Hemant Soren unveils Jharkhand sports policy, aims to build world-class infra

Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren on Tuesday unveiled the new state sports policy, which aims to augment sports infrastructure to provide world-class facilities to young talented players.

The Jharkhand Sports Policy 2022, which envisages a plan for a period of five years, comes after a gap of 15 years as the last sports policy was launched in 2007.

"Our priority is to provide a platform to talented players here. I am sure that the new sports policy framed by the state government will help our players struggling with limited resources to move forward," Soren said, unveiling the policy.

"We will provide world-class infrastructure and Jharkhand will definitely become a leading state in the sports field," he added.

Thirteen sportspersons who earned laurels for the state, including ace hockey players Pankaj Kumar Rajak, Sangita Kumari, Salima Tete and Nikki Pradhan, were felicitated with financial assistance ranging from Rs 15,000 to Rs 10 lakh each at the programme.

Soren said players of Jharkhand represented not only the state but also the country in different disciplines and brought glory by winning medals in international events.

"It is a matter of pride for us that our children, despite limited resources, excel in sports. A provision would be made to give a minimum of Rs 50,000 as assistance to the players by bringing changes in the sports policy. The government is also seriously considering how the future of the players can be secured after a certain age," he said.

The chief minister said that the state government will also promote sports in schools and that an action plan is being prepared for this.

The sports policy aims at providing opportunities to budding talents to reach the national and international levels in select disciplines, besides capacity building and making sports an attractive and viable career option, officials said. The policy envisages scholarship, insurance facilities and benefits of pension to players, besides developing state-of-the-art playgrounds in every block of the state, they said.

In addition, day-boarding, sports schools, residential sports development centres, and sports academies for the players would be set up in a phased manner, they added.

It also provides for creating the country's first digital database for players, provisions for rural sports centres, setting up a sports university, and developing coach development and physical fitness programmes, officials said.