Maken hopeful of early Sports Bill

Sports Minister Ajay Maken said here today that he hoped that the much-anticipated National Sports Bill, which has already been introduced in Parliament, would be passed in the Monsoon Session.

“The draft for the Sports Bill has already been placed before Parliament and it will come before the Cabinet tomorrow,” Maken told the media after a function at the Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium here to celebrate the 106th birth anniversary of the hockey wizard.

The proposed bill, once cleared by the Cabinet, will then go to the Parliamentary Standing Committee before being tabled in Parliament. “We need reforms in sports, and we hope that the National Sports Bill will bring about these changes. Our idea was to introduce the bill in the Monsoon Session and we have done that. Inter-ministerial consultations are now on and after that, it will go to the Parliament for resolution,” he said.

The proposed bill, which has generated protests from the Indian Olympic Association as well as National Sports Federations, has been termed “intrusive” by many. The original proposals of the bill also planned to bring all sports federations, including the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), within the scope of the Right to Information (RTI) Act.

However, sources indicate that the objections from the federations have resulted in the ‘toning down’ of some of the proposals, though the exact nature of this change of stance was not clear.

Another vexed issue currently gaining momentum is the tiff between Hockey India and the Indian Hockey Federation, which is threatening to scuttle the plans for the Champions Trophy, scheduled to be held here early next year.

“We have been able to make HI and IHF come to some sort of understanding to try and make the running of the sport smooth,” Maken said. “But the IOA and the International Hockey Federation has some objections about this and we have also received a letter from FIH about this. The Joint-Secretary, Sports, has already written to FIH regarding this and has met FIH president Leandro Negre. Negre will be in India soon and we will take it up with him.”

Earlier, Maken paid glorious tributes to Major Dhyan Chand, saying that he was an inspiration for all athletes in the country. He said that the Sports Ministry was committed to ensuring that sports would become transparent and also that the infrastructure would be used to promote promising athletes and used exclusively for sports.