YOUTH AFFAIRS & SPORTS DEPARTMENT

Initially, Directorate of Youth Affairs & Sports was part of the School Education Department. In December 1989, a separate Directorate of Youth Affairs & Sports was set up under the Education [Youth Affairs & Sports) Department. Finally, by April 1996 services of Coaches and Physical Instructors were transferred to the new organization. The Directorate is assigned the responsibility of promotion of games and sports including physical education and youth affairs related activities.
 
Jitendra Chowdhury was the Minister-in-Charge of the Department during the period covered by this report. S K Roy was the Commissioner and Secretary in charge of the Department, assisted by Director of Youth Affairs & Sports and 3 (three) Deputy Directors. There are 4 (four) District and 14 Sub-Divisional Offices under the Directorate. The sanctioned staff strength is 1027 of all categories.

 As a part of its responsibility to promote sports and to create as well as develop infrastructure in the State, the Directorate assisted and funded the activities of the Tripura Sports Council. The Council had 23 affiliated Sports Associations. These organizations got financial assistance from the Council to organize State Level Meets and also to participate in National Level Competitions. The Council organized Rural Sports and Women’s’ Sports and also provided Coaching. It manages the Netaji Subash Regional Coaching Center (NSRCC) at Agartala with most of the technical staff deputed by the Department.

The Department, being a new as well as a small one, its budget allocation was also very limited. During 2001-2002 the budget provision was:[Amt in Rs/Lakh]                                   

The Department carried out all its activities within the resource available. But expectation being very high and there remained a large gap since desired training facilities and infrastructure could not be provided. 
 In order to give a definite shape to the efforts of the Department in developing sports, the State Government adopted the “Sports and Youth Affairs Policy, 1997” in December, 1997. The policy laid emphasis on the most important twin aspects of sports: (a) medium for mass participation and  (b) competition. More importance was given to mass participation in sports and youth affairs related activities, especially in rural areas.

The State School Sports Ad-hoc Committee through Block Level Committees organized school sports/games. The Committee organized competitions in disciplines selected by the School Games Federation of India and as per their guidelines. School Level Competitions were conducted from zonal to the state levels. To ensure improved performance in National Meets, coaching Camps of 10 to 21 days’ duration were organized before State teams were sent out. During the year, significantly better results could be achieved because of very strict selection standards followed and the pre-competition coaching camps. Further details are: 

The Department sponsored and managed 30 (thirty) Coaching Centers through out the State in order locate prospective talents and then to train them for their natural skill up-gradation in various disciplines.  These centers were supervised and training imparted by qualified Physical Instructors and Coaches of the Department. There is a mechanism in place to regularly monitor and evaluate performance of the trainees as also the Instructors/Coaches. So long these centers were running practically without any equipment. But during the year under report, sports goods worth Rs. 6.33 lakhs were supplied to these Coaching Centers for the first ever. With a view to improve the quality of training imparted and for better supervision, all the District Magistrates were requested to visit these Centers during their regular tours. It yielded very good results. 
The Chief Minister had announced a 25–Point Tribal Development Package on 26^th January 1999 for time bound implementation. One of the identified activities of this Package was promoting Sports amongst the tribal students. For this purpose, the following 5 (five) Schools were selected for providing necessary infrastructure and improved training facilities to the talented tribal boys and girls: 

Along with creation of infrastructure, intensive training was provided through the best available Instructors/Coaches in identified disciplines. In each School, tribal students were short listed for specific disciplines after conducting preliminary tests. Thereafter they were trained in the chosen fields for skill up-gradation.

 Tribal boys and girls have natural competitive edge in many disciplines of sports. Through infrastructure and training backup, it is envisaged that inherent skill of the boys & girls would bloom and they would develop in matured sportsmen in their own fields with competitive edge over others. This project is designed to act as a facilitator in bringing tribal boys & girls of interior places to the limelight of national level sports activities.

 When insurgency has become a limiting factor for development in the State, this Project envisaged that in a changed atmosphere, a large section of tribal youths would be brought into the self-satisfying world of sports and thereby they could be effectively kept away from the influence of subversive forces. They could become better citizens also of tomorrow.

 While implementing the project, adequate provision for forward linkage was kept. The students who made a mark in the School level competitions would then be shifted to the Sports Authority of India (SAI) training center at State headquarter. In this center, boarding, lodging and education are provided free of cost. This would also reduce the drop out rate and allow those who wish to pursue a career in sports, to do it easily. 
 During the period of report, under this programme, an amount of Rs. 6,02,446.68 was spent for supply of sports equipment to the listed Schools and another amount of Rs. 28,49,278.00 was spent for creating infrastructure in these schools. Further details are: 

A.            Supply of Sports Goods/Equipment: