The government on Saturday allocated ₹2826.92 crore as sports budget for the next financial year, which is up by a mere ₹50 crore from the revised estimates of 2019-20.
The government gave a substantial hike of ₹291.42 crore to its flagship Khelo India programme for development of sports at the grassroot and youth level. But, as far as incentives for sportspersons in the Olympic year are concerned, it has proposed to slash the amount from the ₹111 crore to ₹70 crore.
The government also decreased the allocation to Sports Authority of India (SAI) from the revised ₹615 crore to ₹500 crore. The SAI is the nodal organisation to manage nationals camps, provide infrastructure, equipment and other logistics to the country’s sportspersons.