Chennai: Tamil Nadu govt on Wednesday unveiled a youth and sports push aimed at preventing drug abuse, producing Olympic champions, and making sports a part of every day life, with a Rs 1,051-crore for the Youth Welfare and Sports Development Department. The govt has nearly doubled the allocations from Rs 572 crores last financial year.Key plans include setting up of 10 Olympic Centres of Excellence across the state at a cost of Rs 50 crore. Another Rs 5 crore has been earmarked to provide world-class training for talented school students aged eight to 18, while Rs 22 crore will be provided as financial assistance to 500 athletes excelling in national and international competitions.The budget also allocated Rs 42 crore to conduct the Tamil Nadu Rural Sports Competition to promote traditional Tamil sports and Rs 2 crore to upgrade infrastructure at the Tamil Nadu Physical Education and Sports University.Presenting the budget, finance minister N Marie Wilson announced an Integrated Youth Development Programme under the slogan “Take Up Sports, Give Up Drugs”, bringing together the National Cadet Corps (NCC), National Service Scheme (NSS), and the Health, Police and Social Welfare departments to steer young people towards sports, community service and healthy living.He said the initiative follows Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay’s participation in the “Start Run, Stop Drugs” campaign at Chennai’s Marina Beach, where he ran alongside thousands of youngsters to promote an anti-drug message.In a school-level intervention, the govt announced that all government and government-aided schools will introduce one hour of structured sports and physical activity after school every day, replacing the existing system of two sports periods a week. The govt said the programme would be backed by sports equipment and facilities to improve students’ physical fitness, teamwork and discipline while identifying future sporting talent.To improve access to sports at the grassroots, the govt also announced plans to establish neighbourhood sports facilities, mini gymnasiums and sports complexes in every block and urban local body, with the aim of making sporting infrastructure accessible within walking distance of every young citizen.
