Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar on Thursday announced that the state government would directly give jobs in the administrative service and police or equivalent service to those winning medals at the national and international level sporting events.
Speaking after inaugurating the 18th national interdistrict junior athletics, 2023, at the Pataliputra Sports Complex in Patna, Kumar said the government would work with the policy “Bring medals, get jobs”. “The medal winners will get jobs in the rank of subdivisional magistrate (SDM) or deputy superintendent of police (DSP) or equivalent,” he said.
The CM said that when he was the railway minister in 2002 in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government, he had taken a decision to provide jobs to sports players in the Railways for the first time.
“In Bihar also, we have provided government jobs to 235 players since 2012. At present, placement is being done in Grade-3,” he said.
Kumar said it was for the first time the national-level athletics meet for juniors was being held in Patna and 6,000 players from all the states were participating in what was one of the biggest talent search competitions. “More such events will be organised in the state and the government will extend all help,” he said.
The chief minister said the government would like encourage sports and games in schools and colleges and it was precisely due to this that stadium constructions were started on a big scale at the subdivisional level. “The government is also ensuring training to promising talents selected for national events even by expert trainers from foreign countries. An international stadium is also coming up at Rajgir at an estimated cost of ₹740 crore,” he said.
Deputy CM Tejashwi Prasad Yadav, art and culture minister Jitendra Kumar Rai, Arjun Awardee and Dronacharya Award winner Bahadur Singh, Padma Shri Anju Boby George were also present on the occasion.