The Centre has been extending financial assistance to the National Sports Federations NSFs under its Scheme of Assistance for various sports activities including training and participation of Indian sportspersons and teams in international tournaments. The Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports has revised the norms of assistance effective from 1st March 2022.
Sports Minister Anurag Thakur stated that the norms which have now been revised were in force since November 2015 and therefore not adequate for the various activities which are essential for the development and success of the sportspersons. He also stated that a comprehensive view has now been taken to cover important aspects of activities to enable rapid advancements in the field of sports in the country. He specially mentioned important aspects like support for Sportspersons with Disabilities, for hosting international tournaments in the country, for ensuring that Indian coaches get latest training etc. which have been kept in view.
Under the revised norms, quantum of assistance for conduct of National Championships has been increased to 51 lakh rupees for High Priority, Priority and Indian Traditional Sports and for General category sports, which were earlier known as Others to 30 lakh rupees. Earlier, the quantum of assistance for National Championships was 22 lakh rupees. For NSFs who are dealing with sportspersons with disabilities, provision of 15 lakh rupees for conduct of National Championship for each discipline in all categories has been made.
Travel by air for attending coaching camps or competitions for all categories of sportspersons whether, Senior, Junior and Sub Juniors has been allowed provided the journey is more than 500 Kilometres or 10 hours long.
Allowance for General Sports Training Kit like track suits, T-Shirts, Shorts, Warm up shoes etc has been doubled to 20 thousand rupees per athlete once a year for National campers from earlier one thousand rupees per athlete.
For encouraging NSFs to host international tournaments in the country, quantum of assistance for conduct of international tournaments have been enhanced to one crore rupees from the earlier 30 lakh rupees.
Managers will now be treated as part of Indian contingents for international events abroad. In order to ensure that only those who have the experience of managing the teams, the Ministry has prescribed essential and desirable qualifications for being eligible to accompany the teams as managers.
To attract the qualified and top quality support personnel, remuneration has been enhanced substantially. Remuneration of Sports Doctors and Doctors have been increased to 2 lakh rupees per month from the earlier one lakh rupees per month and that of Head Physiotherapists and Physiotherapists 2 lakh rupees per month and 1.5 lakh rupees per month from the earlier 80 thousand rupees per month.
For hiring of foreign coaches and support personnel, NSFs have been allowed to engage on their own in consultation with Sports Authority of India SAI. The monitoring will be done through an annual review of the Key Responsibility Areas and key decisions regarding extension of contract or award of bonus will be based on the review. NSFs will ensure that there is a SAI nominee in the selection Committee. The budget for the foreign coaches will be capped to 30 per cent of the overall approved budget of the NSF.
NSFs have been asked to follow the principle of Atmanirbharta in the field of coaching and encourage and train the talent available in India to attain the World level and NSFs have to ensure that at least 5 Indian coaches should remain with the foreign coach during his or her coaching assignment so that Indian coaches are also groomed and dependence on foreign coaches is reduced.
Remuneration of Chief Coach and other coaches have been revised to 3 lakh rupees and 2 lakh rupees from 1.5 lakh rupees and 75 thousand rupees per month. In case of an employed coach in PSU, Railways or other organizations Public or Private is attached to a National Camp, then it will be treated as National Duty and an amount of 50 thousand rupees per month will be given as the attachment of the coach causes disturbance to the family although the pay is protected.
For procurement of sports equipment, NSFs have now been authorised to do the procurement on their own following the General Financial Rules provisions. Earlier, NSFs were allowed to procure on their own if value was upto 10 lakh rupees and for equipment more than 10 lakh rupees was to be done through Sports Authority of India.
To enable NSFs to hire professionals qualified in the field of sports administration, level of assistance has been enhanced to 3 per cent from earlier 2 per cent of the budget for NSF Scheme.
