Sports Ministry Urges DoPT To Consider Medalist Of Unrecognized Sports For Govt Jobs

The Sports Ministry has once again taken up the task of making Olympic, Asian and Commonwealth Games medalists a gazetted officer in the Central Government. The move was shelved a few years ago after the disinterest of the Department of Personnel (DoPT).

In addition to this, the Sports Ministry has also started efforts to get government jobs to all Asian and Commonwealth Games medalists in sports that are not recognized by the DoPT. In a meeting held with DoPT on Wednesday, the ministry urged to increase the list of 39 sports recognized in the government jobs list to 63. Also, the ministry emphasized on increasing sports quota in central government jobs from three to five percent.

It is to be noted that the DoPT had rejected this proposal of the ministry a few years ago considering it a case of reservation, but the ministry has clarified that it is asking for quota in jobs, not reservation of players. The DoPT is said to have considered the request this time. The ministry says that the sports quota in central government jobs is zero to five percent. Due to zero involvement, many institutions do not keep players on the job. In this case, this quota should be increased from three to five percent.

Many sports like Ju-Jitsu, Jet Skiing, Pencak Silat, Sambo are not recognized by the Sports Ministry, but they are included in Asian Games. Indians have also won medals in these sports. Keeping the achievement of sportspersons in unrecognized sports, the Ministry has asked the DoPT to increase the list of recognized sports from 39 to around 60. This will help the players of all these sports in government jobs.

In many states, medalists have the right to become gazetted officers, but this is not the case in central government jobs. Here only players are recruited in the Group C and D class. Therefore, the ministry has urged DoPT to consider Olympic, Commonwealth and Asian Games medalists for Group A and B as per their performance and qualification.