Ministry task force recommends framework to professionalise sports administration

While the primary stakeholders in sports development remain the athletes, the Sports Ministry has initiated an ambitious plan to upgrade and strengthen India’s sports administration.

A task force constituted for Capacity Building of Sports Administrators, under the chairmanship of Abhinav Bindra has submitted its report to design a framework to professionalise India’s sports administration ecosystem.

Among the key recommendations of the Task Force is the setting up of a National Council for Sports Education & Capacity Building (NCSECB), an autonomous statutory body under the Ministry to regulate, accredit and certify sports administration training.

“India’s sporting success requires not just world-class athletes but also world-class governance and sports administrators are the backbone behind high-performance systems and international competitiveness,” Sports Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said on Tuesday.

“The plan is to provide training through government and private sports universities and engage IIMs and IITs among others for the same,” he said while appreciating the recommendations and adding that revision of existing sports curricula to make it more current and future-centric was an important part of the plan.

The 170-page report reinforces the view that professional, accountable, and forward-looking sports administrators are critical to raise India’s position in the global sporting order and accelerate excellence.

It also recommends integrating sports governance with the induction and advanced training of IAS and State Civil Service officers, recognizing their role in implementation of sports policies, rotational postings, setting up apprenticeship models, innovation labs and partnerships with federations and the private sector.

The task force, which includes people like former AFI president Adille Sumariwalla and former TOPS CEO Cdr. Rajesh Rajagopalan, has highlighted systemic deficits including ill-equipped athletes for governance roles and provides a comprehensive roadmap for reform across the Sports Authority of India (SAI), National Sports Federations (NSFs) and state sports departments.

It also recommends creating athlete-to-administrator pathways to ease transition into administration and governance post-retirement.