Setting up of an Appellate Sports Tribunal and a Sports Election Commission and provisions to bar charge-sheeted persons from contesting elections are some of the salient features included in the Draft National Sports Development Bill 2013 which was presented to the government on Wednesday.
Terming the National Sports Development Bill a "landmark initiative" aimed at "stemming the rot" in Indian sports, legendary athlete PT Usha has urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to ensure that it is cleared by the Cabinet and passed by the Parliament.
Bowing to the BCCI's objections, the Sports Ministry on Monday decided to exempt cricketers from some World Anti-Doping Agency rules, including the contentious 'whereabouts clause', in the revised National Sports Development Bill.
Union Minister Farooq Abdullah on Thursday took exception to Sports Minister Ajay Maken's remarks on Union Cabinet's "internal deliberations" on the National Sports Development Bill, accusing him of violating oath of secrecy.
A controversial bill, aimed at regulating the functioning of national sports federations and putting an age limit on its bosses, failed to go through Cabinet due to stiff resistance from a number of ministers.
The National Sports Federations, including the Board of Control for Cricket in India, will be treated as public authority and come under the Right to Information Act (RTI) under the proposed National Sports Development bill, Sports Minister Ajay Maken said in Bangalore on Monday.
The Sports Minister said transparency in the working of National Sports Federations, including the BCCI, can be achieved by bringing them under the Right to Information Act.
The Indian Olympic Association on Tuesday rejected the proposed National Sports Development Bill and said some associations and federations are in agreement with the Sports Ministry because of 'arm-twisting' and 'bullying' by the government.
The Indian Olympic Association has rejected the revised draft of the National Sports Development Bill, calling it a 'cruel joke' and an attempt to strangulate the autonomy of National Sports Federations.
Former Indian cricket captains Kapil Dev and Mohammed Azharuddin on Tuesday favoured the BCCI becoming a National Sports Federation and falling under the purview of the RTI Act, as proposed in the National Sports (Development) Bill.
The Parliamentary Consultative Committee for the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports deliberated on the proposed National Sports Development Bill and agreed that such a policy was needed to ensure professional management of sports in the country.
In an interview with Neerja Chowdhury, Ajay Maken strongly defended the provisions of his controversial bill, which, he says, he plans to bring before the Cabinet again in its revised version, and once it is cleared, he would introduce it in Parliament in the winter session.
The BCCI on Saturday rejected the revised draft of the National Sports Development Bill that seeks to regulate the functioning of the Cricket Board, saying certain aspects of the bill are meant to "destroy the autonomy" of the board.
Sports Minister Ajay Maken is hoping that the BCCI would have no objection to the new draft of National Sports development Bill, which could not be passed earlier in the Cabinet after some of the ministers objected to it.
The NITI Aayog has big plans for Indian sport.
Sports Minister Jitendra Singh has sent the draft of the National Sports Development Bill to the leaders of various political parties of the both the Houses and eminent sportspersons, inviting their comments on the proposed bill.
Why is the Indian cricket team still using the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) logo which resembles 'Star of India' honour given by the British to their favourite princes in colonial times?
The Board of Control for Cricket in India could be again set on collision course with the Sports Ministry as a contentious clause in the Draft National Sports Development Bill states that only those federations who come under the Right to Information Act (RTI) ambit will have the right to use 'India' as the team's name.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday allowed N Srinivasan to resume charge as president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India while setting up special panel to probe the spot-fixing scandal that rocked the sixth edition of the Indian Premier League.
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