Minister for Sports and Youth Welfare Jitu Patwari has said it is the top priority of the State Government to improve the financial condition of the State’s medal winners. He said we are making every effort to make Madhya Pradesh the sports hub of the country.
A new sports policy will be introduced soon to promote sports talent in the State. Along with this, sports courses will be compulsory to increase the importance of sports. He said that the Union Minister for Sports Kiran Rijiju has lauded the sports incentive schemes and future schemes of the State. He said the selection of players and coaches will be made online from the next session.
Patwari informed that now players of the State will get the benefit of medical and accident insurance. Madhya Pradesh has now become the first State in the country to provide insurance for sportspersons.
In the first phase, about 822 players of various sports academies are being given the benefits. Under medical insurance, the players can get treatment in any of the selected hospitals in the country. For this, they have been provided with the facility of free treatment up to Rs 2 lakh. Life insurance of Rs 5 lakh has also been done for the players. Also, the parents of economically weaker players are also covered under the life insurance.
Patwari informed that through insurance, cashless treatment facility will be made available to players all over the country. The process of providing cashless facility of medical and accident insurance to the sportspersons of the State who are participating in the national competition is also in progress. For this, the concerned sports association will have to provide a certified list of national-level players. After examining, the players will be registered to avail this facility.
The Minister for Sports and Youth Welfare said players are being deprived of jobs even after winning medals at the international and national level. He said according to the Chief Minister’s strategy, arrangements are being made in the new sports policy to ensure 5 per cent reservation to the players in Government jobs.
The Minister said the amount of grants and prizes of talented sportspersons and sports associations have been increased manifold. It has been proposed to increase the amount of Rs 5,000 being currently given to the medal winning player at the national level to Rs 1 lakh.
Earlier, a grant amount of Rs 50,000 was given for State-level event, which has been increased to Rs 2 lakh and the grant amount of Rs 2 lakh at the national level has been increased to Rs 10 lakh.