Khelo India

Context in Current Affairs: The Union Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports recently announced that the Government is to start 1000 Khelo India centres all over India.

The announcement was made at the tenth Global Sports Summit organized by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry. The centres will help the retired sportspersons to get employment. Also, the centres will aid in encouraging sports culture in the country.

The Sports Ministry is currently working on the target of making India one of the top ten medal grossing countries in the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics.

Earlier in June 2020, the Khelo India Centres of Excellence were launched under the Khelo India programme. These centres were established to create a robust sporting ecosystem in the country.

Khelo India Programme

The programme was launched in 2018. It aims to mainstream sports as a tool for economic development, national development, community development and individual development. The execution of the programme was done by consolidating the previous initiatives such as Rajiv Gandhi Khel Abhiyan, Urban Sports Infrastructure Scheme and the National Sports Talent Search System.

Key Features

The Scheme was 100% funded by the Central Government. The selected athletes under the scheme were eligible to receive a scholarship of five lakhs of rupees for the eight consecutive years.

Recent Development in Khelo India Scheme

• The Government of India recently incentivised 500 private Sports Academies under the scheme. This was done mainly to support institutes located in remote areas.
• The Sports Authority of India recently sanctioned Rs 5.78 crores to the Khelo India Talent Development Scheme.
• Khelo India State Centres of Excellence were established.
• The Khelo India Programme transferred 30,000 rupees in May 2020 to help the atheletes keep up their diet at home during the COVID-19 times.

It is to be noted that the above measures were done during COVID-19 times.

Month: Current Affairs - December, 2020