Financial Assistance to Sportspersons
The objective of the AAP Delhi Government is to enable sportspersons (including those at junior level) to get training, nutrition, and access to the best equipment and facilities. The aim is to delink sports administration from those who have no connection with sports.
The Home page of the Sports Branch of the Education Department, Government of NCT of Delhi provides links to the application forms for the various Sports related assistance schemes
“The Delhi government has formed a special panel of experts with sportspersons to pick talented students, coaches and coaching techniques.” – Manish Sisodia, Delhi Dy CM and Education Minister
3 schemes are running currently:
- school level financial assistance for children who show talent and potential in Sports
- a mid-level scheme, Play and Progress
- an upper-level scheme, Mission Excellence
The AAP Government supports career prospects for Sportspersons even before they have won a medal.
Mission Excellence scheme for Sportspersons
The Mission Excellence scheme provides financial assistance to sportspersons for training. This scheme is for people of the entire country, not just Delhi.
“This scheme is not just for the people of Delhi, but for the entire country. Because when these sports people win laurels globally, not just Delhi but the whole nation will feel proud and celebrate them.” – Arvind Kejriwal
“Our dream is that India should bring more medals than China in international games. We have made several plans, including building a Delhi Sports University, to fulfil this dream.” – Arvind Kejriwal
To enable sportspersons to get best training, nutrition, equipment, and to win accolades globally, financial assistance via Mission Excellence of ₹4.39cr were provided to 77 players from Delhi in November 2020.
- 77 players selected by a prestigious expert committee to receive scholarships
- The AAP government awarded financial assistance of upto Rs. 16 lakh assistance per year, Insurance of Rs 10 lakhs, and Accident-insurance Rs 10 lakhs.
- “Committee of Experts”, comprising of Karnam Malleswari, Akhil Kumar, Manisha Malhotra, Gagan Narang and Ronjan Sodhi set up to select the players.
117 sportspersons benefitted from this scheme in 2019, including cash incentive, diet, equipment, participation in tournaments.
- Delhi Government circular on Mission Excellence
- Government of NCT of Delhi Notifications
AAP Tweet with Video on Government support to Sportspersons
Ravi Dahiya, Silver medallist, Tokyo Olympics, 2020 and Abhishek Verma, Gold medallist, Archery, World Cup 2021, are beneficiaries of this scheme.
Play and Progress scheme for school sportspersons
The Play & Progress Scheme that was launched in 2018 provides financial assistance to upcoming school sportspersons of Delhi. It promotes Sports at the junior level.
Under the scheme, financial assistance is provided for coaching, training, food / nutrition, sports equipment and for sports kits.
The financial assistance given is upto Rs 2 Lakh for students up to age of 14 years and upto 3 lakhs up to age of 17 years. The students are also provided medical insurance of upto 5 lakh and accident insurance for upto 5 lakh to meet medical needs including sports injuries.
Under this scheme, players of 18 sports including cricket, badminton, judo, tennis and kabaddi are given benefits and specialised training at 18 places, including Chhatrasal Stadium, Thyagaraj Sports Complex, East Vinod Nagar Sports Complex and Najafgarh Stadium.
- In the year 2018-19, under this scheme, 357 school players were given an incentive amount of 8.72 crore.
- On 22/1/2021, 7.48 crore of financial assistance was given to 307 players
Sports infrastructure created / improved
A lot of new and world-class sports infrastructure in Delhi has been newly created and the existing infrastructure improved.
Sports facilities in schools:
World-class sports infrastructure such as Swimming Pools, Astro-turf hockey pitches, Cricket facilities, football fields, volleyball grounds have been built and are under construction.
In Mar 2022, two semi-Olympic size swimming pools were inaugurated in Sarvodaya Kanya Vidyalaya Mayur Vihar and SKV Mandawali, taking the total number to 24. Well-trained coaches will provide free training from 1 Apr 2022 to budding swimmers from government school and private school students.
(Sources: AAP Report, DaaruBazMehta, AAP Report)
- Delhi Government’s school, Ghuman Hera School in Najafgarh was India’s first school to count a world class astroturf for hockey as one of its facilities for students.
(Source: https://twitter.com/AamAadmiParty/status/1426416909583454212/photo/2)
(Source: https://twitter.com/aamaadmiparty/status/1332705657468776449?lang=en )
- The new Mehram Nagar School of Specialised Excellence will have a separate block for sporting activities, a volleyball and a tennis court on the roof of the building and a semi-Olympic sized swimming pool.
Oct 27th 2021: Manish Sisodia on Twitter
AAP Tweet with Video on Manish Sisodia laying foundation stone of the new school
By Dec 2019, this was the status of construction of these sports facilities:
(Source: Dialogue & Development Commission of Delhi – Performance Report 2015-2019)
Video of football grounds at Delhi government school in Matiala:
Sports Complexes:
- Sports complexes are a major project undertaken by the government so that government school students too get a sporting chance in Delhi.
- The sports complexes at Mundhela Kalan and Kair have been built at a cost of 147 crore.
- Delhi’s first FIFA-certified football ground was inaugurated on Dec 26th 2019.
AAP Delhi Government inaugurated state-of-the-art facilities at the Mundhela Kalan & Kair sports complexes in Najafgarh in December of 2019. This also holds Delhi’s first FIFA-certified football grounds.
(Source: https://twitter.com/aamaadmiparty/status/940206079178403841)
- Mundhela Kalan sports complex includes 6-lane 400m and 8 lane 100m synthetic tracks, synthetic football field, awaiting FIFA certification
- Kair sports complex includes a FIFA-certified football field, cricket ground and stands for spectators, synthetic athletic track, tennis court, Basketball court, swimming pool, jogging track, indoor sports facilities, academies and residential blocks.
Hostel Facilities:
In Aug 2021, Manish Sisodia felicitated Olympians and laid the foundation stone for five-storey hostel facilities at Chhatrasaal stadium for sportsperson in wrestling.
AAP Tweet with Video on Residential Hostel at Chhatrasal stadium
Specialised School of Excellence for Sports:
The AAP Delhi government is setting up a “School of Specialised Excellence for Sports” that will be under the new upcoming Sports University.
Sports University
The AAP Delhi Government is gearing up for a “world class” Sports University on 90 acres of land at Ghevra village in Mundka. This University will have a campus with all the facilities required to train and equip sportspersons for winning gold medals at the Olympics and will accommodate around 3000 students.
The Sports University in Mundka will be the first government-run institution to provide formal higher education in sports.
Karnam Malleshwari, former weightlifter and the first Indian woman to win an Olympic medal, is the first Vice-Chancellor of the Delhi Sports University.
Students can enroll from Classes 6 to 9 from April 2022 as part of the School of Specialised Excellence for Sports and they will be trained in a particular sport from scratch. The Delhi School of Sports will be temporarily housed at Shaheed Amir Chand government Sarvodaya Vidyalaya (SAC GSV) in Civil Lines.
The university will offer undergraduate, postgraduate & doctoral degrees in various sports on par with other educational disciplines.
At an estimated cost of Rs 1000 crores, extensive outdoor and indoor facilities will be made available.
On the occasion of National Sports day on the birth anniversary of Major Dhyan Chand, Arvind Kejriwal tweeted how the Sports University would help to increase India’s Olympic medals’ tally from 7 to 70.
“ It is our aim to provide multidisciplinary training in sports to ensure sports professionals are better prepared for a wide range of employment opportunities. This university will also promote public health through sports. The vision is to formalize sports and making it a part of the main curriculum of a student. “ – Arvind Kejriwal, Delhi CM
Free Sports Training Through PPP Model
To promote sports activities among the students and to maximise utility of the playing space available with Government Schools, the AAP Government launched a scheme in 2018 wherein interested private academies, clubs and individuals are given opportunity to impart free training to students in playgrounds on Public Private Partnership model .
Launched in 2018, private academies and individuals can impart training to students in playgrounds of Delhi Government schools after school hours and during holiday, on Public Private Partnership model.
Students of Delhi government schools will get free coaching in their favourite sport by academies and clubs which, in turn, will use the institute playgrounds for private coaching after school hours and during holidays. 31 sports are included in this scheme.
Honouring medal winners from Delhi with Samman Rashi:
On 25th Nov 2021, the Delhi government honoured the medal winners and sportspersons from Delhi representing India in Tokyo Olympics & Paralympics 2020.
Some of the awardees:
- Ravi Kumar Dahiya, Silver medallist, Tokyo Olympics, 2020
- Sharad Kumar – Bronze medallist, Paralympian
- Simran
- Sarthak Bhambri
- Amod Jacob
- Kashish Lakra
More links:
- On 9/11/2021 – 16 year old son of a rickshaw driver- Lokesh Kumar was struggling financially to pursue his career as a 400m runner. CM Arvind Kejriwal personally met him & provided a financial assistance of ₹ Three lakhs
- Skating in Delhi Government schools is also being encouraged. These future skating champions are from Delhi Government Schools.
Golu – the son of a daily wage earner – is now Delhi’s Roller Skating State Champion. He received a first place medal. He is a student of Delhi Government’s Mukherjee Nagar School and also teaches the art of skating to other students.
