New Delhi, India – The Union Cabinet has officially approved the National Sports Policy 2025, also known as Khelo Bharat Niti 2025. This landmark initiative, announced by Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, is designed to revolutionize India’s sporting landscape, empower its citizens through sports, and elevate the nation’s standing on the global stage. Superseding the previous National Sports Policy 2001, this new framework outlines a strategic roadmap to transform India into a global sporting powerhouse and bolster its aspirations, including a bid to host the 2036 Olympic Games.
Key Pillars of the Khelo Bharat Niti 2025
The policy is built upon several strategic frameworks aimed at fostering a robust sports ecosystem across the country:
- Excellence on the Global Stage
This pillar focuses on embedding a strong sporting culture from local to national levels, ensuring widespread access and opportunities:
- Physical literacy promotion.
- Outreach and awareness campaigns for sports.
- Emphasis on major sporting event participation and hosting.
- Development of strong sports promotion institutions.
- Athlete-centric sports development programs.
- Focus on sports personnel development.
- Ensuring safety, ethics, and professionalism in sports.
- Advancement in sports science, medicine, technology, research, and innovation.
- Rewards and recognition for champion athletes.
- Integration of educational institutes in sports development.
- Strengthening funding mechanisms for sports development.
- Robust talent search and development initiatives.
- Development of sports infrastructure.
- Targeted development in districts and states.
- Excellence in para sports.
- Sports for Economic Development
Recognizing sports’ role in economic growth, this section outlines strategies to enhance its economic impact:
- Promotion of sports tourism through major sporting events.
- Building a strong sports equipment manufacturing ecosystem.
- Fostering robust sports startups and an entrepreneurship environment.
- Ensuring operational and financial sustainability of sports assets.
- Recognition and promotion of innovation in sports.
- Positioning India as a global sports destination.
- Establishing sports business advisory groups.
- Sports for Social Development
This pillar emphasizes sports as a unifying force for social good, promoting inclusivity and peace:
- Reducing barriers for participation of underrepresented population groups.
- Promotion of indigenous sports and games.
- Talent development initiatives for underrepresented populations.
- Leveraging sports for peace and international cooperation activities.
- Promoting sports and allied services as mainstream career pathways.
- Developing sports volunteering programs.
- Sports as a People’s Movement
This aims to transform sports into a widespread movement, improving physical and mental well-being while offering leisure and entertainment:
- Implementation of a fitness ranking and indexing system for educational institutions and workplaces.
- Establishment of personnel training and certification for effective physical education delivery.
- Active engagement of National Sports Federations with educational institutions to promote discipline.
- Creation of Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for fitness programs in schools, colleges, and workplaces.
- Revamping physical education frameworks in collaboration with the Ministry of Education.
- Improving access to sporting facilities through guidelines, frameworks, and support for social sport hubs at block and district levels.
Integration with Education (Aligned with NEP 2020)
The policy specifically aligns the Khelo Bharat Niti with the National Education Policy 2020 to ensure seamless integration of sports into the curriculum for holistic student development:
- Formulating a framework for active engagement of sports groups and circles in educational institutions.
- Framing a sports and physical education skill development program for teachers.
- Coordinating with various stakeholders to ensure effective resource delivery (manpower, playgrounds, regular school-level programs).
Strategic Frameworks for Advancing the Sporting Ecosystem
Beyond the thematic pillars, the policy lays down four overarching strategic frameworks:
- Strong professional sports governance, implementation, and monitoring.
- Technological intervention in sports.
- Establishment of national frameworks and regulatory bodies.
- Enhanced private sector engagement in sports development.
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