New Delhi, July 3 (Inditop.com) The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) and national sports federations Friday welcomed the government’s decision to allow sport to remain in the state list.
“We congratulate the union cabinet and Minister of Sports and Youth Affairs M.S. Gill for allowing the subject of sports to remain in the state list. This decision of the cabinet will certainly encourage the states to give more emphasis on the development of sports,” IOA president Suresh Kalmadi said in a statement.
The cabinet Thursday aborted its two-decade-old bid to have a say on sports issues by transferring the matter from the state list to the concurrent list.
With political consensus eluding the relevant constitution amendment bill, aimed at transferring the subject of sports from the state list of the constitution to the concurrent list, the central government Thursday decided to withdraw the crucial bill from the Rajya Sabha where it was introduced Nov 24, 1988. Sports is currently in the state list.
The decision to withdraw the Constitution (61st Amendment) Bill, 1988 from the Rajya Sabha was taken in a cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, said cabinet spokesperson Ambika Soni.
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