Sports ministry hikes allocation for competitions in India; demands greater accountability from NSFs

New Delhi: Federations will receive substantially increased funding from the Sports Ministry to conduct national and international competitions keeping in view the rising inflation but they will be required to professionalise their administrative set-up by engaging High Performance Directors and CEOs.

As per the revised norms on funding, the ministry has decided to hike the allocation for national championships in High Priority Sports from Rs 51 lakh to Rs 90 lakh, which is an 80 per cent increase.

The financial assistance for international events held in India has been doubled to Rs two crore, allowing greater flexibility.

The revision has been done factoring in India's ambition to present itself as a strong contender to host the 2036 Olympic Games and the "increased costs due to inflation in training, infrastructure development, equipment procurement, and athlete welfare," Sports Minister Mansukh Mandaviya revealed in an informal interaction with media here.

Athletics, badminton, shooting, hockey, tennis, weightlifting, wrestling, archery and boxing will be the beneficiaries in the high priority categories. For the priority category, the allocation has been hiked to Rs 75 lakh.

Hockey's Asia Cup and junior World Cup are scheduled to be held in India later this year.

In addition, the ministry has also decided to raise the salaries of chief national coaches across sports from Rs 5 lakh to Rs 7.5 lakh per month. The other coaches will be entitled to Rs three lakh monthly, up from the earlier Rs two lakh per month.

However, the higher funding would come with increased scrutiny. The NSFs have been instructed to "earmark at least 20 per cent of their annual budget for grassroots development, channelled through affiliate units for junior/youth development." NSFs of High Priority and Priority disciplines have also been told to identify probable group of top talent in both senior and junior categories.

"These athletes will be trained at accredited academies, selected by NSFs through a fair and transparent process. The training programme delivered at these accredited academies for a particular sport will be monitored by High Performance Director (HPD) of the respective sport," Mandaviya said.

The probables will be given a monthly Rs 10,000 dietary allowance to cover their requirements when the national camps would not be operational. The ministry finances NSFs through the National Sports Development Fund.

Ministry directions on good governance

Mandaviya stressed on the need for greater professionalism in the running of NSFs and stated that bodies with an annual budget of Rs 10 crore and above "must mandatorily appoint a High Performance Director (HPD)." "We will also assist in ensuring that they are able to use 10 per cent of the funding for the appointment of CEOs and managers," he said.

"These reforms aim to build a robust, accountable, and performance-driven sports ecosystem, ensuring alignment with India's long-term goal of becoming a global sporting powerhouse and eventual host of the 2036 Olympic Games," he added.

The ministry's greater involvement in the running of day-to-day affairs of NSFs is bound to cause some disquiet as it can be viewed as government interference that would be unacceptable to their international governing bodies.

However, a ministry source said interventions have been forced by the "often chaotic" manner in which NSFs have functioned.

"It's all good to talk about autonomy when you have your house in order. But some hand-holding is needed when things are chaotic. Ultimately, the goal is that athletes should not suffer," a ministry source said.