Sports Ministry gives go-ahead to open up 143 Khelo India Centres across 7 States in India
27 May 2021: The Sports Ministry has dedicated a total of 143 Khelo India Centres across 7 States with a total budget estimate of Rs 14.30 Crores. These centres will be entrusted with one sports discipline each. The States include Maharashtra, Mizoram, Goa, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh and Manipur.
States-wise bifurcation includes:
# Maharashtra: Opening of 36 Khelo India Centres in 30 Districts
# Mizoram: Opening of 2 Khelo India Centres in Kolasib District
# Arunachal Pradesh: Opening of 52 Khelo India Centres in 26 Districts
# Madhya Pradesh: Opening of 4 Khelo India Centres
# Karnataka: Opening of 31 Khelo India Centres
# Manipur: Opening of 16 Khelo India Centres
# Goa: Opening of 2 Khelo India Centres
Khelo India Centres have been launched by the Sports Ministry in partnership with the State Governments to ensure the availability of grassroot-level sports infrastructure across the country. Speaking about the decision, Union Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports Shri Kiren Rijiju said, “It is our endeavour to make India one among the top 10 countries in the 2028 Olympics. To fulfill this goal we need to identify and nurture a large number of talented sportspersons from an early age.”
The Sports Ministry, in June 2020, had planned to open up as many as 1,000 new KICs over a period of 4 years, with at least one KIC in each district of the country. While 217 KICs had been opened across several States prior to this, it was decided that for the districts in North-East states, Jammu & Kashmir, Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep and Ladakh, there would be 2 KICs per districts as exceptions.
