New Delhi, Sep 1 (IANS) India’s Sports Minister Ajay Maken said Thursday that the ruling Congress party is not divided over the proposed national sports development bill, it is only debating it.
In the same breath, Maken said that he is prepared to tweak the bill somewhat without compromising on its basic structure.
Maken has been accused by his party colleague Rajeev Shukla, who is also the vice-president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), of being ignorant about the ground realities.
Maken refused to comment on Shukla’s statement and reiterated that the bill was not intended at curbing the autonomy of the sports federations.
‘Limiting the age and tenure for the office-bearers doesn’t amount to curbing autonomy neither by having 25 percent representation for sportsperson in the executive committee of the sports federations or by coming under the RTI. I am ready to leave out some clauses to help the sports federations,’ said Maken at the headquarters of the Sports Authority of India (SAI).
Asked whether he wants to compromise by leaving out some clauses, Maken said: ‘No, I am not going to compromise with the basic structure of the bill. We don’t want the government to control the sports federations.’
He also said that the ministry will start working on the bill once it receives the minutes of the cabinet meeting held Tuesday. The bill was rejected by the cabinet and Maken has been asked to revise the bill, which will be tabled again in the winter session of parliament.
Maken also said that 25 percent of reservation in sports federations will help in efficient management.
‘Sports should be run by sportsperson. I wish I could make it more than 25 percent. But with minimum 25 percent we are facing stiff opposition, I wonder what would have happened if it was more than that,’ he said.
Meanwhile, eminent sportspersons and Arjuna awardees Khazan Singh, Rajkumar Sangwan, Morad Ali Khan, Mehtab Singh, Kripa Shankar Patel and Sunita Godara met the sports minister at the SAI headquarters to show their support for the bill.
‘All sportspersons are supporting the bill. The idea is to have sportspersons at the help and make sports federations transparent. Let sportspersons decide themselves who among them will decide who will vote. We will go ahead with the bill,’ said Maken.
