Govt’s new bill plans setting up of National Sports Board | India News
NEW DELHI: The Union govt is set to introduce a sports governance Bill in the Parliament session starting Monday. It has been drafted as part of India’s preparations to strengthen its bid for Olympic Games 2036.The proposed bill, prepared by the sports ministry, has been approved by the Cabinet, which has asked it to come up with a better title for the same. Sources said the bill gains importance considering that sports governance is an important parameter for bid evaluation.Recently, India officially presented Ahmedabad’s bid to host the 2036 Olympic and Paralympic Games.The bill provides for setting up of a National Sports Board (NSB), a central authority responsible for granting recognition to national sports governing bodies (NSGBs) and ensuring compliance. The NSB will have the flexibility and autonomy to prepare requisite guidelines and regulations for governance of sports.The Bill mandates the formation of an athlete committee in each NSGB for representation of athletes. Officials said NSGBs will have five members, including two sportspersons of outstanding merit and two members from the athlete committee, with sound representation of women. The NSGBs will be governed by the Olympic Charter and other regulations. There will be mandatory representation of sportspersons of outstanding merit and members from the athlete committee in the general body and the executive committee.There is also a proposal in the bill for a National Sports Election Panel for ensuring free and fair elections to NSGBs. Further, to reduce the number of court cases, the Bill proposes setting up of a National Sports Tribunal, which will serve as a single-window system for resolution of disputes.It proposes to allocate Rs 10 crore for setting up the NSB and the tribunal.
