National Sports Bill to be discussed during monsoon session: Mandaviya
Sports Minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Monday said the long-awaited National Sports Governance Bill will be tabled in Parliament during the monsoon session beginning July 21. The minister, while speaking to the media on the sidelines of an event to launch the Department of Youth Affairs’ initiatives against drug addiction, also reiterated the government’s position that Pakistani athletes will not be stopped from coming to India for multi-lateral sporting engagements. “The bill will be tabled in the Parliament during the upcoming session. I will give more details in a couple of days,” Mandaviya said. The bill seeks to ensure greater accountability for the country’s sports administrators with the provision of a regulatory board that would have the power to grant recognition and decide funding to National Sports Federations (NSFs) based on their adherence to provisions related to good governance. The board will also be responsible for ensuring compliance with the highest governance, financial, and ethical standards. In addition, the draft sports bill proposes the establishment of Ethics Commissions and Dispute Resolution Commissions to ensure transparency in governance. It has been debated for a long time and has even been opposed by the Indian Olympic Association, which feels that a regulatory board would undermine its standing as the nodal body for all NSFs. Mandaviya reasserted the government’s position that Pakistan’s participation in international sports engagements in India won’t be stopped despite the turbulent relations that have further deteriorated in the wake of the Pahalgam terror attack in April. Next month’s men’s Asia Cup hockey tournament (Bihar), the FIH Junior World Cup in November-December (Tamil Nadu), and the junior shooting World Cup (New Delhi) in September-October are the major events where Pakistani participation is expected.
