4% RESERVATION FOR SPORTSPERSON IN GOVERNMENT JOBS

In Uttarakhand, physical activities and sports are an integral part of the culture and society. It is very important to channelize the energy of youth in the right direction for meaningful purposes. Sports and physical activities don’t only benefit the physical health but also helps in improving the social harmony, economic activities and standard of living.

The aim of the state government is to spread awareness among the residents of the state about the benefits of physical activities. The state government is committed in achieving the motto of “Sports for all- Health for all”. The percentage of youth is proportionately high in terms of population in the state, so there is a need to channelize the energy of youth into sports and develop competitive sports spirit so that a positive image of youth can be seen at state and national level. The state government has been trying to promote physical and sports activities in the state since the day chief minister has been elected. The state government has decided to take several revolutionary steps to promote sports in the state and to provide infrastructural facilities for sports, but more work needs to be done in this area, so the creation of a new sports policy becomes relevant.

Under the leadership of honorable chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami, the new sports policy of 2021 came in action and its objective is to take steps that integrates the existing schemes and development of the state with Fit India, Khelo India and other national sports and physical development schemes. The state government will try to ensure that the talented players of the state can get the benefit of the integrated energy and facilities. Through the Sports Policy, efforts will be made to ensure that the highest ethical values, dope-free sports, transparency, equal opportunity and efforts will also be made to ensure that all youth gets an opportunity to play at least one sport of their choice.

The Uttarakhand government introduced a bill in the state assembly to grant 4% horizontal reservation in government jobs for all the sportspersons who have performed exceptionally in national and international competition. The proposed Uttarakhand Public Service bill mentions, “Many talented players of Uttarakhand have given a new identity to the state in the field of sports through their commendable performance but due to lack of employment resources in the state, they are migrating to other states. According to the proposed bill, a skill sportsperson is a citizen of the country who has won a medal or participated in any sports at national or international level, whose domicile of origin is Uttarakhand and who has not obtained permanent domicile certificate from any other state. An athlete whose domicile of origin is not Uttarakhand but has obtained a domicile certificate of the state in accordance with the set of rules and regulation would be provided benefits of the law. Overall, the objective of the policy may be defined as follows: –

  1. To develop sports culture in the state by inculcating high moral values and spirit of comradeship.
  2. To take the youth of the state from E-culture to P-culture.
  3. To encourage public participation in sports and provide equal opportunities to citizens to participate in sports.
  4. To develop, maintain and optimally utilize national and international level sports infrastructural facilities.
  5. To train and encourage talented players to participate in recognized national and international competitions.
  6. To organize awareness training and competitions with inter-departmental cooperation for development of sports spirit and sports culture in the state.
  7. To give special emphasis on developing sports infrastructure in educational institutions and universities.
  8. To channelize vibrant youth energy in positive direction through sports activities and physical fitness.
  9. Identifying and nurturing outstanding talents in sports and providing facilities to encourage them for high level performance.
  10. Identifying the special needs of the disabled and ensuring their greater participation in sports and providing them with sports infrastructure.
  11. To make efforts to promote adventure sports in the state of Uttarakhand and to promote various adventure sports related activities to attract tourism.
  12. To provide direction to excellent players by providing them international level training along with international level infrastructure facilities in order to help the State achieve high level in the medal tally of national and international level competitions.
  13. Organizing high-level sports competitions to develop competitive skills among players.
  14. To provide adequate support and facilities to the State Sports Associations for the development of sports.
  15. To include the facts of sports science along with the basic facilities of scientific and psychological training in sports.

The distinct approach of the government is highlighted under this policy, Degraded technology will be used for the upliftment of sports. Under this, special emphasis will be laid on the development of local sports facilities as well as adopting a need-based development approach at various levels. The sports Department will prepare a target-oriented and time-bound action plan. Apart from this, a scheme will also be run under the Sports Department to promote the traditional sports of the state. In rural areas, facilities for participation in competitive tournaments will be provided to players from village to state level in various sports along with training so that sports culture can be developed even in remote areas of the state and youth of rural areas also get the same opportunities as urban ones. Dhami said to increase the motivation and participation in the sports culture, government will give out certain amount when a player wins any title or any prize. The amount offered by the government ranges differently depending on the prize, it can start at 10,000 and goes up to 2,00,00,000

Lastly, to keep in line with the changing global trends, the state sports policy will be reviewed every five years through a committee appointed by the government and rules, instructions will be issued from time to time by the Uttarakhand government as per the need. The responsibility of daily monitoring of the activities prescribed under the sports policy will be of the Sports Directorate, Uttarakhand, which will prepare a monitoring plan for this and implement it as per the need. The progress information prepared by the Directorate will be given to the government from time to time, through which a more holistic approach will be adopted on the state sports policy and smooth run of this policy will be insured in the long run.