New minister to discuss sports code with stakeholders

New Delhi, Oct 30 (IANS): India’s new sports minister Jitendra Singh Tuesday vowed to bring transparency and accountability in Indian sports by taking all the stakeholders into confidence on the highly touchy National Sports Code drafted by his predecessor Ajay Maken.

“In any job, there should be transparency and accountability, even in the government. I will interact with all the stake holders and take everyone on board. The accent should be on sportsmen and sports,” said Singh.

Singh was all praise for Maken and said he would carry on the good work done by him.

“Maken has done a great job as a sports minister and I am going to carry forward his good work. The ministry is extremely important for the government machinery because India is a very young country,” said Singh, a scion of the princely family of Alwar in Rajasthan and also the MP from there.

Singh, a former national trap shooter, said he wants to use sports to reach out to youths of the troubled northeast, Jammu and Kashmir and Naxal-affected areas.

“Lot of issues need to be addressed. The country has 50 percent of youth population. The ministry has tremendous outreach and can deliver a lot, especially connecting the young people belonging to North-East, Jammu and Kashmir and Naxal affected areas,” he said.

“During my stint as the minister of state for home affairs, I found that we have to take these areas forward and as a sports minister I think I can do it,” said Singh, who will also double up as the minister of state in the defence ministry.

Singh said being a shooter, he realises the problems sportspersons face and that would help him in addressing the issues.

“I am under a lot of pressure and there are high expectations from sports fraternity. I have been a national shooter and I definitely understand the problems sportspersons face,” he said.

Asked about the corruption cases in the Indian Premier League (IPL), Singh said: “It won’t be fair for me to comment as cases are under investigation. Give me a few days to settle down and find my bearings.”