Khelo India, government's flagship project to promote sports at the grassroots level, is once again the biggest beneficiary in the union budget for the sports ministry. It was assigned a whopping Rs 900 crore from the overall allocation of Rs 3,442.32 crore today as India's finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented the budget for 2024-25. The share is Rs 20 crore more than the previously allocated Rs 880 crore in the previous financial year.
The Olympic cycle is ending this year with the Games to be played from July 26 to August 11 in Paris and the Commonwealth Games and Asian Games still a couple of years away, the overall budget for the sports ministry witnessed only a marginal increase of Rs 45.36 crore from the previous cycle. A total of Rs 3,396.96 crore were allocated in the previous financial year.
For the unversed, Khelo India was initially allocated Rs 596.39 crore in 2022-23 financial year and then was increased up to Rs 1000 crore before being revised to Rs 880 crore. Over the years, the government has invested heavily in Khelo India program that has helped India unearth talents from all parts of the country.
Khelo India Youth Games (KIYG) took place in 2018 and since then, the government has continued to add different programmes. The ministry added Khelo India University Games in 2020, before also launching the Khelo India Winter Games the same year and the Khelo India Para Games in 2023.
Athletes with massive potential have been backed over the years by the government by setting up the Khelo India State Centres of Excellence (KISCE) across the country. In fact, several Khelo India athletes are also participating in the upcoming Paris Olympics as well. Meanwhile, the budget for Sports Authority of India (SAI) has also been enchanced from Rs 795.77 crore to Rs 822.60 crore while National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) and the National Dope Testing Laboratory (NDTL) have also received marginal increase in their budgets.
