Mr. President,

India welcomes Resolution 70/4 'Building a peaceful and better world through sport and the Olympic ideal' adopted by the General Assembly on October 26, 2015. We also welcome the designation of April 6th as the International Day of Sport for Development and Peace.

The valuable contribution of Sport in promoting education, sustainable development, peace, cooperation, solidarity, fairness, social inclusion and health at local, regional and international levels is undeniable. In this context, the ancient Greek tradition of 'Olympic Truce' underlines the recognition that Sport is a valuable tool for consolidating peace and solidarity as well as tolerance and understanding among peoples and nations. The UN Secretary General, Mr. Ban Ki-Moon while addressing the 2nd International Forum on Sports, Peace and Development in Geneva (2012) had rightly said, I Quote 'Sports has become a world language, a common denominator that breaks down all the walls, all the barriers. It is a worldwide industry whose practices can have a widespread impact. Most of it all, it is a powerful tool for progress and development' Unquote India supports his vision.

Mr. President,

While on occasion, sporting events have been used for political ends, including for propaganda, boycott and the like, on the whole various sporting competitions overwhelmingly have served to bring people and nations together and uplift the human spirit collectively.

In a country like India, our national teams in popular sports such as Cricket and Hockey reflect the diversity of our population, with players speaking different languages, professing different faiths and coming from different urban or rural backgrounds playing together as one.

India's sports policy is in tandem with the ideals of sports for peace and development. The salient features of our national Policy are broad basing of sports, achieving excellence, up - gradation and development of sports infrastructure, support to National Sports Federations and other appropriate bodies, strengthening of scientific support to sports, strengthening of coaching support to sports, incentives to promote sports, enhanced participation of women, ethnic groups and rural youth & promoting sports - mindedness among the public at large.

The focus of India's sports policy of broad basing of sports and developing sports infrastructure across the country is to draw more and more youth, both in the cities and rural areas, to sports and thereby provide a platform for its potential to advance social and developmental goals. A number of non-governmental organizations in association with local govt. bodies have launched a series of innovative programs aimed at social development through sports. These initiatives, some of which we have profiled below, have focused on specific areas like education, poverty eradication etc.

The Mumbai based NGO 'Magic Bus', is an example. It has been running a series of adolescent mentoring programs to help young persons from weak socio-economic backgrounds to break out of the cycle of poverty. The program has used sports in its weekly curriculum to change behaviors in the fields of education, health and gender. 'Magic Bus' has been able to reach more than 3,70,000 children across four Indian States since its inception in the year 2000. The Going to School Foundation has focused on teaching entrepreneurial skills to children in Govt. secondary schools catering to lower income children, through its 'Be Schools' program. The program aims to teach these entrepreneurial skills through a series of stories and games which lead to projects developed by the children. Started in 2012, the program has reached 1,50,000 students in four Indian States.

The NGO India Ability Foundation has chosen to work in the area of youth with physical disabilities in the Indian State of Rajasthan. The Foundation's IMAGE program begun in 2005 aims to drive home the importance of education and health through involving only with disabled children. In the first phase, the program focused on developing cooperation and friendship among both disabled and non-disabled children through setting up of common sports clubs. In the second phase of the program, the Foundation has trained a combined group of such youngsters to deliver social impact messages on importance of education and health through a curriculum based on sports and games.

Mr. President,

In this context, we welcome the Olympic movement and the significant impetus that the Summer, Winter, Youth and Paralympics give to the task of involving youth in the development of their physical and mental energies and building bridges across the world. We congratulate Brazil for hosting the Rio Olympic Games and Paralympics, which takes the Games for the first time to a new Continent and advances the Olympic movement. By providing a number of examples of competitors helping each other out rising above the competition, the Games reiterated that sportsmanship can build bridges between people of different nationalities, religions, ethnicities, languages and cultures.

While India is still working to improve its performance in many of the Olympic disciplines, the recent Rio Olympics provided a fresh crop of young athletes, many of them women, who endeared themselves with their courageous performance at the world stage despite the odds that they have faced in life.

From India's perspective, the two biggest stars of the recently concluded Rio Olympics (2016) were two young sports women, wrestler Sakshi Malik who won a bronze in her weight category and Dipa Karmakar who became the first Indian gymnast to enter the Olympics finals. Both in their own ways convey the exciting story of women's empowerment in India. The wrestler Sakshi Malik hailing from the northern State of Haryana embodies the determination of women from the rural areas of the State to pursue their dreams overcoming a deeply conservative and patriarchal rural society. Sports is seen by women in the State, which has one of India's most negative sex ratios, as a vehicle to rewrite social norms and Sakshi Malik is a representative of this effort.

Similarly, the triumph of the young gymnast Dipa Karmakar from the border State of Tripura highlights the determination of young women from rural pockets of India to participate in sports despite lack of opportunities and facilities for women, as well as ingrained conservative social values. Their exploits along with the march of India's women's badminton star P.V. Sindhu to the finals of the women's badminton competition in the Olympics were the principle highlights of India's participation in the Olympics. Their stories and exploits in the Olympics have resonated across India, making the Rio Olympics both a stage and a booster for women's empowerment in India.

Mr. President,

Sport is a reflection of the society. The degeneration of values in the society­ violence, corruption, hooliganism, deception and drug abuse have been noticed raising their heads in sport. Concerted vigil and resolute action are needed to prevent intrusion of these ills and to protect the noble ideals and spirit behind the Olympic Games and other sports.

Sports by promoting happiness and joy and at the same time teaching the qualities of self-discipline, patience, training, skill development, cooperation, excellence and respect for the opponents among the players as well as those who follow sports, a wider pursuit of sporting activities in the society helps the cause of peace and development. It must be our endeavor to promote sports and a culture of sports in our countries as a means of building, peace, friendship, cooperation and understanding among peoples.

Thank You.