New Delhi Dec 23 PTI Sports Minister Anurag Thakur on Thursday said that the World Anti-Doping Agency has restored the accreditation of the National Dope Testing Laboratory NDTL which was suspended in 2019 because of its failure to meet global standards The NDTL is based in the national capital National Dope Testing Laboratory NDTL regains the World Anti-Doping Agency WADA accreditation Thakur posted on his official Twitter page Restoration of accreditation is a boost to Indias efforts to achieve the highest global standards of excellence in sport This is the result of untiring efforts by GOI Government of India he added India is currently third in the WADAs global list of dope violators led by Russia Last week in Parliament we introduced The National Anti-Doping Bill 2021 which is another step in Indias quest to become a sporting powerhouse Thakur said referring to the legislation which give the National Anti-Doping Agency NADApowers to conduct raids to nab dope offenders The suspension of the NDTL had prohibited it from carrying out any anti-doping activities including all analysis of urine and blood samples The WADA first suspended NDTL in August 2019 for a period of six months and extended the de-recognition period after its inspections showed that non-conformities still existed The laboratorys non-conformities pertained to the International Standard for Laboratories ISL identified during a WADA site visit including the isotope ratio mass spectrometry the analytical technique of choice for confirmation of prohibited substances During the suspension period urine samples collected by NADA were being sent primarily to the WADA-accredited lab in Doha The process had made the anti-doping programme very expensive for the country because of the significant cost involved in sending samples abroad The COVID-19 pandemic also contributed in slowing down the anti-doping activities in India with NADA admitting to have collected a lesser volume of samples After outstanding non-conformities were not addressed to WADAs satisfaction its Laboratory Expert Group LabEG recommended the initiation of further disciplinary proceedings against NDTL in January this year The disciplinary committee that was mandated to make a recommendation to the WADA chair then asked for an extension in suspension Because of the suspension NDTL could not carry out any testing before Tokyo Olympics in this year Sending of samples for analysis to Qatar lab involves cost and also delays the result management process lawyer Parth Goswami who regularly handles doping related cases had said in an interview to PTI earlier this year PTI PM BS PM PM

New Delhi Dec 23 PTI Sports Minister Anurag Thakur on Thursday said that the World Anti-Doping Agency has restored the accreditation of the National Dope Testing Laboratory NDTL which was suspended in 2019 because of its failure to meet global standards National Dope Testing Laboratory NDTL regains the World Anti-Doping Agency WADA accreditation Thakur posted on his official Twitter page Restoration of accreditation is a boost to Indias efforts to achieve the highest global standards of excellence in sport This is the result of untiring efforts by GOI Government of India he added India is currently third in the WADAs global list of dope violators led by Russia The suspension had prohibited the NDTL from carrying out any anti-doping activities including all analysis of urine and blood samples PTI PM PM BS BS

New Delhi Dec 21 PTI Sports Minister Anurag Thakur on Tuesday said his ministry has released a sum of Rs 680130 crore under various sports development schemes in the last five years Thakur who took over from Kiren Rijiju as the Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports earlier this year said that Rs 707228 was allocated to the ministry During the last five years a sum of Rs 707228 crore was allocated and a sum of Rs 680130 crore was released under the various sports development schemes of this Ministry Thakur informed in a written reply in Lok Sabha Sports is a state subject and thus the responsibility to make sports accessible to the masses at the village level rests primarily with the StateUnion Territory Governments with the Centre supplementing their efforts However the Ministry of Youth Affairs Sports runs the following schemes for the development of sports in the country including at the village level i Khelo India Scheme ii Assistance to National Sports Federations iii Special Awards to Winners in International Sports Events and their Coaches iv National Sports Awards v Pension to Meritorious Sportspersons vi Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay National Sports Welfare Fund vii National Sports Development Fund and viii Running Sports Training Centres through Sports Authority of IndiaSAI Funds are allocated scheme-wise not StateUT-wisePTI APA SSC SSC

Kochi Dec 18 PTI Sports is my life an athletic Welfare Association in Kerala which aims to identify and assist struggling athletes and help educate and train children from poor background was inaugurated here on Saturday Minister for Registration and Co-Operation V N Vasavan officially inaugurated the Association at Arukutty near here in the presence of hundreds of athletes including Olympians Dronacharya awardees K P Thomas and T P Ouseppe boxer K C Lekha and others were honoured at the function the association said in a release Vasavan suggested that the association be registered under the Co-operative sector as it would enable the government to provide assistance to the organisation He added that in future the organisation should also focus on setting up training colleges and grounds for athletes A Guruvandanam programme was also held during which students honoured the coaches More than 55 sports teachers were honoured Alex Antony a native of Thiruvananthapuram who participated in the recent Olympics was honoured with a cash award of Rs 25000 by ASWA sports club chairman A P Sebastian along with president Roy Varghese and Vice President James Edakkattukudy Sports Council President Mercy Kuttan Shiny Wilson and P R Sreejesh shared their Olympic experiences at the event Olympians Chitra K Soman Manjima Kuriakose Preeja Sreedharan Rosakutty Mayukha Johnny and Sini Jose were also present PTI RRT BN BN

New Delhi Sep 26 PTI Sports Minister Anurag Thakur on Sunday announced a month-long nationwide Clean India Drive from October 1 to get rid of single use plastic and other waste Announcing this in a tweet Thakur said Cleanliness is next to Godliness As we celebrate AmritMahotsav of 75 years of Indepependence I urge everybody to join Clean India Drive from 1st-31st October to realize dream of plastic free India Thakur said it will be the largest cleanliness drive in the world in which more that 75 lakh tonnes of waste primarily plastic waste from different parts of the country will be collected and further processed in a Waste to Wealth model PTI PDS BS BS