~It gives me great pleasure to be with all of you this morning. I would like to congratulate Prof. Malhotra, President of the All India Council of Sports, and Shri Vikram Verma, Minister of Youth Affairs & Sports, for taking the initiative to convene a Sports Congress of this nature.

This meet gives an opportunity to eminent sportspersons, sports administrators and officers, both from the Centre and the States, to deliberate on the challenges facing Indian sports. I am sure that you will, with your collective experience and wisdom, find ways to achieve resurgence of sports in India.

As I see it, the tasks before us are two-fold. One, to achieve excellence in international sporting events. And secondly, to popularize a robust sports culture among the masses, especially among children and the youth.

India’s recent successes at the Commonwealth and the Asian Games have kindled some hopes of an upswing in our performance in international events. I especially congratulate our women athletes and players for their remarkable performance.

Nevertheless, we have a long way to go. For a billion-strong population, we can do much more by way of sporting achievements in the larger arenas like that of the Olympics. I urge sports federations and all other bodies managing sports in India to draw up a strategic sports development plan to get medals at the international level.

I also call upon our sportspersons to develop a strong winner’s instinct. It is rightly said that in sports – as in all other human endeavours – those who wish to win never quit. And quitters never win.

All of us know that the biggest bane of Indian sports has been the absence of what one could describe as a ‘sports culture’ and the inadequate sports infrastructure in most of our educational institutions. We have so far not accorded due importance to sports, physical training and Yoga as an instrument of human resource development. As in most developed and even in some developing countries, the subject of sports needs to become an integral part of the educational curriculum and effective steps should be taken in this direction. The Ministry of Human Resource Development and the Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports should chalk out a time-bound action plan to achieve this objective. Let us, today, adopt a motto of ‘Fit and Strong India’ and try to make sports a part of our lifestyle.

Another imperative is to broadbase interest and participation in sports. Today there is a big gap in this regard between cricket and other sports. No one can possibly grudge the focus that cricket receives, because it is a game that excites the young and the old alike all over the country. What we need to do is to increase the attention on other sports. In this context, I welcome the recent revival of popular interest in hockey.

A good beginning has been made by launching a new National Sports Policy in 2001. I urge all concerned to implement it with dedication and determination.
We have already enhanced the outlay for sports in the Xth Plan to Rs.1145 crore from Rs. 472 crore in the IXth Plan. Now, the State Governments and the private sector need to follow the lead. The sports federations too, should make earnest efforts to raise additional resources through corporate sponsorship deals and other means and reduce their dependence on the Government.

There should be all-out efforts to mobilise resources from all possible quarters for the development of sports. The Government has provided necessary incentives to business houses in terms of tax exemptions and other facilities. The Finance Ministry may consider the suggestion for granting 100% tax benefit to Business Houses for creation and maintenance of sports infrastructure, sponsoring sports championships, and for sponsoring sportspersons for participation in international sports meets. I shall soon convene a meeting of all the leading business houses to encourage them to substantially enhance their support to sports.

Prof. Malhotra has suggested that the existing Sports Development Fund be renamed as the Prime Minister’s Sports Development Fund, at par with the Prime Minister’s Relief Fund. He thinks that this would attract more contributions from organisations and individuals alike. I accept this suggestion.

I am happy to announce that sports bodies will be allowed to generate their own resources for maintenance, upgradation and creation of facilities and no deduction will be made from their Non-Plan allocation.

Today, I would like to make a few suggestions for further strengthening our efforts to achieve the objectives laid down in the National Sports Policy.

• I understand that sports in most countries are managed primarily by sports federations of respective disciplines. These federations and similar other bodies need to be transparent and accountable in their functioning. Everyone needs to recognise that sports federations exist to promote sports and sportspersons and not for serving narrow interests. A self-regulating Code of Conduct needs to be evolved to guide the functioning of all Sports Federations in the country.

• Availability of expert and outstanding coaches is the need of the hour. There is an absolute necessity to upgrade the quality of coaches by providing them with training abroad by foreign experts and also by bringing in outstanding foreign coaches to the country for training of our coaches and sportspersons. If necessary, guidelines in this regard should be relaxed for the purpose of achieving good results.

• To bring about a major shift in the present scenario and take sportspersons to the highest possible levels, professionalism in sports needs to be evolved. For this, there is a need to offer attractive career options for the sportspersons, both in Government and the private sector. We have made some reservation of jobs for outstanding sportspersons in the Government departments, both at Central and State level. This needs to be implemented with sincerity and commitment. In addition, the private sector, too, has to play a big role in this direction.

• All new housing colonies, schools, and colleges should be mandated to create sports infrastructure facilities. These measures may require legislative and administrative initiatives on the part of the Centre and the State Governments. I would suggest that all State Governments, the Ministries of Urban and Rural Development, Human Resource Development, and the University Grants Commission take serious note of this suggestion and take steps to implement the same in a time-bound manner.

• There is a big scope to encourage local sports clubs and gymnasiums to expand the scope of their activities. This would also generate substantial self-employment and employment opportunities for our youth. I understand that the Council has submitted a proposal to the Finance Ministry in this regard. It may be suitably examined.

• Guidelines of the MPLAD Scheme may be amended to allow use of upto Rs. 20 lakh per annum for purchase of sports equipment, creation of sports infrastructure and sports promotional activities.

• The Ministry of Rural Development may consider spending a portion of its budget for creating sports infrastructure and facilities in rural areas.

• Promotion of traditional Indian sports, both nationally and internationally, should receive our special attention.

With these few words I commend you to your deliberations, and hope that something concrete and fruitful would emerge from this Congress. August 29, which is observed as the National Sports Day every year, is only a couple of days away. Let us mark this day as a watershed for Indian sports by adopting the goal of making India a fully developed sporting power by 2020.~