The legendary sports personalities Sachin Tendulkar and Viswanathan Anand have been dropped from the government panel on sports named All India Council of Sports (AICS). It is an advisory body for the ministry of youth affairs and sports, which was formed in 2015 by then sports Minister Sarbananda Sonowal. This agenda behind making this council was to deliberate on matters associated with the development and promotion of sports in our country.
According to the sources, Tendulkar and Anand marked their presence only in a couple of committee meetings. Thus, the two veterans have not been considered to be placed among the panel dignitaries. During the first tenure of Modi government from December 2015 to May 2019, the names of the chess king and GOD of cricket were drafted into the committee. For the second term, the committee members’ original strength size has been reduced from 27 to 18.
Apart from these two prominent cricket and chess icons, there are other key omissions from the panel that caught everyone’s attention. Some of the names include the former football captain Baichung Bhutia and Indian badminton's chief national coach Pullela Gopichand. The latter failed to attend AICS proceedings as he was involved in Tokyo Olympics 2020 preparations.
The notable sports personalities who have made it to the list of the sports panel are cricketers Harbhajan Singh and Krishnamachari Srikkanth. Some new entrants to the committee include Deepa Malik (para-athlete), Limba Ram (archery), PT Usha (athletics), Bachendri Pal (mountaineering), Anjali Bhagwat (shooting), Renedy Singh (football) and Yogeshwar Dutt (wrestling).
AICS is responsible for organizing national, international conferences, seminars, symposia and more events for the promotion of sports and games in India. In October 2015, Veteran sports administrator VK Malhotra was named as the Chairman of AICS. This council consists of four members of parliament, sports personalities, coaches, experts, administrators, officials from the sports ministry, Sports Authority of India (SAI) director general, National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA), Indian Olympic Association (IOA), representatives from national sports federations, corporate bodies and NGOs.
