New Delhi, July 8: Deserving athletes and former sportspersons will now not be required to run after national federations and government offices to get their rewards and dues as the Sports Ministry has made the processes online.
Sports Minister Anurag Thakur on Friday launched three major initiatives of his department – online portal for schemes of department of sports, national sports development fund (NSDF) website and revised scheme of cash award, national welfare and pension to sportspersons.
While active athletes who seek recognition and rewards from the government can now apply online on the portal of department of sports, corporates, PSUs and individuals can contribute to NSDF fund on its newly-built website.
Thakur termed the initiatives “revolutionary”, saying they will help in bringing transparency and accountability, besides giving a push to the government’s digital India mission.
“If an athlete had to seek for rewards and recognition from the government after a good performance, they had to go via the federation or SAI earlier, then it went through scrutiny and it took almost a year or two for these athletes to get their dues. We made this system simpler and more transparent. In simple words we have used technology to bring in more transparency and accountability to the system and it is further going to help the athletes to apply online and they will get their dues in a limited time. The role of SAI and NSFs have been made non-existent so to say” the minister added. (PTI)