Government has an important role to play to promote sports in a country. Active participation in sports reduces health hazards, encourages coordination and cooperation. It helps in character building. Sport also provides national pride at the international level and regional pride at the national level. It generates employment, attracts foreign tourists and thereby foreign capital. Thus, sport contributes to the social development as well as economic development of a country and therefore the role of Government in promoting sports cannot be ignored.
1982 could be considered as a landmark year in the history of sports in India as in that year India organized the Asian Games. Prior to 1982, not much importance was given to sports.
Funds had been allocated to sports in Five Year Plans for building infrastructure and nurturing sporting talents at the grass- root level. In sixth Five Year Plan (1980-1985), Rs. 0.27 billion was allocated to sports, while in eleventh Five Year Plan, the allocation was Rs. 46.35 billion. Despite this increase, it is pertinent to mention that not more than 1% of Union Budget is allocated to sports.
An increase in budgetary allocation to sports is important for broad-basing sports in this country. Integration between education and sports is equally important to introduce sports culture. Uniformity in sports specific activities of various states in India is extremely important for providing equal sporting opportunities to all the citizens of the country.
(Full article will be published soon)
