Centre earmarks Rs 20,000 cr to augment skill of youth

The Centre has earmarked Rs 20,000 crore for a skill development programme meant for the youth in various fields, including sports.

The programme is aimed at ensuring emergence of talented sportspersons across the country, Union Minister of State for Planning and Parliamentary Affairs V Narayanasamy said here today.

"The Centre is keen on promoting sports and games," he said after laying the foundation of a Rs 7.5-crore project for renovating the Rajiv Gandhi Indoor stadium at Uppalam near here.

Narayanasamy said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had approved a Rs 497 crore scheme to digitise the coming Commonwealth Games at Delhi to ensure that TV channels carried events live to all sections of people.

He said the Sports and Youth Affairs Ministry planned to spend Rs 4,500 crore for sports and games in the next five years and underscored the need to set up indoor stadiums in the rural areas in Puducherry.

The minister said the Centre was keeping a close watch on privately managed professional institutions in the country to prevent them from collecting capitation fees.

Statutory measures would soon be put in place to curb their activities, he said.