Shillong, Jun 10: The historic first cabinet meeting in Tura saw the long-awaited Meghalaya Sports Policy receive the nod of the government, it was revealed today.
The Directorate of Sports & Youth Affairs “presented the draft policy, which the cabinet approved after fine tuning all aspects of the policy,” a communique from the Chief Minister’s Office stated.
Exactly what the fine tuning involved was not spelled out.
On 21st January Sports & Youth Affairs Minister Banteidor Lyngdoh said that the policy would be completed in “100 days”, which would have meant by 1st May, but the general elections probably got in the way of that.
“It is a memorable day for athletes past and present as the Meghalaya cabinet has approved the Sports Policy,” Meghalaya State Olympic Association Working President John F Kharshiing said in response to the news. “We are grateful to Chief Minister Conrad Sangma, Sports Minister Banteidor Lyngdoh and Sports & Youth Affairs officers for this pathbreaking policy decision.”
The draft policy was prepared by the Indian Institute of Management, Shillong and ran to more than 60 pages.
The long-term policy aimed “at promoting the participation in sports and games by all the residents of the state with an aspiration to higher achievement in sports” and to “position Meghalaya as a leading sporting state in India”.
Twelve disciplines were highlighted as priority areas, with five of them Priority One – archery, boxing, taekwondo, judo and football – with the other seven as Priority Two – athletics, karate, wushu, weightlifting, badminton, table tennis and shooting.
