Sports Ministry: ‘SAI budget re-arranged, not curtailed’

The Sports Ministry, in February, received a hike of ₹ 258.2 crore in the union budget for 2018-19. It was allocated a total of ₹ 2196.36 crore, compared to the ₹ 1938.16 crore earmarked in 2017.

Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore also said that SAI is also being provided financial assistance under other schemes of the Ministry, like the Scheme for Assistance to National Sports Federations (NSFs), and the National Sports Development Fund (NSDF) to undertake activities.

The Sports Ministry on Wednesday insisted that it has not curtailed the funding for the Sports Authority of India (SAI), in the union budget, claiming that the money has merely been re-arranged.

The Sports Ministry, in Febraury, received a hike of ₹ 258.2 crore in the union budget for 2018-19. It was allocated a total of ₹ 2196.36 crore, compared to the ₹ 1938.16 crore earmarked in 2017. However, SAI was allocated ₹ 429.56 crore, a cut of ₹ 66.17 crore compared to 2017’s fund allocation of ₹ 495.73 crore.

In response to a query in Rajya Sabha on Wednesday, Sports Minister Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, in a written reply, said it was a wrong perception that SAI’s funding has been slashed.

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“SAI has been entrusted to implement a number of the twelve vertical of the Khelo India Scheme being implemented by this ministry. The funds earmarked for such verticals will be placed at the disposal of SAI for implementing them. Thus, effectively, there has not been any curtailment of funds for SAI, though there has been rearrangement of resources between the Ministry and the SAI,” the reply stated.

Rathore further said that SAI is also being provided financial assistance under other schemes of the Ministry, like the Scheme for Assistance to National Sports Federations (NSFs), and the National Sports Development Fund (NSDF) to undertake activities.