Small hike, big disappointment

New Delhi, Today, when the time came for Finance Minister Arun Jaitley to announce the allocation for sports in his budget, there was a strong sense of expectation. The reasons for the heightened expectations are obvious. One, this is the Olympics year. Two, the excellent organisation of the South Asian Games in Guwahati and Shillong earlier this month had sent out a positive message — that the government is keen on developing a strong sports culture in India.
Due to these reasons, the sports community expected a substantial increase in the budgetary allocation for sports. Competing in sports must be made more attractive as a viable career option — most Indian sportspersons make a career in sports mainly due to financial reasons. Also, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has expressed a wish to promote India on the global sports map by developing India’s sports infrastructure.
The Sports Ministry officials were clamouring for a robust budgetary allocation — around Rs 1,800-1,900 crore, much higher than last year’s allocation of Rs 1,389 crore. Vijay Kumar Malhotra, the chairman of the revived All India Council for Sports (AICS), had demanded a massive hike in the allocation, pegging his expectation at Rs 12,500 crore.
The expectations were high. But when Jaitley presented his third budget in the Parliament, what followed after his 90-minute speech was complete disappointment. For the coming fiscal beginning April 1, Jaitley has allocated Rs 1,400 crore as plan outlay, while Rs 192 crore was set aside for non-plan outlay, for a total figure of Rs 1,592 crore. This represents just a marginal hike of Rs 50.87 crore over last year’s allocation. This is a far cry from what the Sports Ministry, AICS and sports federations had been demanding for long.
The increase in the plan outlay was almost non-existent, just Rs 10.82 crore over last year. The non-plan outlay was hiked by Rs 40.15 crore. The Sports Authority of India (SAI) was granted a total of Rs 381.30 crore this year, which is a hike of Rs 11.91 crore. Rs 12 crore was allocated for anti-doping activities, the same as last year.
Olympian deficiencyin budget
Jaitley had one very strong reason to unveil a vision document of the government for sport – the forthcoming Rio Olympic Games. The Olympics are just five months away. The athletes who will represent India in the Olympics have been training for what could be the biggest moment of their lives. Their training, care over diet, exposure trips, equipment and personal coaching would bear fruit in the coming 20 weeks. The budget has little to offer them encouragement.
The Annual Competition and Training Calendar (ACTC) allocation to the National Sports Federations (NSFs) and the funding to the athletes from the National Sports Development Fund (NSDF) by the Sports Ministry largely get influenced by the budget.
Jaitley had earned the distinction of being the first Finance Minister who paused during his speech to talk of the needs of Indian sports in his maiden budget allocation for 2014-15. But this year, the veteran sports administrator did not speak a word on sports during his speech, sidelining the concerns of the Indian sports community.
It seems that sport has slipped out of the priority list, that too in an all-important Olympics year. This has also made the road ahead tough for the Sports Ministry regarding the funding for the Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS), which the government had launched to help India’s medal hopefuls for the Rio Games. The total budget for supporting some 60-odd athletes from this scheme is around Rs 45 crore till the Olympics, and this funding could well be affected due to the paltry increase in the overall sports budget.
When The Tribune contacted Malhotra and Sports Minister Sarbananda Sonowal for their reaction, it was on the expected lines — they clearly didn’t want to criticise a budget prepared by their party and government colleague.
Malhotra said, “I haven’t gone through the budget. I don’t know anything about the allocation.” This reaction came after four hours had passed since Jaitley’s budget speech. Sonowal did not wish to speak, too, and later his mobile phone was unreachable.
There’s a faint silver lining — the establishment of a ‘Centre for Disability Sports’. The institute should help encourage athletes with disabilities to pursue sports. However, the funding for this, Rs 1 crore, is quite laughable.
Key Numbers
1592 cr
This year’s budgetary allocation for sports
1541.13 cr
Last year’s allocation
50.87 cr
Hike from last year’sallocation
1400 cr
Plan outlay this year
192 cr
For non-plan
381.30 cr
Amount given to SAI this year, a hike of Rs 11.91 crore from last year

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