Pitch April Issue 2018

Page 72

KHELO INDIA

GOVT ENCOURAGES KHELO INDIA, BUT WHAT ABOUT THE FEAR OF BEING ABANDONED? Nishant Saxena

T

hey say “a good start is half done”, the Khelo India programme, launched by the government of India, in 2016, received a perfect start. With a noble thought behind the programme, it embraced a huge budget allotment of over Rs 1700 crores, it has an encouraging motto ‘Kheloge kudoge toh banoge lajawab’, mascots (Vijay the tiger and Jaya the black buck) and a quite touching anthem “Aur khel nachahte hain hum…Khel mein hi masti hai….khel se abaad honge hum”. However, the biggest question, if the programme’s remaining journey would be as brilliant as the start was or if it will go down the same lane

72 | PITCH | APRIL 2018

NATIONAL SPORTS TALENT SEARCH PROGRAMME, WAS INTRODUCED TO REVIVE THE SPORTS CULTURE IN INDIA AT THE GRASS-ROOT LEVEL BY BUILDING A STRONG FRAMEWORK FOR ALL SPORTS PLAYED IN OUR COUNTRY AND ESTABLISH INDIA AS A GREAT SPORTING NATION

as many other government programmes which end up giving false hope, remains.

Rathore’s dream

It is no more an unknown fact that Khelo India is Colonel Rajyavardan Rathore’s, (Minister of State, Ministry of Youth Affairs And Sports) dream programme which would encourage the culture of sports in India. The programme, which was formed by merging three schemes--the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Abhiyan, the Urban Sports Infrastructure Scheme and the National Sports Talent Search Programme, was introduced “to revive the sports culture in India at the grass-root level by


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