Meerut: Prime Minister Narendra Modi brought India’s youth under focus and said they are the cornerstone and expansion of New India.
“Youth is the shaper and also the leader of New India. Our youth today have the heritage of antiquity and also have a sense of modernity. And so, where the youth will go, India will also move. And the world is going to go where India goes,” Modi said after laying the foundation stone of the ambitious Major Dhyan Chand Sports University here on Sunday.
The National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 has given priority to sports, the PM remarked.
“Sports have now been kept in the same category as science, commerce or other studies. Earlier sports were considered as extracurricular activities, but now sports schools will have it as a proper subject,” he said, adding that the sporting eco-system comprising sports, sports management, sports writing, sports psychology etc. will help create new possibilities.
“With resources, a sporting culture takes shape and Sports University will play a big role in this,” Modi said.
Remembering Dhyan Chand, the PM said the country’s ‘hockey Wizard’ was very active in Meerut and hence the sports university is being dedicated to him.
To be set up at an estimated cost of Rs 700 crore, the sports university will be equipped with modern and state-of-the-art sports infrastructure including synthetic hockey ground, football ground, basketball/volleyball/handball/kabaddi court, tennis court, gymnasium hall, synthetic running stadium, swimming pool, multipurpose hall and a cycling velodrome.
There will also be facilities for shooting, squash, gymnastics, weightlifting, archery, canoeing and kayaking in the campus.
A total of 1080 sportspersons (540 female and 540 male) can be trained at the university once it’s completed.