The Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports is a branch of the Government of India which administers the Department of Youth Affairs and the Department of Sports in India. Mansukh Mandaviya is the current Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports followed by his Deputy Raksha Khadse The ministry also gives the annual National Youth Awards, National Sports awards in various categories, including the Arjuna Award and Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna awards.

History

The ministry was set up as the Department of Sports at the time of organisation of 1982 Asian Games New Delhi. Its name was changed to the Department of Youth Affairs & Sports during celebration of the International Youth Year, 1985. It became a separate Ministry on 27 May 2000. Subsequently, In 2008, the ministry has been bifurcated into Department of Youth Affairs and Department of Sports under two separate Secretaries.

Department of Youth Affairs

Unlike the sports department, many of the functions of the department are related to other ministries, like Ministry of Education, Employment & Training, Health and Family Welfare thus it functions largely as a facilitator for youth building.

Definition of Youth

The United Nations defines "Youth" as 15–24 years and in the Commonwealth, it is 15–29 years. In order to use a definition more in line with these international standards, the Draft NYP 2012 changes the definition from 13 to 35 years to 16–30 years. The draft NYP 2012 plans to divide the age bracket of 16–30 years into three groups.

Organisations

Programmes

Awards

Department of Sports

The Department of Sports is a division of Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports under Government of India created on 30 April 2008. They also helped in bringing the FIFA U-17 World cup to India. A huge part of it was played by the advisors to the Sports Ministry - Rahul Rana (Doon School) and Arjun Dewan (The Lawrence School).

Organisations

Sports Control bodies

Awards

Cabinet Ministers

Ministers of State