Scheme for development of Sports Infrastructure for North-East Region
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The Government has allowed 20% annual coverage of panchayats in respect of North-Eastern States as compared to 10% for the rest of the country under the Scheme of Panchayat Yuva Krida Aur Khel Abhiyan (PYKKA). Under the Scheme, village/ block panchayats receive one-time seed capital grant of Rs.1 lakh/ Rs.5 lakh each, for establishing a playing field with basic facilities. The state share in this is 25 per cent for normal states and 10 per cent for special category states, including North-Eastern states. In addition, village panchayats are given annual acquisition grant for procurement of sports equipment and annual operational grant to meet the operational expenses of non-competition nature @ Rs.10,000 and Rs.12,000 per annum, respectively, and block panchayats are @ Rs.20,000 and 24,000, respectively. The scheme further provides 100% central assistance for holding annual rural sports competitions at block, district and state level. The assistance given for holding annual block level competition is Rs.95,000/- (including prize money); Rs.3.9 lakh for district level (including inter-school competitions and prize money); Rs.10 lakh for state level; and Rs.70 lakh at national level @Rs.3.5 lakh per discipline (including prize money). This information was given by the Minister of State for Youth Affairs & Sports, Shri Pratik Prakashbapu Patil in the Rajya Sabha today, in a written reply to a question by Shri Birendra Prasad Baishya.