The sports ministry has welcomed an increase of Rs 214 crore earmarked for it in the 2013-14 budget presented in the Parliament today by Finance Minister P Chidambaram.
"We are very satisfied about the extent of plan budget increase. It is close to 50 per cent and given the extreme fiscal stress, the Finance Minister has been very generous," sports secretary Pradeep Kumar Deb told PTI.
A hike of Rs 214 crore was allocated to the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports with Chidambaram earmarking Rs 1219 crore for it in the 2013-14 budget.
In his budget presented in the Lok Sabha, Chidambaram allocated Rs 1093 crore as plan outlay while Rs 126 crore was set aside for non-plan. Last year, the Ministry was allocated a total of Rs 1152 crore but it was later revised to 1005.60 crore.
The increased budgetary allocation would help the Indian athletes prepare better for the 2014 Commonwealth Games and Asian Games.
