New Delhi, Sept 20 (UNI) The Union Cabinet today approved the revamped 'Khelo India' programme at a cost of Rs 1,756 crore for the period 2017-18 to 2019-20, Sports Minister Rajvardhan Rathore said. Briefing mediapersons about the Cabinet meeting -- chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Mr Rathore said each athlete selected under the scheme will receive an annual scholarship worth Rs 5 lakh for eight consecutive years. The Minister said this is for the first time ever that a long-term athlete development pathway would be made available to gifted and talented youngsters to excel in competitive sports and will create a pool of highly competitive athletes who can compete to win at the world stage. The programme also aims to promote 20 universities across the country as hubs of sporting excellence, which would enable talented sports persons to pursue the dual pathway of education and competitive sports. It would also create an active population with healthy lifestyle. It would cover about 200 million children in the age group of 10-18 under a massive national physical fitness drive, which will not only measure the physical fitness of all children in the age group, but also support their fitness related activities, he added. The scheme would engage youth living in disturbed and deprived areas, in sporting activities, to wean them away from unproductive and disruptive activities and mainstream them in the nation-building process. It strives to raise the standards of competition, both at school and college level, to have maximum access to organised sports competitions. It also includes the use of latest user-friendly technology in all aspects of sports promotion such as, use of mobile apps for dissemination of sports training; National Sports Talent Search portal for talent identification; interactive website for indigenous sports; GIS based information system for locating and using sports infrastructure. Mr Rathore said this programme, strives to promote “Sports for All” as well as “Sports for Excellence”, marks a watershed moment in the history of Indian sports, as the programme aims at mainstreaming sport as a tool for individual development, community development, economic development and national development. The revamped Programme would impact the entire sports ecosystem, including infrastructure, community sports, talent identification, coaching for excellence, competition structure and sports economy. It includes an unprecedented Pan Indian Sports Scholarship scheme, which would cover 1,000 most talented young athletes each year across select sports disciplines, he added. UNI NY SW SHK 1702