PM launches Khelo India Mobile App

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday launched the Khelo India Mobile App here at the Vigyan Bhawan during the Youth Parliament Festival.

Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore and other dignitaries were present at the launch.

The Khelo India App is a first-of-its-kind sports application, developed by the Sports Authority of India (SAI) that brings under one umbrella three significant features that together can help to create more awareness about sports and fitness among the masses in general and youngsters in particular.

Developed as part of the Khelo India Scheme, which is the largest sporting talent identification and nurturing platform in the country, the application aims to further the Prime Minister's vision to develop the sporting ecosystem in India and turn it into a global sporting superpower in the years to come.

The application has three unique features that will make it convenient for youngsters to take up sport and also help to identify potential champions among children, across the country. The three sections are as follows:

1. How to play: In this section, the user gets information about the basic rules and regulations of 18 sports disciplines. It is a beginner's guide to what the game is about, equipments needed to play it, rules to follow while playing the game and scoring parameters. Keeping in mind the young demography of users, the information has been given through interesting info graphics and animation videos.

2. Where to play: This section includes an exhaustive repository of data of sporting facilities across the country where an interested youngster can pursue a sport, in his or her hometown. The list includes SAI facilities, SAI-supported facilities and private facilities. The App contains details like address, phone numbers, location and also the sporting facilities available at the venue. The APP has the provisions of adding to this list of available sports facilities across the country on an ongoing basis, and going forward will, it will become the largest repository of play field information.

3. Get fit: Fitness assessment of children is the most dynamic feature of the APP which will help to map the basic fitness levels of kids starting as early as 5 years for all school going children in India. The Fitness section has 8 tests that can be used to ascertain not just the level of fitness of a child, but can also determine which sporting discipline a child can excel in. The data of the fitness tests conducted by Physical Education Teachers of schools will be fed into the App and used to identify possible champions from across the country.

Further, the fitness section has two verticals:

1. For Parents: This will enable every parent or household to map the fitness level of their children.

2. For Schools: India has more than 1.5 million schools and 30 crore school-going children and its very critical to manage and map the fitness levels of school-going children in India.

Developed both in Hindi and English, the application once downloaded can be used even when the parent or teacher does not have connectivity to the Internet. This will ensure that even those children who live and study in villages, and who may not have constant access to the internet can use this application.