New Delhi: Even as Sachin Tendulkar's visionary document to integrate sports into the education system has hit a roadblock, Sports Minister Jitendra Singh Tuesday said the "weak area towards sports development in the country is identification of talent".
"The weak area towards sports development in the country is identification of talent. We don't have a structured way of identifying talent and whoever we have been able to identify...90 per cent of them have been identified but not through a structured process," Jitendra told reporters here.
In his proposal, Tendulkar had outlined four points in his proposal -- tap into grassroots and nurture young talent, promote sports at university and college levels, revamp sporting infrastructure and make physical activity part of school curriculum. "We have proposed two schemes - Rajiv Gandhi Khel Abhyan and the Install project. We are going to look into both of them," Jitendra added.
With the aim of developing human resources for the overall development of sports in the country, Jitendra today announced a revised scheme called 'Human Resources Development in Sports'. The scheme intends to award fellowships and scholarships, besides providing financial grants to a number of projects in order to develop one of the top 10 sporting nations in the country.
"The Government intends to give focus on developing human resources in sports sciences and sports medicine for the overall development of sports and games in the country," said Jitendra. "This will help the country be self reliant in these fields over a period of time in general and meet the requirements of the proposed National Institute of Sports Sciences and Medicines in particular," he added.
The scheme includes awarding fellowships for specialised studies at Masters' and Doctoral levels in the subjects like Biomechanics, Kinesiology, Anthropometry, Exercise Physiology, Sports Psychology, General theory and method of training, Sports Medicine, Sports Nutrition and Anti Doping.
It will also grant fellowships/scholarships to support personnel and match officials for specialised studies in the respective areas to sports specialists, coaches. Top level universities/institutes, with world class facilities, have been identified for most of the subjects for the fellowship programme. The target is to give 10 such fellowships every year.
Under the scheme, the financial grants will be provided for Research Projects relevant to sports and games, for Publication works/journals of high standard directly linked to sports and games, for attending international seminars, conferences and workshops on sports related matters and holding seminars, conferences, workshops and camps.
The existing 'Scheme relating to Talent Search & Training', which has been revived and renamed as 'Scheme of Human Resources Development in Sports', will be implemented on pilot mode during the 12th Plan period. The estimated expenditure for the revised scheme during the current plan period will be around Rs 45 crore, which will be met from the total plan outlay of the Department.
Meanwhile, the minister also launched a revamped website -- Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangathan (NYKS) ? with a view to promote e-governance, maintain transparency, promote partnership of young people in NYKS programmes and activities, and also provide the youngsters with a platform to give their valuable inputs for further improvements.
The new website provides access to the youngsters through Blog, Facebook and Twitter. The activities are further reflected through news and success stories and live connectivity with You-Tube. It also has provision for online reporting of activities, monitoring and feedback at different levels.
Member of Parliament Tendulkar had opened his innings in the Rajya Sabha with a letter asking the government to focus on honing fresh talent, especially in schools and colleges and improving sports infrastructure at the university level.
However, Tendulkar's proposal has made no headway ever since it was submitted to the Sports and HRD ministries with the project yet to see the light of the day. The modalities are yet to be worked out by NCERT to make sport a subject in school curriculum.
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