Sports has emerged as Uttar Pradesh’s soft power

In the recently concluded ‘Chintan Shivir’ of Ministers of Youth Affairs & Sports of States/UTs in Imphal, Manipur, Prime Minister Narendra Modi put forth his vision of making India a global sports power and his vision is for all states and the Centre to work collectively to provide quality sports and infrastructure to the athletes.

The state of Uttar Pradesh is revamping the sports ecosystem as the sports sector has emerged as the ‘soft power’ of the state. The state government is committed to the development of sports and the welfare of sportspersons in the state. To achieve this goal, we now have a sports policy to establish and ensure sports promotion and development. The policy will kick off a new era in sports skills and UP could be given the status of a champions’ state in the country.

The state will also set up a Sports Development Fund as part of the policy that will bolster sports activity in the state. The objectives of the fund will be to increase participation, promote new sports events, and add more jobs. Uttar Pradesh with 250 million people is the most populated state of India and consists of a maximum youth population. The state is focused on structuring sports at the grassroots level and at the same time is adopting innovative techniques at the elite level.

The state government has stepped up efforts to construct a stadium in each district of the state and mini-stadiums at the block level. Of these 58,000 panchayats, land has been acquired in 34,000 gram panchayats. The government has also helped construct 30 rural sports grounds in Basti. We are also making sports kits available to the players through ‘Yuvak Mangal Dal’ and ‘Mahila Mangal Dal’ in every revenue village. In rural areas, children and youths are being made aware of various sports competitions and encouraged to participate in tournaments.

Uttar Pradesh can also boast of having one of the largest incentive purses for its athletes. We provide Rs. 6 crore to an athlete who wins Olympic gold, Rs. 3 crores to silver medallist, and Rs. 1 crore to bronze winner. The government also provides Rs. 10 lakhs to athletes competing in the Olympics.

For winning a gold, silver and bronze medal in the Asian Games, Rs. 3 crore, Rs. 2 crore and Rs. 1 crore are given by the government respectively. In Commonwealth and world championships, gold medallists are awarded Rs. 1.5 crore while silver and bronze medallists get Rs. 75 lakh Rs. 50 lakh respectively. Soon more than 500 sportspersons from the state of Uttar Pradesh, who have participated in the national and international championships, will be absorbed into the State police force and other administrative departments of U.P.

At the elite level, we believe that nurturing the Public Private Partnership ‘PPP’ model to empower the sports ecosystem in the state has become quintessential. PPP model is a collaboration between governments, various public bodies, and private sector entities for developing infrastructure for the greater good of the sport. In this context, the Department of Sports, Uttar Pradesh Government signed several Memorandum of Understanding (MoUs) during the Invest UP with organisations like HCL Foundation, JSW for wrestling, Dream Sports, European Business and Technology Centre, Abhinav Bindra Targeting Performance among others.

The state government also organised the UP Open ITF $25K Men’s Tennis Tournament at the Ekana International Tennis Stadium which saw former world number 65 Evgeny Donskoy and other top players from around the world take centre stage. Parallelly, we have several privately owned teams which are bolstering sports in the state – Uttar Pradesh is home to Lucknow Super Giants, owned by the RP-Sanjiv Goenka Group in the Indian Premier League; Premier Handball League has added Golden Eagles Uttar Pradesh owned by Pavna Industries, and the already existing UP Yoddhas in the Pro Kabaddi League.

The state is now ready to host the ‘Khelo India University Games Uttar Pradesh 2022’ from the 25th of May to further empower not just the state but the country’s sporting ecosystem. The 10-day-long KIUG 2023, which will conclude on June 3, will be held in Lucknow, Varanasi, Noida and Gorakhpur and will embody “Kaushal, Neeti and Dhairya”.

KIUG 2023 is focused on promoting grassroots sports and identifying young talents from across the country. The third edition of the Khelo India University Games will feature around 4,000 athletes from various institutions from across the country. All athletes will be in the under-27 category and will vie for medals in 21 sports.

About The Author

Navneet Sehgal

The author is Additional Chief Secretary, Department of Sports and Youth Welfare, Government of Uttar Pradesh

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