Objectives of PYKKA Scheme
The Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Youth Affairs and Sports Shri Sarbananda Sonowal has said that the objectives of the Panchayat Yuva Krida Aur Khel Abhiyan (PYKKA) scheme, which has since been revised and renamed as Rajiv Gandhi Khel Abhiyan (RGKA) Scheme w.e.f. 01.04.2014, were as under:
• To provide universal access to sports in rural areas and promote a sports culture among both boys and girls;
• To harness available and potential sporting talent among rural youth through a well designed competition structure from the block level;
• To put in place an effective mechanism to identify and nurture sporting talent in rural areas;
• To make focused efforts to give adequate training and exposure under existing schemes of the Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports (MoYAS) and Sports Authority of India (SAI), to promising sportspersons coming out of this process;
• To promote both indigenous and modern games; and
• To create seamless integration between the competition structure right from the panchayat level through to the national level in order to facilitate exponential growth in the number of high performing sportspersons.
In a written reply in the Lok Sabha today Shri Sonowal said, the PYKKA Scheme was revised and renamed as Rajiv Gandhi Khel Abhiyan (RGKA) Schemew.e.f 01.04.2014. During operation of the PYKKA Scheme from 2008-09 to 2013-14, 57,839 playfields have been developed in village/block panchayats. A total of 20,21,340 sportspersons (9,55,931 men and 10,65,409 women) participated. 67,931 panchayats (65,943 village panchayats and 1,988 block panchayats) have been covered under the PYKKA Scheme. 27,280 Kridashrees (sports volunteers) have been trained under the scheme.
****
AD/DB