Page 53 - 31OCT2019E

sports

Kejriwal of playing vote bank politics by Singh had given clearance in June this ala Kumar Amit to initiate the process of
making announcements that “he has year for the operationalisation of a new acquisition of 97 acres adjacent to
no intention to fulfil”. sports university in Patiala from Sep- the Rajiv Gandhi National Law Uni-
“For the sports university, the Con- tember 1 and directed the Department versity in Sidhowal village, for the
gress government under Sheila Dik- of Higher Education to finalise the ad- construction of the university build-
shit had purchased 90 acres of land at mission regulations for the first batch. ing. While 97 per cent of the land is
Ghewra village for ₹11.70 crore in 2003. Chairing a meeting of the steering being provided free of cost by the
A Cabinet note to set up the university committee for the establishment of the village panchayat, the remaining will be
was also passed. The Kejriwal-led gov- university, the Chief Minister had also acquired. Acceding to a proposal from
ernment has passed another Cabinet approved The Punjab Sports University the Deputy Commissioner, the Chief
note meaning that it does not know as the name of the proposed institution, Minister had also given in-principle
about past proceedings,” said Congress for which a draft memorandum will be approval to reserve some Group C
leader Arvinder Singh. presented in the next cabinet meeting. and D jobs for the eligible local people
The Delhi’s initiative comes months The Punjab Chief Minister had whose land is acquired.
after Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder directed Deputy Commissioner of Pati- In Haryana, cricket legend Kapil
Dev will be the first Chancellor of the
Haryana Sports University at Rai in
DID YOU KNOW Sonipat district. “Kapil Dev will be the
first Chancellor of Haryana Sports
Only 5% of Indians The University will

are sports literate have a full-fledged

Delhi Sports School,
affiliated to CBSE, for
Just over five per cent of old reportedly said.
India’s 1.25 billion population is Pandey had petitioned the apex imparting education
“sports literate”, says Kanishka Pan- court in August 2018 and while with emphasis on
dey, the researcher who last year admitting his plea, the Supreme
filed a Public Interest Litigation Court had sought a response from sports and to groom
(PIL) in the Supreme Court seeking the union government. At the most the students for a
to make sports a fundamental right. recent hearing into the matter, the
Pandey is now heading what is top court appointed senior counsel career in sports
claimed to be the first Sports Re- Gopal Sankaranarayanan as Ami-
search Centre, which has been set cus Curiae to assist in the matter.
up by the Institute of Management The case is tentatively listed next University at Rai, Sonipat,” Haryana
Technology (IMT) in Ghaziabad. for mid-October. Sports Minister Anil Vij said in a tweet
“Merely 5.56 per cent of the In- Pandey, a law graduate from on October 5. The Sports University of
dian Population is ‘’Sports Literate’’. Delhi University, had written book Haryana will be the third sports univer-
To put in numbers, merely about 57 titled Sports — A Way Of Life, which sity established by a state government
lakh people out of 125 crore people was released by national badmin- in the country after Swarnim Gujarat
are engaged in sports, directly and ton coach Pullela Gopichand in Sports University (Gandhinagar) and
indirectly,” Pandey asserted. 2017. India’s Olympic performance Tamil Nadu Physical Education and
“Compare this with other coun- remains abysmal with the best ef- Sports University (Chennai), media
tries like the United States, Sports fort being a six-medal haul claimed reports said. Vij had earlier announced
or Physical Literacy is around 20 in the 2012 London edition. In the that the Sports School, Rai (Sonipat),
percent and in China more than 2016 Rio Olympic Games, India will be upgraded to a Sports University.
one crore people play badminton managed just a silver and a bronze Courses will include training for
alone. Countries have copied some- in the entire Games. However, sports management, sports infrastruc-
thing which was ours and have the country does considerably ture engineering, sports psychology,
excelled whereas we have ignored better at the Commonwealth and sports nutrition, sports journalism and
it and got left behind,” the 27-year- Asian Games. sports marketing.

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