Hamirpur (HP)/UNI: Union Minister for Information Broadcasting and Sports and Youth Affairs, Anurag Thakur has said that the PM Modi government has taken special care of the Sports and Youth Ministry in the Union Budget for the financial year 2023-24.

In a statement released by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) here Thursday, Thakur expressed gratitude to Minister Nirmala Sitharaman for such a pro-youth budget.

Thakur said Prime Minister Narendra Modi is committed to promoting sports and sports persons.

In this Union Budget, the Modi government has increased the budget of the Ministry of Youth and Sports from Rs.3062.50 crore (Budget Estimate 2022-23) to Rs. 3397.32 crore Budget Estimate (2023-24).

"This is about 335 crore more than the previous year. If we look back, the budget of the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports in the year 2013-14 was only 1093 crore, PM Modi led government has increased it more than three times in the last 9 years," said the Sports Minister.

Anurag Thakur said “The budget for the National Service Scheme (NSS) has been increased from Rs 283.50 crore (BE 2022-23) to Rs 325 crore (BE 2023-24) – this will help schools and colleges across the country to assist in building more NSS units.

"The budget for support to the National Sports Federation has been increased from Rs 280 crore (BE 2022-23) to Rs 325 crore (BE 2023-24). National Center for Sports Science and Research A budget of Rs 13 crore has been allocated for (NCSSR)."

The Minister said Khelo India is the biggest grassroot-level sports talent identification and nurturing scheme running in India today.

"In 2018, we started the Khelo India scheme. Through this scheme we identify 1000 talented athletes every year and give them scholarships for their training, coaching, diet, kit, medical insurance and out of pocket expenses. We currently have around 2500 athletes training, coaching under this scheme, receiving a total annual scholarship of Rs 6.28 lakhs for diet, kitting, medical insurance, kit and out of pocket expenses.

"At present there are more than 700 Khelo India centers across the country, which is expected to increase to 1000 by the end of this year. That means Khelo India centers will be established in almost all the districts."

Giving more emphasis to this sentiment, the budget of the Khelo India scheme has been increased from Rs 974 crores (BE 2022-23) to Rs 1000 crores (BE 2023-24).

Similarly, the budget for NYKS has been increased from Rs.325 crore (BE 2022-23) to Rs 401.49 crore (BE 2023-24), the minister added.