New India Manifesto –  Chapter 11: National Integrated Sports and Fitness Centres (NISFC)

Introduction

India must give the public more opportunities to engage in leisure activities such as sports and games. People of different ages like to engage in various indoor and outdoor sports activities. The lack of availability of locations for playing is the most severe issue. NISFCs aim to provide physical places for leisure activities and places that offer local unity. Local unity will remove the religion and caste-based barriers in Indian society.

NISFCs include new centres and integrate existing structures that provide facilities such as swimming pools, gyms, indoor stadiums, and mini-football turfs. NISFCs with ground facilities can be a practice ground for athletes and sportspersons. Both states and centres need to be on board to implement this successfully.

NISFC Website 

Website should be developed to account for all the clubs and other existing leisure facilities in India.

• It can include clubs that play carroms and chess.
• Gyms
• Sports facilities such as swimming pools, mini turfs, indoor courts and outdoor courts
• Leisure places such as bowling alleys and archery clubs

After accounting for all such facilities and institutions, take the population of various regions. Once these data are collected, the requirement of NISFCs for different places can be created. If an area already has a swimming pool, then NISFC can avoid such a facility in that place as it already exists.

Rural vs Urban Divide

It is difficult to find large areas in urban areas; therefore, the NISFC should develop sports and games facilities that can be provided in smaller spaces. It includes indoor games and mini cricket-football turfs.

In the case of rural areas and outer skirts of cities, extensive grounds with synthetic tracks and cricket grounds can be developed by NISFCs.

CCTV Monitoring System

In most places where there are gathering, there is a high chance of illegal activities such as drugs, rape and destruction of property. NISFCs should develop their structures only in fenced areas with 24X7 CCTV monitoring facilities. Public Data Analysis Centres should have access to CCTV of those facilities to ensure that illegal activities are not organised in such places. CCTV monitoring can ensure that children who are at these facilities are safe. The facilities can also be open in the early mornings and close late at night, and CCTV can ensure vigil at these times.

Mix of Sports

NISFCs can develop a mix of facilities, and different facilities can accommodate different types of sports. However, all Olympic sports and internationally acclaimed sports items should be encouraged. These facilities can also include country sports and games played in rural India for several decades. Goli game and native ball game are some of the county games played in rural areas that can be added to the list. Sports played in other countries can also be introduced in India, especially sports such as lacrosse and baseball.

Land, Building and Funding

The government will bear the cost of land and building. 50,000+ crore should be allocated to build 50,000 such facilities all over India. The amount for each NISFC will vary according to land price and construction cost at different places. Private individuals can be handed these places after construction based on the targeted shared companies model. They will add machinery and other infrastructure required to build and maintain this place. Eighteen per cent GST entertainment-service tax will be charged to every person who joins these places, which will be the government’s primary income from land and building investment.

The money received as GST revenue will be used to run the software and organise competitions of various sports events in NISFCs. The government can also earn registration fees from organising such events via NISFCs.

The offers of NISFCs can be combined to provide a larger package to people. For example, if a person living in Bengaluru has five different NISFCs in a 10 km radius, and each provides different sports, then the government can use the software to provide combo offers with approval from private individuals that run these facilities. Existing facilities that came into effect before new NISFCs were established can also join this combo offer scheme, thereby can expand their income. Existing facilities can fix their rates without external interference regarding the subscription rates, which does not apply to new NISFC centres.

The government will also ensure that the membership rates are minimal according to the invested amount by the targeted shared company in the new NISFC centres. The targeted shared companies’ land tax and local body expenses can be waivered as the government sets the company’s rules. These facilities will be provided at annual auto-renewable lifetime lease contracts. If the targeted shared companies engage in GST violation or any other violation, their lease will be cancelled and allotted to another person. The purpose of these facilities is to ensure affordable leisure activities that are accessible to all Indians. There will not be rent for a lifetime for the individuals running the facility, and people running the facility can keep the entire subscription amount after paying GST.

These places cannot be used for any other purpose or business activity other than the allotted purpose. The companies will mostly be single-owner targeted shared companies. The people who run these companies can be picked from people with an academic interest in sports or actively engaging in sports activities. The person who is running these facilities should not be accused in drugs case or any addict. All these particular rules are for facilities directly started under NIFSCs and not for existing private facilities associated with NIFSCs.

The targeted shared company model is applied here to ensure that contract violations are not taken lightly. If the government takes back the land, the person will have to face a loss in invested materials as shifting is challenging and will be a severe loss. So following provided rules and regulations is very important for the proprietor to continue running the facilities.

Benefits for Government

50,000+ crore is a worthy investment for ensuring communal harmony and also ensuring peace in society. People will go after sports and games in their leisure time instead of caste fighting and religious fighting for political parties and religious organisations. Some researchers have pointed out that physical activity can help reduce the crime rate among youth. Drug and alcohol abuse can be reduced as such facilities will not allow addicts and will stop such using tendencies if they are strictly controlled.

50,000+ facilities can accommodate more than five crore population of India. GST income from subscription fees of these facilities will be more than 3000 crores annually.

Organising sports and games events regularly can bring additional income in the name of registration fees for the government.

People of different ages can be encouraged to participate in gyms, sports and games, thereby increasing these facilities’ GST revenue.

These facilities will provide employment to more than 1 lakh individuals all over India.

Special Note: This is the eleventh chapter of the book New India Manifesto by Blessen T. Sam. The concepts introduced in this book are unique, and referencing the book and the author is appreciated. Support the hard work of the author to modernise India by purchasing a print copy of the book from Amazon or Flipkart.