French Open 2017 Mixed Doubles winner Rohan Bopanna called on Union Sports Minister Vijay Goel today at his official residence. Rohan Bopanna gave the country their tennis moment when he clinched his first Grand Slam last week. On his return back from Paris, he met Union Sports Minister Vijay Goel to discuss the promotion of tennis among youth in the country.
 
Interacting with the media, Goel said, “Rohan has been playing for 17 years and has contributed immensely for the growth of tennis, we are proud of his achievement at the French Open.” Goel further stated that academies like the ones established by Rohan help in a great manner to scout for talented youngsters for future and the Ministry would surely encourage such initiatives.
 
During their meeting Bopanna shared his experiences at the Paris Grand Slam event with the Sports Minister. He also briefed the Minister about his tennis academy situated at Bengaluru where currently 70 budding tennis players are being trained.
 
Shri Vijay Goel said that the government is committed to promote excellence in sports and encourages all individual efforts by those associated with sports. Congratulating Bopanna for his maiden Grand Slam success with his Canadian partner Gabriela Dabrowski in Mixed Doubles, Shri Goel said doors of his Ministry are open for players and coaches 24 X 7 for suggestions to make sports a mass movement in the country.
 
Rohan Bopanna had the country at the edge of their seat when he played the mixed doubles final of the French Open with partner Gabriela Dabrowski. The Indo-Canadian pair won the French Open 2017 mixed doubles title on Saturday after beating Anna-Lena Groenefeld and Robert Farah 2-6, 6-2, 12-10 in a contest that lasted an hour and six minutes.
 
Bopanna, who won his maiden Grand Slam title, became only the fourth Indian after Leander Paes, Mahesh Bhupathi and Sania Mirza to win a Grand Slam.

Union Minister of Youth Affairs & Sports Vijay Goel today stated that the Sports Ministry will install mega LED screens at the Major Dhyanchand National Stadium for free public viewing of Champions Trophy matches (all semi-finals and the grand final).

Union Sports Minister Vijay Goel said, “This is being done to utilize the free space in the stadium and also provide everyone a chance to watch the matches for free on the mega screen.”

Goel further stated, “The idea is to initiate sports culture among the public and optimum utilization of the stadiums, in future we will have mini-fests too that would create a huge buzz for sporting events across India”.

The inauguration of the mega LED screens will be led by Goel on 14 June, 2017 at 3PM at the Major Dhyanchand National Stadium. England will play against Pakistan in the first semi-final on 14 June, while India will take on Bangladesh in the second semi-final on 15 June. The winners of the semi-finals will fight for the winner’s trophy in the grand final scheduled for 18 June, Sunday. Entry for viewing matches is free for all.

All stakeholders meeting was held here today to review the preparations for the Commonwealth Games 2018, the Asian Games 2018 and the Olympic Games 2020. Representatives of the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, Sports Authority of India, Laxmibai National Institute of Physical Education, Indian Olympic Association, representatives of ‘High Priority’ and ‘Priority’ sports disciplines, the members of Olympic Task Force, Members of the TOP Scheme Committee and also the National Observers attended the daylong brain storming session. 

Addressing the inaugural session of the meeting the Minister of State (I/C) for Youth Affairs and Sports Shri Vijay Goel said that the government has taken a number of steps to strengthen the various kinds of support given to the athletes and the sportspersons. The major steps include enhancement of the amount of financial assistance under the scheme of assistance to the National Sports Federations. He said that while a lot has been done to broad base the sports activities in the country a lot is still needed to be done to achieve excellence and make India is sports power house of the world. 

Shri Goel also said that IOA should take the lead in various spheres like dispute resolution in the NSFs, holding of National Games regularly, holding of multi-disciplinary mega events in India etc. He also said that attention should also be paid to focus on games such as Baseball, Cycling and Martial Arts etc. where India has not participated traditionally so far in International competitions. Shri Goel also stressed that the Federations should bring best coaches and support staff to provide training to the athletes. Shri Goel said that we should upgrade the sports infrastructure, spot talent at a very young age, monitor performance, promote School and University level games in a big way, utilize stadiums to their full potential and involve best available coaching academies in training of the sportspersons. 

Secretary Sports, Shri Injeti Srinivas, in his opening remarks mentioned that there is no dearth of either the resources or the talent to achieve excellence and win medals at the highest level of sport i.e. the Olympics. What is needed is the ability to identify the talent and nurture them to achieve excellence. The NSFs are required to identify the talent and increase the bench strength of young athletes and provide them strong support system. Shri Srinivas also stated that the success of the plan lies in the convergence and coordination among all the stakeholders. 

During the meeting eminent players, coaches, representatives of different national sports federations and IOA and officials of the Ministry and Sports Authority of India made presentations and deliberated on the issues related to finalizing the approach for the forthcoming mega events.
 

Addressing a press conference today, Union Minister of Youth Affairs & Sports Vijay Goel today announced a new campaign to mark three years of the Narendra Modi government– the campaign has been named “Adopt a Slum”. Goel said that the idea is to initiate developmental work in these slums and help the slum-dwellers in resolving various issues. A slum YuvaDaud/Marathon will mark the beginning of this campaign on 26th May, 2017. Goel has also requested newly elected councillors of MCD, NGO’s & RWAs to join hands in this initiative.

Goel also stated that the government under the leadership of PM Narendra Modi is committed for the cause of the weaker sections and we all must keep the fire burning, the fire that illuminates lives in a positive way and resolves social and economic issues.

Goel further stated that Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports along with Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangathan (under the aegis of the Ministry) will initiate “Adopt a Slum” campaign and groups like NSS, public schools, rotary clubs etc. would pool in with efforts and manpower. Goel also informed that he has adopted Indira slum of Timarpur area.

A booklet was also released highlighting the key issues that would be addressed with this campaign and how the entire process will be initiated and executed. The NYKS would adopt slums across 11 districts and will work for their overall development with young volunteers. The “Slum YuvaDaud” will be organized on 26th May at 6am at Shankarlal Hall in Delhi University. Similar marathons will also be organized at Wazirpur, Model Town, Adarsh Nagar, Chandni Chowk, Burari and many more areas.

Minister of State (Independent Charge) of Youth Affairs & Sports, Shri Vijay Goel announced the formalization of new National Youth Awards, here today.  The initiatives have been taken in an effort to make the National Youth AwardS (NYA) more broad-based and to promote transparency in the selection process.   The Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports confers the National Youth Award (NYA) every year to young persons to give recognition to the outstanding work and to motivate them to achieve excellence in the field on National Development and Social Service, to encourage them to develop a sense of responsibility to the community and also to improve their own potential as a good citizen. Some of the key features of the initiatives on NYA include:

ONLINE APPLICATION:- For the first time, it has been decided that the nomination for the National Youth Awards  (NYA) should be received and processed through online mode, on the lines of the Padma Awards announced by the  Prime Minister recently, to cover the people on pan-India basis.  Earlier, the nominations were received only through State/UT Governments with the restriction that they should nominate only 5 names for Individuals and 2 nominations in Voluntary Organizations Category.  It was a routine affair and no adequate publicity was given by the State Governments/UTs to popularize the Awards and seek varied nominations.

In contrast, an applicant can apply now online directly to the Ministry on the recommendation of the Head of the Institution/SDM/DM/DC, or any officer, not below the rank of Deputy Secretary in the Government of India. An online application has been developed in consultation with MyGov team.  Applicants will be given 30 days to apply online at https://innovate.mygov.in/national-youth-award/. The final selection will be made by the 8-member Central Selection Committee, headed by the Secretary, Department of Youth Affairs and prominent and eminent personalities. 

It will now be ensured that the selection process is transparent and the restrictions in the nomination process are removed, thus making the Awards more broad-based and accessible to the deserving youth of the country. A new Logo for the National Youth Awards has also been released. 

 
INCREASE IN THE NUMBER OF THE AWARD
Earlier, only one Award was given under Voluntary Organization Category, working with the youth for national development and social service. The number of Awards in the Organization category has now been increased from 1 to 10 and the prize money is Rs. 2,00,000 with a Trophy and Certificate. This initiative has been taken with a view that more recognition needs to be given to voluntary Organizations working in the field of Youth development, keeping in view of the number of organizations working in the country. Further, these outstanding organizations will be partners in promotion of the different schemes and policies of the Ministry in the field of youth development in the country. The initiative is expected to expand the reach of the Ministry in programme implementation across the country. The amount of money for the Award in the Individual category has also been enhanced to Rs. 50,000/- and will be given to 25 individuals.

EXPANSION OF FIELD OF ACTIVITIES
The NYA was earlier conferred for excellent work in the field of youth development activities and social service without specifying the individual fields thereby making it more general and less focused.

It has also been decided that in line with the focused approach of the Padma Award, the NYA should also be conferred for excellent work done in the specific field of activities by the Youth. Accordingly, the field of activities for conferring the NYA has been categorically specified in order to have concentrated effort in those fields. The fields of activities in the course of youth development work are health, research and innovation, culture, promotion of human rights, art and literature, tourism, traditional medicines, active citizenship, community service, sports and academic excellence & smart learning and any other similar field.

PAN-INDIA ADVERTISEMENT
In order to address the drawback of limited awareness of the NYA, it has been decided that a pan-India colour advertisement, seeking nominations for the Awards should be released in all the major and regional newspapers. Also the advertisements will be put on Mygov portal and Ministry’s website. The advertisements inviting nominations for the award will be released on May 10, 2017.  This initiative, combined with the online application, will be a game-changer for the NYA.  
 
 
 

Vijay Goel, Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Youth Affairs and Sports said that the birthday of our Hon’ble former Prime Minister Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee ji is being celebrated on 25th December, 2016 (Sunday) at the Siri Fort Auditorium, New Delhi at 6:00 pm.  On this occasion, a Song and Bhajan performance of the famous singer Shri Shankar Mahadevan will be held.
  
Shri Rajnath Singh, Hon’ble Union Home Minister will be the Chief Guest and Shri ArunJaitley, Hon’ble Finance Minister and other Senior Leaders and dignitaries will be present on the occasion.
Goel stated that on the occasion of birthday of Shri Vajpayee ji, this year also, various organizations will organize different programmes such as distribution of fruits in hospitals, blood donation camps etc.
Goel also mentioned that on 25th December, people can meet Shri Vajpayee ji at his residence to greet him and convey their best wishes.

Goel further stated that as the Prime Minister and as a prominent Opposition Leader, Shri Vajpayee ji had set new standards.  When he was in the Opposition, he used to clearly express his point of view without stalling the Parliament.  While he was in power, he made the World aware of his determination through the successful nuclear test.  The National Highways Scheme, pioneered by him, has not only contributed towards the all-round progress of the country but has also brought the people together.  The scheme started by him has taken the country to the new heights of progress.

Goel said that YugPurush Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee had indeed earned the love and affection of our countrymen by surpassing the political boundaries. With accelerated progress and good governance, he had taken the country to new heights of progress.  Today, though he is not in active politics, his blessings are always with us.