The Sports Ministry was on Thursday allocated ₹3,442.32 crore, a hike of ₹45.36 crore as compared to last year, in the interim Union Budget presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.
In the previous budget, the Sports Ministry had got a revised allocation of ₹3,396.96 crore.
The Olympic Games in Paris, to be held from July 26 to August 11, will be the country’s main focus during the 2024-25 financial year.
The ministry’s flagship programme, Khelo India, was allotted ₹900 crore, an increase of ₹20 crore from the previous budget.
The Sports Authority of India (SAI), which organises national camps, provides infrastructure and equipment to athletes, appoints coaches among others, saw ₹26.83 crore increase in its budgetary allocation from the previous year’s revised expenditure of ₹795.77 crore.
The National Sports Federations (NSFs) will receive ₹15 crore more this time, as compared to the 2023-24 revised budget of ₹325 crore.
The National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) too got a raise with the government allocating ₹22.30 crore in the interim budget as compared to ₹21.73 crore in 2023-24.
The National Dope Testing Laboratory (NDTL), which conducts the testing of dope samples, will receive ₹22 crore, ₹2.5 crore more than the previous budget.
The budget for National Centre of Sports Science and Research has been reduced to ₹8 crore from ₹10 crore previously, while the National Sports University will get an increased allocation of ₹91.90 crore from ₹83.21 crore of 2023-24 budget.
The budget for giving incentives to sportspersons saw a significant reduction from ₹84 crore to ₹39 crore.
The allocation for National Sports Development Fund was also reduced to ₹18 from ₹46 crore. The Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay National Welfare for Sportspersons scheme got ₹2 crore.
The allocation for ‘Enhancement of Sports Facility in Jammu and Kashmir’ was also brought down to ₹8 crore from previous budget allocation of ₹20 crore.
In the previous budget, the allocation for Commonwealth Games was ₹15 crore, which was brought down to ₹0.01 crore this time.
