Around ₹9.5 crore have been released under the ‘Sports for Women’ component of the Khelo India Scheme to increase women’s participation in sports since 2020, Union Minister Anurag Thakur recently revealed. “All schemes of the Department of Sports are gender neutral and cater to all sportspersons equally. However, one of the components of the Khelo India Scheme ‘Sports for Women’ is specifically dedicated towards the promotion of sports among women.”
Also, under this component, Women’s Leagues in various disciplines are conducted in collaboration with the National Sports Federations, in order to increase the participation of women in sport, utilise the league as a platform for talent identification and provide competition exposure to women athletes of the different age groups, the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports informed in a statement, the written reply read.
Further, to provide special emphasis on the promotion of sport among the talented women sportspersons in the country, the Sports Authority of India (SAI) has established one National Centre of Excellence (NCOE) and three SAI Training Centres (STCs) exclusively for women.
Under the “Talent Search and Development” component of Khelo India Scheme, 1374 women athletes are being trained across the country and supported with a maximum financial assistance at the rate of ₹6,28,400 (including ₹1,20,000 as out of pocket allowance) per annum per athlete.
With a view to achieving the twin objectives of mass participation and promotion of excellence in sports, the Government in February this year decided to continue the Scheme of “Khelo India – National Programme for Development of Sports” over the 15th Finance Commission Cycle (2021-22 to 2025-26) at an outlay of ₹3165.50 crore.
The Khelo India Scheme is the flagship Central Sector Scheme of the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports. It aims at infusing sports culture and achieving sporting excellence in the country thus allowing the populace to harness the power of sports through its cross-cutting influence. The Khelo India programme includes playfield development; community coaching development; promotion of community sports; establishment of a strong sports competition structure at both school and university level as also for rural/indigenous sports, sports for persons with disability and women sports; filling up of critical gaps in sports infrastructure, including creation of hubs of sports excellence in select universities; talent identification and development; support to sports academies; implementation of a national physical fitness drive for school children; and sports for peace and development.