Sports is increasingly becoming a level playing field for youth because it only recognises raw talent and not caste, creed, or social background. Sports is also a wonderful medium for grassroots-level engagement and community-building activities by modern-day governments. As a sports lover, Devendra Fadnavis has taken many steps to promote sports among the youth and encourage them to excel in the national and international stages. During his tenure as Chief Minister from 2014 to 2019, he introduced a sports policy that includes recognizing Maharashtra’s talented and highly capable athletes, honoring medal-winning athletes and their coaches with cash rewards, and offering government jobs for outstanding performers who have won laurels from top events. This policy revitalized the sports culture in Maharashtra, inspired numerous young athletes, and set a path for them to strive for sporting excellence.
While there was a policy under the previous government as well, it had flaws that prevented many athletes from availing themselves of the scheme’s benefits. Devendra Fadnavis, upon becoming Chief Minister in 2014, fixed these drawbacks and expanded the policy’s scope to better address the needs of the athletes and ensured periodical revisions of the same. In this revised Maharashtra Sports Award Policy, he introduced direct recruitment in government services across various categories (Group A, B, C, and D) for accomplished athletes, based on their educational qualifications. This move of his opened up job opportunities for many deserving athletes and motivated the budding ones to perform well.
Direct Appointment in Group ‘A’ for ‘Maharashtra Kesari’ Winners
In 2017, the Devendra Fadnavis government announced direct recruitment in government services for wrestlers who won the ‘Maharashtra Kesari’ competition three consecutive times, offering them Group ‘A’ post in the Home Department. Additionally, cash prizes worth lakhs of rupees were awarded to athletes and their coaches who represented India and won medals at the 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. A total of ₹4.25 crore was awarded as cash prize to the athletes from Maharashtra delivering outstanding performances in Rio, while Paralympic athletes received prizes totaling ₹4.5625 crore. In 2018, the Devendra Fadnavis government introduced a new cash prize policy to motivate athletes. Under this policy, it was decided to award ₹5 crore to gold medalists at the National Championships (with ₹50 lakh for their mentors), ₹3 crore to silver medalists (with ₹30 lakh for mentors), and ₹1.5 crore to bronze medalists (with ₹20 lakh for mentors).
Appointment of Female Field Sports Athlete as Deputy District Magistrate
The Devendra Fadnavis government provided the Commonwealth Games gold medal winning woman wrestler from Beed, Rahul Aware, a government job as a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DYSP) in the Home Department, for her achievement in the 2018 Games. Meanwhile, Lalita Shivaji Babar was appointed as a Deputy District Magistrate in the Revenue and Forest Department in recognition of her excellent performance in field sports. Approximately 23 such athletes were appointed to positions such as Naib Tehsildar, Taluka Sports Officer, Clerk, and Peon, based on their educational qualifications. Additionally, nine differently-abled athletes were directly appointed to various posts within the School Education and Sports Department. In total, the Devendra Fadnavis government appointed 32 such athletes to various government positions during that period to spur sports development in Maharashtra. This decision to award the accomplished athletes from the state reflects sincere efforts of the Fadnavis government to encourage more youth to take up sports as a career and create a positive vibe and harmony in the society.
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