Written by Tushar Katheria, Founder & Lead Counsel, Katheria Sports Law Offices-INDIA.
On Feb. 2, 2024, the Finance Minister, Nirmala Sitaraman announced the interim budget for the upcoming Lok Sabha Election. Let us see what are the things happen in this budget session.
Allocation of Budget
The Sports Ministry was allocated INR 3,442.32 crore in the interim Union Budget presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday, up INR 45.36 crore from the previous year. In the previous budget, the Sports Ministry received a revised allocation of INR 3,396.96 crore.
Paris Olympics
During the fiscal year 2024-25, the country’s main focus will be on the Olympic Games in Paris, which will take place from July 26 to August 11. Last time in the Tokyo Olympics 2020, India performed well as they got 1 Gold, 2 Silver and 4 Bronze medals.
Khelo India, Sports Authority of India, and National Sports Federation
The ministry’s flagship programme, Khelo India, has been allocated INR 900 crore, an increase of INR 20 crore over the previous budget.
The Sports Authority of India (SAI), which organises national camps, provides athletes with infrastructure and equipment, and appoints coaches, increased its budgetary allocation by INR 26.83 crore from the previous year’s revised expenditure of INR 795.77 crore.
The National Sports Federations (NSFs) will receive INR 15 crore more this time, compared to the INR 325 crore revised budget for 2023-24.
NADA, NDTL and NCSSR
The National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) also received a rise, with the government allocating Rs 22.30 crore in the interim budget, compared to INR 21.73 crore in 2023-24.
The National Dope Testing Laboratory (NDTL), which tests dope samples, will receive INR 22 crore, INR 2.5 crore more than the previous budget.
The budget for the National Centre of Sports Science and Research has been reduced to INR 8 crore from INR 10 crore previously, while the National Sports University will receive an increase of INR 91.90 crore from INR 83.21 crore in the 2023-24 budget.
Budget Reductions
The budget for sports incentives was significantly reduced, from INR 84 crore to INR 39 crore.
The National Sports Development Fund allocation was also reduced to INR 18 crore from INR 46 crore. The Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay National Welfare for Sportspersons Scheme received INR 2 crore.
The allocation for the Enhancement of Sports Facility in Jammu and Kashmir has also been reduced from INR 20 crore to INR 8 crore.
Analysis and Conclusion
As the Union Budget will be presented once the new Government is elected, and comes into power, the Interim budget was just a focused right into the Paris Olympic Games. India already announce their announcement about hosting the Summer Olympics Games before the start of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 in Ahmedabad. However, the result was not in favour of India as the city of Ahmedabad does not have a culture of Sports, except of an IPL team which is just 3 years of their existence. The Government needs to re-think the Olympic Games where the city had the heritage of sports. Cities like Mumbai, Kolkata, and Bhubaneshwar have the potential to conduct such sporting events in the future.
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