In a historic development on Wednesday, two major PSUs NTPC and REC Ltd signed an MoU with the National Sports Development Funds (NSDF), and the Youth Affairs and Sports Ministry with NSDF. Altogether, the two PSUs have committed Rs 215 crore for promoting sports in India, the Power Ministry said.
The ministry said in a statement that the two MoUs were signed in the presence of RK Singh, Union Minister of Power and New & Renewable Energy and Anurag Singh Thakur, Union Minister of Youth Affairs & Sports and Information and Broadcasting. Gurdeep Singh, CMD NTPC, Shri Vivek Kumar Devangan, CMD REC, Director General Sports Authority of India, various eminent athletes and senior officials were present on the occasion.22
While NTPC has committed Rs 115 crore for five years towards Archery, REC committed Rs 100 crore for three years towards Women's hockey, Boxing and athletics. Many other Power PSUs would also come forward to financially support various other sports, the power minister said.
Highlighting that sports is an integral part of character building and nation building, RK Singh stated that for development of the country, sports have to be promoted as many other developed countries have been doing.
Singh reiterated the call by Prime Minister for promotion of sports in the country and shared that there is a huge increase in the number of medals being won by India in different sports in various international events, including Olympics.
"We have to encourage and support the talent in sports, increase the number of coaches and develop world-class facilities," he said.
Singh urged India's power PSUs to come forward in providing employment not just to successful athletes but also to other athletes who need support, and wished all the athletes for upcoming Olympics to win big and make the country proud.
Urging all from the corporates to individuals and from various institutions to states, to work together as a team, Anurag Thakur said the MoU signing will give a big motivation to the athletes.
"Earlier, I had urged online donations at NSDF, to adopt an athlete, a sport and an academy. Now, both NTPC and REC have adopted both sports and athletes... There are many PSUs but the ones who come forward help in building soft power of India, help athletes keep away from addiction and motivate them to perform higher at the international stage," Thakur added.
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