Early Times Report
LEH, Aug 1: A new era of nurturing sporting excellence and creating a vibrant and inclusive sports ecosystem has ushered in the Union Territory of Ladakh, with Lt. Governor, Vinai Kumar Saxena approving a landmark New Ladakh Sports Policy. For the first time, the new sports policy provides assured financial support in terms of cash incentives and monthly scholarships, recognition and constant motivation to sportspersons to excel at school, district, state, national and international levels.
The Sports Policy establishes a visionary framework designed to transform the Union Territory into a premier, self-sustaining sporting destination, while simultaneously encouraging youth to take up sports as a viable career option, as envisaged by Prime Minister Narendra Modi through initiatives such as "Khelo India".
Based on the guiding principles of "Scout, Facilitate and Recognise", the policy has been finalised following threadbare discussions with all stakeholders for over two months, under the guidance and leadership of L-G Shri Saxena. In recent months, several sportspersons and their parents had met the Lieutenant Governor, apprising their inability to meet the expenses for further preparations and training due to financial constraints. Considering this requirement, the L-G, emphasising that "institutional financial support to sportspersons was critical for their career progression", directed the UT Administration to formulate a comprehensive sports policy where medal winners start earning automatically.
The biggest highlight of the policy is the introduction of a comprehensive framework for financial support to outstanding sportspersons from Ladakh. Medal winners in recognised International, National and State-level competitions, including the National School Games and Khelo India Games, will receive monthly scholarships for 12 months, from the date of winning the medal. This scholarship would motivate and enable the sportspersons to compete for higher-level sporting events, without worrying about expenses on a nutritious diet or sports equipment.
Under this new framework, International Gold medallists will receive Rs one lakh per month, National Gold medallists Rs 75,000 per month, and state-level Gold medallists Rs 10,000 per month, with proportionate scholarships for Silver and Bronze medal winners too, in respective sporting events for a period of 12 months. |
