India raises millions for sports federations

ISLAMABAD: Indian government has increased annual grants for sports federations from rupees 302.18 crores to rupees 342 crores (around 682 crores in Pakistani rupees) to enhance preparations for the South Asian Games as well as for the 2020 Olympics.

The recent announcement by the Indian government is in sharp contrast to Pakistan where sports federations’ grants have been stopped for the last 10 months.

According to the reports published in the Indian newspapers, a leading Olympic sports federation in India gets more than Rs400 million in Pakistani rupees annually.

Here in Pakistan the most fortunate federations including hockey, squash and tennis get meager government’s financial support at around Rs3 million annually (per federation).

‘The News’ has learnt that the Task Force on Sports — recently formed by the government to restructure Pakistan sports — has totally opposed the direct government grants to the federations and instead supported the European structure.

On the contrary in the region where Pakistan is situated, every government financially supports its federations. The Indian government’s example is there where a huge sum is annually devoted for sports activities.

The federations’ grant is apart from the Indian government’s initiated programme ‘Khelo India’ that annually consumes a whopping amount of rupees 520 crores.