Public Enterprises, Government of India. The possibility of entrusting the development of specific sports to various institutions in the public and private sector would also be explored. Coaching/Training Academies set up by ex sportspersons or any other reputed institutions would also be supported by the Government in a PPP model. The possiblity of levying a surcharge on bodies like BCCI/IPL to fund the development of other sports in the country also needs to be examined. 11 The present National Sports Development Fund created to mobilize non-governmental resources for development of sports in the country needs to be significantly strengthened. This would be done through adequate publicity regarding the Fund and its impact on development of sports. 2. Development of Sports Infrastructure and training The physical infrastructure of sports in the country in villages as well as urban areas would be developed. Playgrounds and sports equipment would be provided in all schools and in each village. Facilities for playing of sports usually played in that area or which need to be encouraged would be made available at panchayat/block/district level for sportspersons to train all year around. This would be facilitated by setting up coaching centres in all blocks and district and integrated with schooling and hostel facilities. At the state level, sport academies would be set up by SAI through PPP model/or individual private corporate initiative. PYKKA scheme would be suitably extended to cover all panchayats in five years. The funds of other development schemes such as NREGS would also be leveraged to augment the required funding of the programme. In the last few years, foreign expert coaches were hired to promote sports in India and this has led to improvement of these sports especially in boxing, gymnastics etc and with mixed results in hockey. A coherent policy in this regard would be formulated to acquire such expertise on a systematic basis with proper planning and coordination so that these are also available at the junior level. SAI would also be permitted to recruit domestic coaches of suitable quality and all restrictions on such recruitment would be removed in consultation with the concerned department. While SAI has a scheme for identified special areas where particular sport has shown emergence of promising talent, this has been undertaken on a small scale. SAI, in collaboration with the State Governments, would expand this scheme and study and analyze as to which new areas could be identified that has special potential for excellence in particular sports and then these areas need to be focused for special attention with the aid and involvement of schools and panchayats of those areas. There is also a need to develop the domestic sports equipment industry to international levels. The department would work closely with the industry associations and other stake holders in this regard. 12 3. Broad basing participation in sports To ensure the participation of school students in sporting activities, it is important to have sports as a compulsory part in the school curriculum. In short, children of all ages and especially young kids should be playing regularly on a daily basis. The inclusion of sports in the school curriculum would be taken at both central and state levels on priority. Specific attention would be paid to the problem of malnourishment amongst children while encouraging the participation of all children in sports activities. Special nutrition/diets would be provided to identified talented needy children in coaching centres, academies etc. 4. Regular conduct of competitive events Children at junior/sub-junior level at Panchayat/block/district/state and national stage need to participate in competitive events regularly to develop their talent. This could be through interschool competitions and through clubs. These clubs could be set up in each panchayat. These competitions should preferably be on a league basis so that children get to play and compete regularly. This may cover basic sports such as athletics, wrestling, gymnastics, swimming, volleyball, football, hockey etc. What is actually required is to tap talent through regularly held periodic competitions through league or otherwise in schools and also outside schools starting at a young age say below ten or maximum 12 years old. This is just not happening at present which is a major weakness. Larger incentives and prizes to winners in national/state/districts i.e. at all levels would be given. 5. Incentives for taking up sports as career We need to evolve a pension/insurance scheme for promising sportspersons of identified stature. This could be worked out in collaboration with banks, insurance companies and the Central/State Governments to ensure that all sportspersons who have achieved an identified proficiency in their sport would be entitled to a pension for the rest of their lives. In our opinion, this may provide great motivation for sportspersons to continue a career in their sport rather than give it up to pursue other careers. The mechanics could be so developed so that this does not become a recurring financial burden on the government. Sportspersons who excel at national and international levels should be given employment on a larger scale so that talented sportspersons are encouraged to take 13 up sports as a career. Such policies have proved to be very effective in developing sports in States like Haryana and Punjab. The present policy of PSUs in the regard needs to be expanded. Employment of sportspersons in the private sector will also be encouraged. 6. Cleaning up administration of sports The Government would consider creating a statutory mechanism to ensure that vested interests are not able to appropriate national or state sports federations for their private gains. The mechanism may provide that only those who have been active sportspersons and have participated in competitive events in those sports at identified levels would be eligible to hold office in these federations. Also, the maximum term of office bearers would be restricted to two and a maximum age would also be prescribed in this regard. Such legislation would be pursued after adequate public debate/consultations with the stakeholders. It would also be necessary to harmonize such legislation with the Charter of the International Olympic Association. For this purpose, it would also be necessary to examine the inclusion of sports in the Concurrent List of the Constitution. There is an urgent need to introduce modern professional management practices in the sports federations in line with the prevailing practices in several international sports bodies. In this regard, efforts would be made to encourage hiring of professionals with MBA degrees in these organizations. As a medium term measure, the Department would endeavour that management institutes also offer MBA degrees in the field of sports administration/management. 7. Inclusion of girls in sports There should be specific programmes for greater participation of girls in sports activities through free nourishment, free transportation, more prize money, scholarships, coaching, sponsorships and counseling of parents wherever required. 8. Use of mass media The popular misconceptions that students should only focus on academic work and not ‘waste’ time on sports should be removed through sustained media campaigns and by projection of successful sports persons. Films like CHAK DE INDIA that inspire people and inculcate a sense of national pride in our achievements should be encouraged. This would also create the desired atmosphere among parents to encourage their children especially girls to take to sports. 14 9. Promoting Greater Involvement of State Governments Development of Sports in the States requires full commitment of the State Governments. Without such involvement, implementation of PYKKA and other schemes is also difficult. Efforts would be made to engage the State Governments actively in this respect through provision of incentives and creation of public opinion through use of mass media. SECTION V : IMPLEMENTATION FRAMEWORK 1. The idea of according high priority to development of sports and the needed higher financial allocations has been around for some time but has not found much acceptance in the highest echelons of the Government. At this time, there appears to be a better chance to achieve the same due to the following reasons: In case the Ministry of Sports prepares realistic action plans with clearly defined physical targets, timelines, outcomes and the impact, it would be easier to convince the policy makers that investments in this sector would result in the desired impact. The result of relatively higher investments in this area has already resulted in very good performance in the recent international events and hence, there is a very opportune environment to seek and obtain higher allocations for this sector. The holistic nature of the proposed strategy would ensure that development of sports is viewed in the context of overall education of the school children, promotion of the agenda of inclusion through targeting of girls and the differently abled and development of neglected areas such as the North east. The rapid economic growth of the country and the availability of greater resources with the governments would also make it easier this time to access the necessary funds. The relative success of the Indian contingents in the recent Commonwealth games and the Asian Games has also generated considerable interest and excitement among the public and there is more pressure on the governments now to develop this hitherto neglected sector. This also becomes necessary in the context of India emerging as an economic powerhouse and continued poor performance in sports other than cricket at the international stage is not going to be acceptable any more to the public. 2. A key strategy suggested above is mobilizing corporate resources to develop sports in the country. Already there are many initiatives by private/non-government sector to 15 promote sports such as athletics, shooting, basketball, football, hockey, tennis, wrestling and boxing. The recent developments in this regard are worth mentioning : IMGReliance have signed 30 year agreement with the Basketball Federation of India. They have also contracted a 15-year deal worth Rs 700 crores with the All India Football Federation for development of the sport. IMGR is already training a group of budding sportspersons – 16 subjunior footballers, 5 tennis players and 8 basketball players in prestigious academies abroad. Another non-profit initiative named Olympic Gold Quest which aims to bridge the gap between the Indian athletes and their world class rivals by providing monetary and technical support to those with potential to win Olympic Gold Medals in identifies disciplines of athletics, badminton, boxing and shooting. Another private sector initiative is that of Mittal Champions Trust that aims to give a finishing touch to efforts by Government and national federations to produce champions. This trust started with an initial funding of USD 9 million. The Jindal Steel Group is also in the process of finalizing a Rs 200 crore investment plan to refurbish football stadia in Kolkata and Bangalore. The Mahindra Group has forged a partnership with the National Basketball League to promote this game at the community level. 3. The broad based mass participation in sports, especially at the primary and secondary school levels requires inclusion of sports in the school curriculum. This matter has not been adequately pursued despite its obvious importance. The Ministry of Sports needs to take up this matter at the highest level in the Government and build a consensus in this regard. This matter would also be taken up in the national Development Council to bring the State Governments also on board. SECTION VI : LINKAGE BETWEEN STRATEGIC PLAN AND RFD The proposed solutions and policy options have been prioritized and sequenced as indicated below to provide broad guidance and facilitate preparation of the RFD: 1. Legislation to be considered for bringing sports in the Concurrent List and to clean up sports bodies. 2. Increase in Central Government’s budgetary allocations and catalyze State Governments’ higher allocations for sports through appropriate schemes. 3. Mobilization of non-government resources: Augmentation of the National Sports Development Fund, earmarking funds for sports as part of CSR 4. Consider possibility of raising of resources for sports development through mechanisms such as levies on BCCI/IPL. 5. Tax incentives for sponsoring of sportspersons and events in specified sports that are neglected. 6. ‘Catch them young’ principle: Inclusion of sports in school curriculum, identify and nurture young talent through coaching, nourishment, support for participation in 16 competitive events and other incentives; Focused attention on inclusion of girls in sports. 7. Creation/development of infrastructure in schools, colleges, rural areas, urban areas by setting up sports academies/coaching centres integrated with school education 8. Financial support for holding competitive events/participation/nourishment 9. Reinforce special area games programme 10. Identify sports where India can do very well at international levels and focus on them 11. Involve panchayat functionaries in selection and promotion of sportspersons 12. Cleaning up of national and state sports federations through legislative changes 13. Use of mass media, films to popularize all the sports and 14. Provision of employment to promising/high-performing sportspersons 15. Creation of pension/insurance scheme for sportspersons Policy options Influence Sequencing Increase in Central Government’s budgetary allocations and Catalyze State Governments’ HIGH higher allocations for sports through appropriate schemes HIGH SHORT-TERM Mobilization of non-government resources: Augment National MEDIUM Sports Development Fund HIGH LONG TERM MEDIUM HIGH MEDIUM TERM HIGH HIGH LONG TERM HIGH HIGH MEDIUM TERM HIGH HIGH SHORT TERM Raising of resources through levies on BCCI/IPL --Tax incentives for sponsoring of sportspersons and events in specified sports that are neglected ‘Catch them young’ principle: Inclusion of sports in school curriculum Identify and nurture young talent through coaching, nourishment, support for participation in competitive events and other incentives Financial support for holding competitive events/participation/nourishment Prioritization 17 Reinforce special area games programme Identify sports where India can do HIGH very well at international levels and focus on them HIGH MEDIUM TERM Involve panchayat functionaries in selection and promotion of MEDIUM sportspersons HIGH LONG TERM HIGH MEDIUM TERM LOW LONG TERM MEDIUM LONG TERM HIGH LONG TERM Cleaning up of national and state sports federations through HIGH legislative changes Use of mass media, films to popularize all the sports and MEDIUM Provision of employment promising/high-performing sportspersons Stregthening/Creation pension/insurance scheme sportspersons to LOW of for LOW SECTION VII : CROSS DEPARTMENTAL AND CROSS FUNCTIONAL ISSUES: There are a number of Ministries and Departments with whom many of the proposed strategic initiatives would need to be pursued for successful implementation of the Strategy which are outlined below: Ministry of HRD Inclusion of sports in educational curriculum and oversight of sports in schools through PYKKA Ministry of Panchayati Raj Involvement of Panchayats in implementation of PYKKA scheme Ministry of Information and Broadcasting 18 To conduct media campaigns for developing a culture of sports and to broad base participation in sports. Ministry Of Finance Higher budgetary allocations Provision of Tax Incentives for promotion of Sports Department of Youth Affairs Involving Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangathan, Bharat Scouts, Youth Clubs etc in promotion of sports Department of Public Enterprises Inclusion of sports in CSR of PSUs SECTION VIII : MONITORING AND REVIEWING ARRANGEMENTS Develop and implement a Management and Information system for real time monitoring of progress at all levels from Panchayat to States and Centre. Close monitoring of release and utilization of funds linked to outcomes and impact To monitor closely projects for time bound completion. _________ 19