Parliament panel concerned over vacant posts of coaches

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, December 12

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Human Resource Development has raised concerns about the vacant posts of coaches in various sports disciplines.

The 31-member committee, chaired by Rajya Sabha member Satyanarayan Jatiya, has asked the Sports Department to fill up all the positions.

“Emphasising the role of quality coaching in promotion of excellence, the Committee expressed serious concern over 544 posts of coaches, accounting for 36% of the total sanctioned 1524 coaches lying vacant,” the committee said in its report tabled in Rajya Sabha today.

The committee also urged department of sports to try to replicate in other states the Public Private Partnership model between Orissa and the private sector, which has resulted in 10 high-performance centres for sports in the state.

Interestingly, the panel felt that the successes of Indian athletes are down to individual efforts and private coaching.

The committee recommended the appointment “of an eminent sports person or sports administrator as the Chief Executive Officer in the General Council of the Khelo India Scheme to oversee the implementation of the scheme by being more sensitive to the problems and needs of the athletes.”

The panel also urged the department of sports to organise international sporting events to popularise indigenous sports such as Kalaripayattu, Mallakhamb and Kho-Kho.