Financial Assistance to Sportspersons to Pursue Sports Coaching Courses (SAI, NSNIS Patiala), Odisha

What is the Financial Assistance to Sportspersons for Coaching Courses scheme?

Financial Assistance to Sportspersons to Pursue Sports Coaching Courses is a skill development scheme of the Sports & Youth Services Department, Government of Odisha. It pays for sportspersons of Odisha to train as qualified coaches at the Sports Authority of India's Netaji Subhas National Institute of Sports (NSNIS), Patiala.

The scheme was notified as No. 1796/SYS (SYS-SPW-SPW-0008-2016), dated 27 February 2017, and came into effect from 1 April 2017.

The department's own reasoning in the notification is direct: Odisha has an excellent track record in sports, a large number of meritorious sportspersons would like to take up coaching as a career, and many are unable to undergo the requisite SAI NSNIS courses because of financial constraint. Meanwhile private and public sector undertakings, business houses and NGOs working in rural and tribal areas are all engaging qualified coaches. The scheme exists to close that gap and improve employability.

This is a fee-support scheme, not a stipend. The bulk of the benefit is the course fee paid on the sportsperson's behalf, with a smaller cash amount for travel and incidental expenses.

How much does the scheme pay?

The additional Rs 2,500 to Rs 10,000 is explicitly meant to meet travelling and other miscellaneous expenses of attending the course at Patiala.

The course fee portion is remitted directly to the SAI bank account by the department. The travel and miscellaneous amount is credited to the applicant's own bank account. A non-BPL applicant should budget for the remaining 25 per cent of the fee themselves.

Who is eligible for the coaching course assistance?

You can apply if:

• You have represented the districts of Odisha, the State of Odisha, or its universities in sports and games.
• You are found eligible by SAI, NSNIS to undergo the academic courses under the institute's own eligibility criteria.
• You have been selected by SAI NSNIS Patiala for a coaching course, and hold the selection letter or the website page showing your selection.

You cannot apply if:

• You have not been selected by SAI NSNIS. State assistance follows SAI selection; it does not create a seat.
• You have no record of representing an Odisha district, the state or an Odisha university in sports and games.
• You do not meet NSNIS's own academic and sporting eligibility criteria for the course, which are set by the institute and not by the state.

A note on the BPL claim: an applicant who belongs to the BPL category must attach a duly attested copy of the BPL card with the application. Failing that, the applicant is treated as a non-BPL applicant and receives only 75 per cent of the fee. For BPL applicants, the concerned District Sports Officer is asked to inquire into the BPL status and obtain a certificate to that effect from the respective Block Development Officer, which is then forwarded to the department.

What documents are required?

How to apply for financial assistance for a coaching course

1. Watch for the SAI, NSNIS, Patiala advertisement, which is brought out in January or February each year and uploaded to www.nsnis.org with the details of the forthcoming courses.
2. Apply directly to SAI, NSNIS, Patiala on your own and pay the required application fee. This step is entirely with the institute.
3. Wait for the selection list. Names of applicants found eligible are uploaded on the SAI NSNIS website, and an individual letter is also sent to the selected applicant asking them to deposit the course fee.
4. Prepare the state application addressed to the Commissioner-cum- Secretary, Sports & YS Department, Government of Odisha, enclosing the SAI selection letter (or the printed website page), a copy of your original NSNIS application, and: if applicable, a duly attested BPL card.
5. Submit the application to the Sports & Youth Services Department, Kalinga Stadium, Bhubaneswar. Keep a copy and note the receipt details.
6. On finding the application genuine and eligible, the department sanctions the assistance, remits the course fee to the SAI bank account and credits the travel amount to your account. Follow up with the department if the course fee deadline set by SAI is approaching.

How are applicants prioritised?

The notification anticipates that eligible applicants may outnumber the funds available and sets a clear order:

1. BPL applicants get priority over non-BPL applicants.
2. Within each of the BPL and non-BPL groups, an applicant whose career sporting achievements are better is given priority.

There is no lottery and no first-come basis stated in the notification, so sending a strong evidence pack of sporting achievements matters as much as sending it early.

What does a beneficiary owe in return?

A beneficiary who avails financial assistance for an NSNIS course is expected to render two years of service in the Sports & Youth Services Department for coaching, if the department requisitions that service, with the benefits admissible to coaches under the rules in force at that time.

The department is equally clear about what it does not promise. Its disclaimer states that the scheme is intended only to enhance the employability of sportspersons of Odisha who are willing to take up coaching as a career, that it is purely a skill development initiative, and that the department is under no obligation to employ, engage or recruit beneficiaries after completion of their courses. Beneficiaries are expected to look for a job or engagement elsewhere on their own, and if the department advertises coach posts later, scheme beneficiaries get no preference whatsoever over other eligible applicants.

Why applications get rejected, and how to fix them

• No SAI NSNIS selection. The commonest reason. The state does not select candidates for the course; apply to NSNIS first.
• BPL card not attached or not attested. The result is not rejection but downgrading to the 75 per cent non-BPL rate. Attach a duly attested copy.
• No proof of representing Odisha. Gather district association, state association or university certificates before applying.
• Application filed too late for the SAI fee deadline. SAI sets its own last date to deposit the course fee. File the state application as soon as the selection is published rather than waiting for the physical letter.
• Incomplete bank details, which delay the travel and miscellaneous payment even after sanction.

A related but separate scheme

Do not confuse this scheme with Financial Assistance to Outstanding Sportspersons for International Participation, Advance Training & Coaching (notification No. 1759/SYS dated 25 February 2017, in force from 1 April 2017). That scheme funds elite athletes for competition and advanced training — up to Rs 5,00,000 a year for sub-junior, junior and youth athletes and Rs 10,00,000 a year for seniors for training inside the country, and up to Rs 50,00,000 a year for training outside the country, and it requires the applicant to be below 30 years of age as on 1 January of the year of application. That is a performance scheme; this page is about the coaching-qualification scheme.

Help and contact

• Sports & Youth Services Department, Government of Odisha, Kalinga Stadium, Bhubaneswar – 751012
• Telephone: +91-674-2390268
• E-mail: deptsportsodisha@gmail.com
• Scheme documents: the "Financial Assistance" download on department.sportsodisha.gov.in/swpScheme
• Course information: SAI, NSNIS, Patiala at www.nsnis.org
• District route: your District Sports Officer, who also verifies BPL status for the scheme

No fee is payable to the state department for this application. The only fee in the process is the application fee charged by SAI NSNIS Patiala, which the sportsperson pays directly to the institute.

How to check your application status

This is an offline, file-based scheme, so there is no online portal or reference number system to track a case. Status has to be confirmed directly from the Sports & Youth Services Department or through the District Sports Officer.

• Call the department. Ring the Sports & Youth Services Department at Kalinga Stadium, Bhubaneswar on +91-674-2390268 and quote your name, the SAI NSNIS course you were selected for, and the date you submitted the application. Ask specifically whether the file has been examined and whether the course fee has been remitted to SAI, since that is the step with a hard deadline.
• Write to the department by email. Send a follow-up to deptsportsodisha@gmail.com with your name, address, the course and batch you were selected for, and the date and mode of your earlier submission. Keep this email as your own record of having followed up, since there is no acknowledgment receipt number issued for these applications.
• Go through your District Sports Officer. For BPL applicants in particular, the District Sports Officer is already in the loop, since that office verifies BPL status with the Block Development Officer before forwarding the file to the department. The District Sports Officer can usually tell you faster than the state office whether your papers have moved forward.
• Check with SAI, NSNIS, Patiala separately for the course-side status. The state department's job is only to pay the fee and travel amount after SAI has selected you; SAI itself, reachable through www.nsnis.org, is the one to confirm whether your seat is confirmed, whether the fee has been received on their end, and when the course starts. Do not assume the state department can answer questions about your seat or batch, since that record sits with SAI, not with Bhubaneswar.
• Time your follow-up to the SAI fee deadline. Because the SAI-set last date to deposit the course fee is the real constraint, follow up with the state department a week or two before that deadline rather than waiting until the day the course begins, so there is time left to fix any missing document if the file has stalled.

There is no SMS alert or status dashboard for this scheme, so a phone call or an email to the addresses above, backed up by a visit to the District Sports Officer, is the only reliable way to know where an application stands.