Understanding India's sports budget 2013-2014: Part 3

23.98% of the sports budget is allocated to Sports Authority of India.

The deeper I go into the sports budget, the more I am surprised by the wide ranging schemes which come under it. Looking into them shows that the majority of the budget is allocated towards enhancing the physical well being of the youth. Here is the third part in the series breaking down the budget. You can also check out part 1 and part 2 of the series.

Here’s a look at the 3rd part of the budget -

(Click to enlarge)Figures are in crores

11. National Youth Corps

This scheme was formed by merging the National Service Volunteers Scheme and Rashtriya Sadbhavana Yojana. The objective here is to enable the youth to serve the nation by volunteering. This applies to those in the age group of 18-25. It lets them serve up to two years in nation building activities while being paid an honorarium. The first month is spent in raining period. This scheme mostly focuses in the Jammu and Kashmir region. It allows for deploying 20,000 volunteers of which 8,000 are deployed to Jammu and Kashmir. The remaining 12,000 are spread across the rest of India. You need to have passed 10th Standard at the very least to be eligible. The budget allocated towards this is for payment of stipend, boarding and lodging of the volunteers.

You can find more about this scheme here.

Amount – 47.09 croreLast year – 47.32 crore% of total sports budget – 3.86%

12. Sports Authority of India

SAI facilities are always great places to go and pursue the sport of your choice. It provides the athletes with infrastructure, equipment, coaching facilities and exposure through competitions. There are seven regional centres of SAI in India and two sub centres. The regional centres are at Bangalore, Bhopal, Gandhinagar, Kolkata, Sonepat, Delhi, Mumbai and Imphal. The two sub-centres are at Guwahati and Aurangabad. SAI also runs the Netaji Subhas National Institute of Sports, Patiala and the Lakshmibai National College of Physical Education, Thiruvananthapuram.

Amount – 292.32 croreLast year – 326 crore% of total sports budget – 23.98%

13. Lakshmibai National Institute of Physical Education

The LNIPE was established in 1957 at Gwalior. In 1995, it became the first institute in the field of physical education to be granted university status. Its objectives are to train and develop educators in the field of sports and develop and promote programmes of physical education and sports in the country.

Amount – 22.1 croreLast year – 31.7 crore% of total sports budget – 1.81%

14. Incentives to sportspersons

This involves giving back to the sportspersons who have contributed towards sports in India. It includes cash prizes for winning at various levels, scholarships and assistance for training and education, pension, travel grant, etc. Scholarships are granted to national level, state level and university/college level sportspersons. Meritorious Pension is given to winners of medals in Olympics, World Cup and World Championships and medallists of Asian, Commonwealth Games and Para Olympic Games. The pension is given from the age of 30 years for the lifetime after the athlete retires from active sports.

Amount – 6.4 croreLast year – 7 crore% of total sports budget – 0.52 %

15. Assistance to Promotion of Sports Excellence

Money filling the coffers of the national federations goes beyond the amount given to them directly. Under this, assistance is given to them for sending athletes abroad to participate in international tournaments, for holding international tournaments in India, for conducting national championships and for procuring sports equipments. Some of it also goes to SAI for organizing coaching camps, for preparing national teams and for engaging the services of foreign coaches.

Amount – 100 croreLast year – 170 crore% of total sports budget – 8.2%