Young athletes training at Delhi government sports centres and stadiums will receive a monthly stipend of Rs 2,000 under a new grassroots component of the Mukhyamantri Khel Protsahan Yojana, approved by the Delhi Cabinet on Thursday.
The Grassroots Training Support Assistance component will cover athletes in the Under-14, Under-17, Under-19 and Under-21 categories. The assistance is intended for athletes regularly enrolled at government sports centres and stadiums across the capital.
Under the scheme, support will be provided to up to 25% of regularly enrolled trainees at each sports centre or stadium. The number of beneficiaries will be capped at 100 athletes at an individual centre, although the limit may be raised to 150 at larger stadiums.
The Cabinet decision expands the existing Mukhyamantri Khel Protsahan Yojana, which provides financial support to athletes at different levels of competition. Top-ranked school-level athletes can receive assistance of up to Rs 5 lakh annually for coaching, equipment, participation in competitions, nutrition and other training requirements.
Elite athletes representing Delhi and India at the highest level are eligible for assistance of up to Rs 20 lakh a year under the existing scheme. The new component adds regular monthly support for younger athletes training within the government sports infrastructure, before they reach the higher performance categories covered by the earlier provisions.
The assistance will be available only to a defined share of trainees at each centre or stadium rather than to all enrolled athletes. The approved limits mean that eligibility will depend on the number of regularly enrolled trainees at the relevant facility, along with the category and administrative conditions set for the scheme.
Sports minister Ashish Sood said Delhi had no shortage of sporting talent and that financial constraints should not prevent promising athletes from pursuing their sporting ambitions. The government has not provided further details in the announcement on the application process, disbursement schedule or the date on which payments will begin.
The decision places the new stipend within Delhi’s existing public sports-centre network and extends the government’s athlete-support framework from school-level and elite assistance to selected younger trainees. Further implementation details will determine how centres identify beneficiaries and distribute the monthly support.
