On Tuesday, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented the budget. There have been a lot of changes in the budget from the last tenure. She presented the Interim Budget on February 1. For the upcoming year, the Modi Government has given a huge boost to sports and athletes. The interim budget that was presented is Rs 3,442.32 crore for the sports sector.
This is 45 crores more than the previous year. Last year, Rs 3,442.32 crore for the sports sector. It was Rs 723.97 crore more than the 2022 budget. In 2022 too, the sports budget was increased by Rs 423.16 crore. Due to the forthcoming Olympics, the government has a lot of expectations from the athletes. The sports ministry and the central government are completely focused on the preparation to win more medals.
The nation has performed well in the major events over the past few years. Be it the 2020-21 Tokyo Olympics the 2022 Commonwealth Games or the 2023 Asian Games, India’s medal tally has increased in all events. The 2023 Asian Games marked the first time India crossed the 100-medal mark. India won a total of seven medals at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics after the phased resumption of the sport.
Important contribution to sports budget
This is the very reason that the budget has been increased. Despite all the problems and restrictions due to Corona, the Indian players performed brilliantly. They also were outstanding in the Birmingham Commonwealth Games. The nation won 61 medals. Thus, the sports budget last year resulted in India fulfilling its ‘this time we will cross 100 medals’ slogan and winning a record number of medals at the Hangzhou Asian Games.
Many multinational competitions like the Olympics will be held this year. Not only this, ‘The Khelo India Youth Games’ and ‘The National Games’ have also played an important role in finding new talent from the government side. In such a situation, increasing the sports budget by the government can help in improving the sports facilities.
The budget for the latter two has also increased. In 2023-24, a maximum provision of Rs 1000 crore was made for Khelo India. But, only Rs 880 crore was spent on it. Therefore, a budget of Rs 900 crore was fixed for the upcoming financial year. The budget received from the Sports Authority of India (SAI) in 2023-24 has been increased by Rs 36.09 crore.
A budget of Rs 340 crore has been set for the National Sports Federations in the year 2024-25. 15 crores more than last year. But among all these positives there has been one negative. The incentive budget for players has been significantly reduced from Rs 84 crore to Rs 39 crore. At the same time, the National Sports Development Fund allocation was also reduced from Rs 46 crore to Rs 18 crore.
