Nirmala Sitharaman Allocates Major Portion of Union Budget to Khelo India Project in Sports Ministry

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has assigned the primary portion of the Union budget, presented on Tuesday, to the Khelo India project under the sports ministry.

Narendra Modi government’s major access to boost grassroots sports has received ₹900 crore out of a total allotment of ₹3,442.32 crore.

Khelo India’s share is ₹ 20 crore more than the reconsidered allocation of ₹ 880 crore during the last financial year.

Despite the upcoming conclusion of the Olympics cycle in Paris this August and with the Commonwealth Games and Asian Games still two years away, the overall budget for the sports ministry saw only a small increase of ₹45.36 crore from the previous cycle.  

In the Previous financial year, the budget amounted to ₹3,396.96 crore. Over the years, the government has made enormous investments in Khelo India, a program that constantly finds new talents from across the nation. 

Khelo India received an allocation of ₹596.39 crore in the 2022-23 fiscal year, which was subsequently increased over ₹400 crore to ₹1,000 crore in the 2023-24 budget, being adjusted to ₹880 crore.     

The government has enlarged its programs since the inaugural Khelo India Youth Games in 2018.

In 2020, the ministry introduced the Khelo India University Games, followed by the launch of the Khelo India Winter Games and Khelo India Para Games in the same year. 

To support the National Sports Federations has increased by ₹15 crore, rising from ₹325 crore in 2023-24 to ₹340 crore in the latest budget.

The budget for the Sports Authority of India, responsible for managing stadia nationwide and overseeing the Target olympic Podium Scheme to prepare athletes for international competitions, has been raised from ₹795.77 crore to ₹822.60 crore, making a raise of ₹26.83 crore. 

The budgets for the National Anti-Doping Agency and the National Dope Testing Laboratory have received slight increments.