AIZAWL: Mizoram has become the first state in India to accord industry status to sport, aiming to attract investments to bolster sports activities.
“Since 2010, at the national level, talks were going on to accord the industrial status to sports. As sports are a state subject, the central government has limited role in this regard. The Mizoram cabinet on Friday granted the industry status to the sports fulfilling a long aspiration of the sports lovers,” state Sports Minister Robert Romawia Royte told IANS.
Royte said: “With the granting of industrial status to sports, we expect huge investment and multi-faceted benefits and scopes. Besides, all the industrial benefits including subsidies, banking facilities would now be extended to sports. The latest decision would facilitate the generation of employment in the sports sector.”
The Mizoram government is finalising fresh industrial policy according to which sports would also get many benefits. The state has a good sports policy too.
Royte, who was the owner of the Aizawl football club and also holds the Tourism Department, said that various industrial bodies including the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) have shown interest after knowing that sports were given the industrial status. “Now it would be very helpful to expand the sports infrastructure at the rural level. Government, private and corporate firms would now be interested in supporting sports,” Royte told the newswire.
The minister said that the state government has a plan to construct an ‘elevated’ football ground in Mizoram.
Mizoram is known for its love for sports – especially football which is played competitively through the Mizoram Premier League, the state’s highest football league. At least 100 Mizo players are part of the Indian Super League.
Besides football, hockey, wrestling, there are a number of indigenous games such as, stick fighting, Insuknawra (rod pushing), Kalchhet kal (relay race using bamboo), Inarpathai (cock fighting) in Mizoram.
