Allocation for sports increased by over Rs 200 crore in 2019-20 interim budget
New Delhi, Feb 1 : The government on Friday increased the sports budget by Rs 214.20 crore for the financial year 2019-2020, including a hike in funds for the Sports Authority of India (SAI) and incentives for sportspersons.
In the interim budget presented by Finance Minister Piyush Goyal, the overall sports budget for 2019-2020 was increased from Rs 2002.72 (2018-2019) crore to Rs 2216.92 crore.
The significant gainers in the interim sports budget are SAI, the National Sports Development Fund (NSDF) and the corpus meant for giving incentives to sportspersons.
The allocation to SAI has been increased by Rs 55 crore. From Rs 395 crore, the allocation has been increased to Rs 450 crore in the fresh proposals. The SAI is the nodal organisation to manage nationals camps, provide equipment and other logistics to the country's sportspersons.
Besides, the allocation for NSDF has increased from Rs 2 crore to Rs 70 crore.
The Finance Minister also proposed an increase in the incentive fund for the sportspersons, from Rs 63 crore to Rs 89 crore.
However, the assistance to National Sports Federations (NSFs) has been slashed slightly from Rs 245.13 crore to Rs 245 crore.
The overall encouragement and awards to sportspersons have been increased by Rs 94.07 crore. The previous allocation stood at Rs 316.93 crore and will now be Rs 411 crore.
The Khelo India National Programme for Development of Sports too got a hike of Rs 50.31 crore and from the previous allocation of Rs 550.69 crore, it is now Rs 601 crore.
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AIITA welcomes Karnataka’s ban on obscene songs in school events
Bhatkal: The Karnataka unit of the All India Ideal Teachers Association (AIITA) has welcomed the Karnataka government’s decision to strictly ban school children from dancing to obscene songs during educational and cultural programmes in government, aided, and private schools across the state.
AIITA Karnataka State President M. R. Manvi congratulated the government for taking what he termed an important step to preserve the sanctity of education.
“Such decisions to safeguard the dignity of school children and uphold the values of education are the need of the hour. This rule should not be limited to government schools alone but must be strictly implemented in all private educational institutions as well,” he said.
He further urged the government to address other concerns within school programmes.
“The government should not only prohibit obscene dances in the name of school anniversaries, but also ensure that plays and dialogues that incite religious hatred are avoided. Schools should be centres of harmony, not platforms for spreading hatred,” he added.
According to a recent circular issued by the Department of School Education and Literacy, obscene dances are adversely affecting the mental health and moral values of students.
In this regard, schools have been advised to use songs that promote nationalism, positive thinking, the greatness of Kannada culture, and value-based traditions instead of inappropriate content during programmes.
The circular also emphasises that students should be dressed in decent attire.
AIITA also backed the department’s warning that disciplinary action would be taken against head teachers if such guidelines are violated. The association has further demanded that district Deputy Directors of Public Instruction strictly monitor the implementation of these rules.
