After a battered year due to the pandemic, the question on the minds of all eyeing the allocation to the Sports ministry is -- will the government improve spending for sports after last year and give a boost to Khelo India? The answer, we hope, is yes, especially after the stellar performance of athletes at the Olympics and Paralympics.
The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic was deeply felt on the national sports budget as the central government allocated Rs 2,596.14 crore for the financial year 2021-22 -- a reduction of Rs 230.78 crore when compared to the amount earmarked initially for the previous year.
In the preceding financial year, the government had allocated Rs 2,826.92 crore for sports, which was later revised to Rs 1,800.15 crore because of the lack of activity caused by the pandemic.
The allocated amount for FY22 was Rs 795.99 crore more than the revised budget of 2020-21.
The budget allocation for the ministry has seen a steady rise since 2016 and the Khelo India programme seems to have benefitted the most. The government initiative, which until 2017 did not seem to draw much interest from the Centre, saw a whopping jump in its allocation between 2016 and 2020. The allocation for the country’s flagship sports program jumped to Rs 890.92 crore in 2020 Budget from Rs 97.52 crore in 2016.
Budget allocations for other authorities, such as the Sports Authority of India (SAI), and the (assistance to) National Sports Federations (NSFs) was up marginally, but not as exponential as Khelo India's.
However, Khelo India was handed the biggest reduction -- of Rs 232.71 crore -- among all sports heads for the 2021-22 Budget.
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(Published 27 January 2022, 01:09 IST)
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