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[caption id="attachment_44417" align="aligncenter" width="790"] Cricket should be a part of Sports Code: Vijay Goel
Image Source: Twitter[/caption] Internet Desk: This is yet another crucial initiative taken up by Vijay Goel, who is close to bringing sports onto the Concurrent List. However, the richest sporting body in India is yet to become a signatory of Sports Code as they don't receive any government grant. "The question here is not about BCCI. The question is about including all the sports in the Sports Code as per my belief," Goel said sitting alongside BCCI's acting president CK Khanna. Goel, however, said that he had no knowledge about BCCI's opposition about its inclusion in the much delayed sports bill. Khanna, on his part, refused to comment and said that it will only be discussed at an appropriate time when the sports bill is tabled. "Today, I will not comment about anything else. I am here simply to invite him (Goel) for the IPL final. We will cross the bridge when it comes. There have been no such discussions presently," Khanna said. "As of now, the Sports Code is already in existence and is being followed by the federations. For the final code, I believe as soon as the report will be ready we will propose it in front of the nation." The code is going to be acceptable to all national sports federations (NSFs). The Committee is to review the National Sports Code—to study and recommend as per recent developments, including court judgments and international best practices. "Within 15 days, we will finalize the reports and implement it. These recommendations require more accountability of federations. But, we respect their autonomy as well." says Goel. Tamil Nadu which is the only state that disagrees, wasn’t altogether against the idea of bringing it on the Concurrent List, but said that the state is not yet ready to do so. There has also been a 40 per cent increase in budget allocation. But Goel believes that no matter how much you increase, it will always be less for such a large country like India.