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The Prime Minister addressed the Khelo India Samvaad by video conference on 27 August 2026, reaching youth and athletes at more than 5,000 institutes as part of the National Sports Day 2026 celebrations.
He announced a national Talent Hunt targeting children aged 5 to 15, and set out a long-term strategy aimed at the 2036 Olympic Games covering both qualification breadth and medal disciplines.
The Prime Minister argued India must master sports in which it does not currently even compete, since other countries take medals in those disciplines unopposed by Indian athletes.
Union Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports Dr Mansukh Mandaviya, who joined from IIT Gandhinagar, said more than 2.4 crore youth have registered on the MY Bharat platform and cited the National Sports Governance Act as the instrument for transparency and accountability in sports bodies.
Olympic medallist Gagan Narang and 2024 Paralympic bronze medallist Sheetal Devi spoke at the event, which was built around five themes: Sports, Olympic Aspirations, Youth Leadership, Viksit Bharat and Nasha Mukt Yuva.
Build a mass sporting base and identify and support talent from the school level upward
Key: Introduced in 2018 under the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports. Its competition arm began as the Khelo India School Games, held in New Delhi from 31 January to 8 February 2018, and was renamed the Khelo India Youth Games the following year.
Provide national-level competition across age groups, terrains and categories
Key: Khelo India Youth Games (from 2018, as the School Games); Khelo India University Games and Khelo India Winter Games, both from 2020; Khelo India Para Games from 2023; and Khelo India Beach Games and the Khelo India Water Sports Festival added in 2025.
Fund and support elite athletes with realistic Olympic and Paralympic medal prospects
Key: Operational since 2014 under the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, with an elite athletes' identification committee selecting the athletes supported. TOPS sits at the apex of the pyramid whose base Khelo India builds.
Make physical fitness a routine habit across the population
Key: Launched by the Prime Minister on 29 August 2019 — National Sports Day — at the Indira Gandhi Stadium, New Delhi.
A technology-driven platform for youth development and youth-led development
Key: Approved by the Union Cabinet on 11 October 2023 as an autonomous body under the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, and launched on 31 October 2023 — Rashtriya Ekta Diwas, the birth anniversary of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. The Sports Minister cited more than 2.4 crore registered youth.
Creates a statutory framework for recognising and overseeing national sports bodies, resting on three pillars — the national sports bodies themselves, a National Sports Board and a National Sports Tribunal. It shifts oversight from ministerial discretion to independent statutory authorities. Passed by the Lok Sabha on 11 August 2025 and the Rajya Sabha on 12 August 2025, it received Presidential assent on 18 August 2025 as Act No. 25 of 2025. The Sports Minister invoked it at this event as the route to transparency, accountability and fair opportunity.
Nodal ministry for Khelo India, TOPS, the Fit India Movement, MY Bharat and the National Sports Awards
Autonomous body and digital platform for youth engagement; co-organiser of the Khelo India Samvaad
Statutory body created by the National Sports Governance Act, 2025 to recognise and oversee national sports bodies
Statutory forum created by the same Act to resolve sports disputes that previously went to the ordinary courts
The statutory reform that supplies the governance layer — a National Sports Board and Tribunal — under any talent pipeline Khelo India builds
'Nasha Mukt Yuva' was one of the five themes of the event; the anti-drug campaign is routinely paired with sports outreach to young people
The Prime Minister framed sports as a means of channelling youth energy into the Viksit Bharat goal rather than as an end in itself
Launched on National Sports Day 2019, it is the mass-participation counterpart to Khelo India's competitive pathway
MY Bharat's 2.4 crore registrations are the youth-mobilisation instrument behind schemes that depend on India's young population
GS Paper 2 > Governance > Government Policies and Interventions for Development of Youth
General Awareness > Sports and Government Schemes
General Awareness > Sports, Awards and Schemes
Regular — Khelo India, National Sports Day and the sports awards appear annually in SSC and railway general awareness, and the 2025 governance Act has made the institutional side UPSC-relevant
A nationwide video-conference dialogue between the Prime Minister and youth held around National Sports Day, organised with MY Bharat
Observed on 29 August, the birth anniversary of Major Dhyan Chand; the National Sports Awards are traditionally presented around this date
Mera Yuva Bharat, an autonomous body under the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports launched on 31 October 2023 as a technology platform for youth-led development
Statutory body created by the National Sports Governance Act, 2025 to recognise and oversee national sports federations
A scheme operational since 2014 that funds and supports elite athletes with Olympic and Paralympic medal potential