Rajiv Gandhi Rural Olympic Games Mascot Unveiled

• 23 Aug 2022

Why In News?

• On August 22, 2022, Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot unveiled the mascot 'Sheru' of the Rajiv Gandhi Rural Olympic Games to be held in villages and hamlets in the indoor hall of Sawai Mansingh Stadium and also released the theme song.

Key Points

• The Chief Minister said that a budget provision of Rs. 40 crore has been made for the Rural Olympic Games starting from August 29 in the state.
• The main objective of the Rajiv Gandhi Rural Olympics is to find and bring forward rural sportspersons, nurture their talent, encourage them and promote sportsmanship among the common man.
• The Chief Minister said that rural Olympics are for all age groups. About 30 lakh players are participating in these games and 2 lakh teams have been formed.
• On this occasion, the Chief Minister said that the state government has increased the incentive amount given to the players who have won medals at the national and international level including Olympics, Commonwealth, Asiad. The gold medal winner is being given an increase of Rs 75 lakh to Rs 3 crore, the silver medal winner from Rs 50 lakh to Rs 2 crore and the bronze medal winner from Rs 30 lakh to Rs 1 crore.
• Apart from this, the prize money of Rs 30 lakh, Rs 20 lakh and Rs 10 lakh for winning gold, silver and bronze medals in Asian and Commonwealth Games has been increased to Rs 1 crore, Rs 60 lakh and Rs 30 lakh respectively.
• He said that 229 sportspersons who excelled have been given government jobs under the out of turn policy by the state government. Apart from this, pension scheme has also been implemented for trainers. A provision of 2 percent reservation in government jobs has been made for the players and they are being given jobs up to DSP level.
• The Rajiv Gandhi Rural Olympic Games are scheduled to be held from August 29 to September 1 at the gram panchayat level, September 12 to September 15 at the block level, September 22 to September 25 at the district level and October 2 to October 5 at the state level.
• The games are being organised in coordination with sports department, rural development and panchayati raj department, education department, health department and local administration.
• Kabaddi (Boys/Girls), Shooting Ball (Boys), Kho-Kho (Girls), Volleyball (Boys/Girls), Tennis ball Cricket (Boys/Girls) and Hockey 6 sports including (boys/girls category) will be included.