According to Union Minister Anurag Thakur, funds have been given under the "Sports for Women" section of the Khelo India Scheme to boost women's engagement in sports starting in 2020.
Tuesday's written Lok Sabha reply from Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports Thakur included the following information: "All schemes of the Department of Sports are gender neutral and cater to all sportspersons equally. However, one of the components of the Khelo India Scheme "Sports for Women" is specifically dedicated towards the promotion of sports among women."
The Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports said in a statement on Tuesday that under this component, Women's Leagues in various disciplines are run in cooperation with the National Sports Federations in order to increase the participation of women in sport, use the league as a platform for talent identification, and provide competition exposure to women athletes of the different age groups.
The Sports Authority of India (SAI) has also built three SAI Training Centers (STCs) and one National Centre of Excellence (NCOE) specifically for women in order to place a special emphasis on the promotion of sport among the talented female athletes in the nation.
Additionally, 3146 female athletes are being trained nationwide under SAI's Sports Promotional Schemes.
Additionally, 1374 female athletes are being trained across the nation under the "Talent Search and Development" component of the Khelo India Scheme, with a maximum financial aid of Rs 6,28,400 (including Rs 1,20,000 as an out-of-pocket allowance) per athlete each year.
The Government decided in February of this year to continue the Scheme of "Khelo India - National Programme for Development of Sports" over the 15th Finance Commission Cycle (2021-22 to 2025-26) at an outlay of Rs 3165.50 crore in order to achieve the twin objectives of promoting mass participation and excellence in sports.
Anurag Singh Thakur expressed gratitude to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for allowing the Khelo India Scheme to continue. The Minister stated, "On behalf of the Ministry and all stakeholders, I express our deep gratitude to the Prime Minister for extending the tenure of the Khelo India Scheme for another five years as well as bringing it into national prominence by increasing its budgetary allocation by 48 per cent in Budget 2022 and including it in the PM's Awards Scheme."
The Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports' premier Central Sector Program is called the Khelo India Scheme. It seeks to instil a culture of sports and achieve sporting greatness throughout the nation, enabling the general public to tap into sports' transformative power.
The Khelo India programme entails playfield development, community coaching development, promotion of community sports, establishment of a strong sports competition structure at both the school and university levels as well as for rural/indigenous sports, sports for people with disabilities, and women sports; filling in critical gaps in sports infrastructure, including the creation of hubs of sports excellence in select universities; talent identification and development; support to sports academies; implementation of a national physical fitness drive for school children; and sports for peace and development.
