The Tamil Nadu government on Thursday designated ‘Silambam’ as one of the games to be included for the 3% sports quota recruitment in government departments and public sector undertakings (PSUs).
The government issued a G.O., after accepting the recommendations of a high-level committee headed by the Chief Secretary, to frame detailed guidelines and modalities for the implementation of reservation for meritorious sportspersons, for recruitment in government departments and PSUs.
The committee recommended the proposal made by the principal secretary, Sports Development Authority of India, to include Silambam under the recruitment quota. The principal secretary had said that Silambam or Silambattam was a “weapon based” Indian martial art from Tamil Nadu and 40 years ago, the Government of Tamil Nadu had recognised it as one of the State sports.
Silambam was also included as one of the sports disciplines for consideration under sports quota for admission into professional courses like medical, engineering, law etc. Postgraduate diploma, diploma and certificate courses in Silambam have been included in the curriculum of the Tamil Nadu Physical Education and Sports University, and it was included as one of the sports disciplines in State-level school games and has been recognised by the School Games Federation of India as one of its competitions, the Secretary had submitted in the letter.
The Government of India has also approved the inclusion of silambam under the component of ‘Promotion of Inclusiveness through Sports’ of the New Khelo India Scheme, the secretary had said.
