Resolution passed to transfer sports to Concurrent List: Vijay Goel

In a significant but tricky move, Sports Minister Vijay Goel on Thursday said that a resolution has been passed to transfer sports from the State List of the Indian Constitution to the Concurrent List in a meeting of the National Sports Federations called by the government here.

Goel said that NSFs have agreed to make an effort to bring sports in the Concurrent List from the State List, though he said it will have to consult the state governments before taking up the issue.

"This is the second meeting the ministry with the National Federations. We earlier had a meeting with some NSFs and in this second meeting today more than 20 NSFs took part. All of them wanted sports to be included in the Concurrent List of the Constitution instead of this item being included in the State List currently.

"So, we took an important decision today and a resolution was passed by the NSFs present today that sports should be included in the Concurrent List," Goel told reporters after the meeting.

"It is a process and we have to consult the state governments and their sports ministers. After that we will go ahead and hopefully, sports will be in the Concurrent List. That will allow both the Central and state governments work together for the betterment of sports in the country," Goel added.

Vijay Goel

The transfer of sports in the Concurrent List has been a tricky issue since such an effort of the sports ministry had failed in 2009 when a Bill was withdrawn due to lack of consensus among the states.

In 1988, the Union cabinet wanted to transfer 'sports' to the Concurrent List from the State List with the objective of ensuring effective implementation of the National Sports Policy, especially to broad-base sports, regulate its conduct and management and achieve all-round excellence. But in 2009, the Cabinet decided to withdraw the Constitution (61st Amendment) Bill of 1988 due to lack of consensus.

Asked if the inclusion of sports in the Concurrent List will have any bearing on the efforts of the Union Sports Ministry to pass the Sports Bill, he said,"Regardless of this issue, we have been pushing for the passage of the Sports Bill. I think there will be some more consultations before we bring the Sports Bill."

He said the meeting also agreed to bring a quarterly journal on Indian sports to highlight the achievement of the sportspersons.

"All the NSFs felt that people do not know the achievements of each sport and an effort should be made to highlight the achievements. So, it was agreed to start a quarterly journal," he said.