Who all are called as gazetted officers in India?

 A Gazette officer is a person who is an officer in the Indian Government service, the signature, stamp, and official seal of which is necessary for verifying and attesting the important documents certified copies, and/or photographs of the person for the central and state government. He can be understood as a High-level public employee. The gazetted officer’s acts are considered as an authorized witness for the document verification.

Many applications for government sector jobs require the signature and attestation by the gazetted officer. The gazetted officer does not necessarily have to be an employee of the government. The qualification or requirement is that the individual should be vested with the power to take official actions and serve his duties and the charges for these services are fixed by the government of India. Therefore, the pay and the services rendered are directly relational to each other.

They are considered as representatives of the Indian States and the President. The person will be called gazetted if the name has been published in the Gazette of India or the Gazette of any state government. This gazette of India is published by the Directorate of Printing, Department of Publication which is under the Ministry of Urban Development of Government of India.

Gazetted Officers are executive/managerial level ranked government officers in India. Authority for a gazetted officer to issue an official stamp comes from the President of India or the Governors of States. To that effect, they are de jure representatives and delegates of the Indian State and the President.

1. Class I or Group A (Gazetted and Executive officers who can attest the documents):

This class consists of the highest class of government servants who are ranked from level 1 to 10 in the Civilian and Defence Pay Matrices, which includes:

1. Class II or Group B (Gazetted officers who can attest):

• Section Officers;
• Assistant Executive Engineers;
• BDO (Block Development Officers);
• Tahsildars;
• Junior Doctors in Government Hospitals;
• Magistrates;

1. Any officer of notary or Nagar Sevak or SEO is not included in Gazetted Officer
2. There are two other categories Group C and Group D which includes non-gazetted officer. Group A and Group B can attest the documents.
3. The attesting officer should attest the documents in blue ink only. It will be only valid if it has a stamp of the attesting officer and the department or organization present.
4. For verification for the issue of passport, it can only be done by Group A gazetted officer only who are under the rank of Secretary/Dy. Director (Level 11 and above).

Gazetted officers are the Central or State government officers who are recruited by the sign of President of India or Governor of respective State respectively.
The stamp of the Gazetted officers comes from either Governor of respective states or the President of India.

First IAS Officer Of India

 

Satyendranath Tagore: He was the second eldest brother of Rabindranath Tagore, the only Indian to be awarded a Nobel Prize. in Literature .

He was an author, song composer, and linguist, and made a significant contribution towards the emancipation of women in Indian society during the british Raj.

Pre-1947, the civil service was called Indian Civil Service (ICS) and Satyendranath Tagore was the first ICS officer.

Indian Administrative service : 1858; 163 years ago
26 January 1950; 71 years ago

Charles Cornwallis is referred to as the father of India Civil Service as he reformed and modernised the civil services in India.

Responsibility of IAS :

• To handle the administration and daily proceedings of the government, including the formulation and implementation of policy in consultation with the minister-in-charge of a specific ministry or department.
• To contribute to policy formulation, and to make a final decision in certain matters, with the agreement of the minister concerned or the council of ministers.
• To collect revenue and function as court officials in matters of revenue and crime (for the revenue courts and criminal courts of executive magistrates), to maintain law and order, to implement union and state government policies at the grass-roots level when posted to field position

Karnataka New CM

 

Karnataka Bharatiya Janata Party Legislative Party elected Basavaraj S Bommai as the chief minister of the state.

He is the son of the former Chief Minister of Karnataka, S.R. Bommai . A graduate in mechanical engineering, he started his political career with the Janta Dal.

A graduate engineer, and an agriculturist and industrialist by profession, he is widely acclaimed for his contributions to innumerable irrigation schemes and deep knowledge regarding irrigation matters in Karnataka.

"It is a big responsibility in the given situation. I will strive to work for the welfare of the poor. It will be pro-people and pro-poor people governance," CM-elect Bommai said.

Will the BJP lose in the UP 2021 election?

 Will the BJP lose in the UP 2021 election?

With the battle for the Uttar Pradesh Assembly election intensifying by the day, younger leaders from the Opposition camp are emerging in the state.

It has been a long-time labour that appears to be bearing fruits on the Uttar Pradesh's political branch to bring about electoral change putting the prestige of some prominent faces at stake.

Uttar Pradesh Assembly election 2022 will be the biggest political battle of 2022. 43% Voters believe that BJP will win the 2022 UP election.

29.6% think that SP will win the 2022 assembly election

42% Voter in UP believe prefer CM Yogi Adityanath while 32% prefer Akhilesh Yadav.

The elections in the state are likely to be held in February next year. The term of the present Uttar Pradesh assembly will expire on March 14, 2022.

While the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic brought destruction all across the country, the images from UP of Covid infected bodies floating in Ganga particularly highlighted the misery of people.

Yogi Adityanath has been facing flak of the opposition for his handling of the pandemic.

The holding of the Panchayat polls during the second wave, which resulted in the deaths of over a thousand officials and teachers on duty, along with the loss in Panchayat polls, has put the BJP in damage control mode ahead of next year's assembly elections.

ABP News Cvoter - Survey - (18th March 2021) released their UP election opinion poll on 18th March 2021. As per the poll, BJP may win 289 out of 403 Legislative Assembly seats in Uttar Pradesh which is a dip of 36 seats as it won 325 seats in 2017 polls. Samajwadi Party is likely to get 59 seats (+12) while BSP and Congress may get 38 seats (+19), 9 seats (-3) respectively. The polls shows BJP may bag as much as 41 per cent vote share in case elections happens today.

The CM's approval ratings are at 54%, quite comfortable for re-election.

Most of the exit polls had BJP winning the maximum seats, however, except Dainik Bhaskar none of the exit polls predicted BJP winning over 300 seats on its own. Here is how the Exit Polls released on 9 March 2017 had calculated seats for respective parties:

Prior to Assembly election of 2022, a bye election for 7 Assembly seats was held on 3rd November 2020. Of the 7 seats, BJP retained 6 seats and Samajwadi Party won 1 seat.

During 2019 Lok Sabha election, SP and BSP came together however, as for 2022 Assembly election Mayawati’s Samajwadi Party is set to contest the election on her own. Congress on the other hand may form its own alliance which may include Bhim Army.

BJP may contest in an alliance with Apna Dal and NISHAD Party. Samajwadi Party will be contesting in alliance with RLD and Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party (Lohiya).

Varanasi Development

 Kashi is the heart of the Indian civilization. The heritage of the marvellous city is regarded as old as time itself and as American author Twain puts it the city is “older than history”.

Hailed as the city of Lord Shiva, who is affectionately called Bhole Baba, the city is famous for the Kashi Vishwanath temple, home of the most revered jyotirlinga, located in the bustling street of old Banaras. The temple attracts millions of pilgrims every year from across the country. The shrine is located in the congested lanes of old Kashi, with no direct link to Ganga river. Apart from the absence of the link, it is surrounded by hundreds of old houses which makes the temple hidden between the concrete structures

PM Modi laid the foundation stone of Kashi Vishwanath Dham project in March this year, which includes removal of the buildings surrounding the Kashi Vishwanath temple and providing direct connectivity between the shrine and the Ganga river. Starting of the project was a dream come true for PM Modi who thought about a similar kind of project in Kashi even before joining the arena of active politics.

After winning elections from Kashi in 2014 he had remarked –

“I have not come here (Kashi) but I was called”

While laying the foundation of Kashi Vishwanath Dham in March this year, PM Modi remarked –

" When I came for elections in 2014, I had said that I haven't come but have been called here. Today, I think that was an invitation for such work only and now that resolve has further strengthened.

Vishwanath Dham is a project that I have been thinking about for a long time. I have come to Kashi even before I was in active politics. Since then I would think that one must do something for the Temple Complex. With the blessings of Bhole Baba, my dream has come true”

The demolition of buildings around the temple, for the Kashi Vishwanath corridor project had started last year (2018), and the demolition led to the recovery of at least 40 very ancient temples. All those ancient temples were buried under other construction around them and people had built kitchens, bathrooms and much more atop those temples.

Centuries old ancient temples, earlier hidden are now visible, they will be preserved and will be opened to public.

Another area of concern was a direct link between Kashi Vishwanath Temple (KVT) and Ganga river. Now with a direct link between the temple and the Ganga river, one can reach the temple premises within minutes, without going around in the lanes.

The completion of project will give Kashi Vishwanath Temple complex a brand-new look and more space. Once situated in the congested space among the surrounding buildings, the temple complex will now have its area of own. A devout Shiva bhakt who takes a dip in the holy river every morning and pays his tribute to Lord Shiva in the temple can now see the temple from the Ghats. It means a lot to a Kashiwasi, who earlier had to go through many lanes to reach temple, after taking a dip in the holy Ganga.

In terms of rural areas, the Varanasi district seems to be better off than most others in the state, on an average. While a Lok Sabha constituency and district do not overlap exactly, parameters of the latter do give an adequate indication of the constituency’s situation.

The Varanasi Lok Sabha seat, for instance, comprises five assembly segments — all of which fall in the district.

Under the Saansad Adarsh Gram Yojana (SAGY), according to which MPs are to identify and adopt a village in their constituency to turn it into a “model village”, the PM has adopted three — Nagepur, Jayapur and Kakarahiya.

Among these, Jayapur gram panchayat has a national rank of 43, Nagepur 44 and Kakarahiya 54 as per rural development ministry’s data.

The lowest rank is 99, which means all three villages are somewhere around the midway mark. While data has been collected for 2,46,799 gram panchayats, there are several villages which score identically and hence, have the same rank. As many as 229 GPs fall in the 1-10 rank group alone.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his government have put in special efforts to showcase this ancient centre to the world as one of the cleanest, connected and conserved place on earth. A major drive under Swachh Bharat Mission is already showing results, wi-fi connectivity along the major ghats is a reality and a special partnership agreement with Japanese city of Kyoto will help Varanasi demonstrate the diversity and depth of Indo-Japan relationship and its human dimension.

The Prime Minister has also put a major emphasis on job creation in the region with the help of Indian Railways and by reviving the textile and powerloom industry.

All efforts are on to make this city a World Heritage site, a promise Prime Minister Modi made when he filed his nomination in April of 2014. T

his focus is on state of the art tourism and infrastructure facilities including a major thrust towards cleanliness under the Swachh Bharat Mission.

The Prime Minister has taken up the cleanliness drive with a personal involvement and regular monitoring and the results are already beginning to show.

PM inaugurates and lays foundation stone of various development projects in Varanasi.

Chandrasekhar - New Cabinet Minister

 IT’s a good Move…Chandrasekhar belongs to a class of Indian techies that launched their career from the Silicon Valley with Intel. Part of the team that developed Pentium chips, his stint in the US however did not last long.

Twitter Removed Blue tick …..later on it was restored ….

Resigns from Board Director of Republic TV.

• He has a track record of successful investments in entertainment, technology and media including Asianet News, SuvarnaNews24x7, Kannada Prabha, Asianet Newsable and most recently, Republic TV.
• has investments and managed assets of over 1 Billion USD ranging from technology to transportation.

Rajeev Chandrasekhar - Is an Indian-American journalist.

In late 2006, Chandrasekhar entered into media foray through investments made in ACL - Asian Communications Ltd.

• Honoured by Army’s Western Command GOC-in Commendation for his work for the Armed Forces and Veterans.
• He has advocated for governance reforms, institution building, Internet Freedom national security, welfare of the Armed Forces Personnel and sustainable city building of Bangalore and Karnataka.
• A three-time Rajya Sabha MP from Karnataka and a successful entrepreneur himself, Chandrasekhar was born into a Keralite family but grew up mostly outside. After completing his engineering from the Manipal Institute of Technology, he took his Masters from the Illinois Institute of Technology in the US.
• In 2005, he founded Jupiter Capital, an investment and financial services firm based in Bengaluru, of which he continues to be the Chairman. His firm has investments and managed assets across sectors ranging from technology to transportation, logistical services to hospitality and entertainment.

Pradhan Mantri Jan-Dhan Yojana

 Pradhan Mantri Jan-Dhan Yojana is a government scheme launched by the government of India to provide easy access to financial services such as Remittance, Credit, Insurance, Pension, Savings and Deposit Accounts to poor and needy section of our society.

The scheme was launched in August 2014, and according to the Ministry of Finance, over 4 crore banks accounts have been opened till September 2014. Under the PMJDY scheme, some of the financial services that are offered to individuals are pension, insurance, and banking.

Benefits of the PMJDY scheme

Given below are the main benfits of scheme:

· Interest is offered on the deposits that are made towards the savings account opened under the scheme.

· Individuals need not maintain a minimum balance under the scheme. However, in case they wish to avail cheque facilities, a minimum balance must be maintained.

· In case individuals maintain the account in a good manner for 6 months, an overdraft facility is provided.

· Individuals receive Accidental Insurance cover of Rs.1 lakh under the RuPay scheme.

· In case the account was opened between 20 August 2014 and 31 January 2015, life cover of Rs.30,000 is provided in case the beneficiary passes away.

· Under the scheme, insurance products and pension access are provided.

· In case individuals are beneficiaries of government schemes,DirectBenefit Transfer option is provided.

· An overdraft facility of Rs.5,000 is provided to one account in the household. The facility is usually provided to the lady in the house.

The government rolled out its ambitious financial inclusion programme, the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY), and said about 1.5 crore accounts were opened on Thursday through thousands of camps, exceeding the firstday target of 1 crore accounts.

PMJDY Eligibility

In order for individuals to open a PMJDY account, the below given criteria must be met:

· You must be citizen of India

· You should be at least 10 years of age

· You should not have a bank account.

Criticism : The scheme has been criticized by opposition as an effort to please voters that has created unnecessary work-burden on the public-sector banks. 

According to the experts, offers like zero balance, free insurance and overdraft facility would result in duplication. Many individuals who already have bank accounts may have had accounts created for themselves, lured by the insurance covers and overdraft facilities

The power of marketing in Politics

 

Marketing can have a significant impact on how a political candidate and party is perceived pre- and post-election, particularly with the influence of digital media and the way people now consume information.

Solid policies form the basis of a successful political campaign—yet, as time goes by, we are continuing to see campaigns that focus heavily on marketing.

Parties will now go to further lengths to research and understand their audience and the competition, and then convert that insight into votes.

This is the largely due to the fact that modern political parties understand the importance of a finely-tuned marketing strategy in winning an election.

How important is marketing in politics?

Once ideology-driven, political discourse is now very much consumption-driven and can be swayed by a number of variables. With this in mind, what does the average political marketing campaign look like?

In the past, we have seen a focus on the 'real', where political figures are presented as people, just like you and I—with families, stories to tell and struggles to reveal.

They care deeply about their country and will provide solutions to economic and social problems. This approach, one that highlights a candidate’s strengths and weaknesses as real, has been an effective method of marketing.

The best and most successful political marketing campaigns truly understand the needs of the voter.

Take Barack Obama’s 2008 Hope and Change campaign as an example.

The success of this campaign demonstrated a superior understanding of what voters were yearning for and involved not just a list of policies, but extensive research, planning, insightful strategy and a focus on content that could be shared online.

The sharing of digital content through social channels broadens a candidate’s reach and audience, enabling their message to be made more available than ever before.

The aim here is to create content that is both pushed to people (who then share it with others) and made available so that people find it on their own.

When marketing strategies are conceived and executed according to plan, the result is often more votes.

Marketing powerful messages through strategy

Marketing in politics is becoming ever more powerful, yet parties don’t necessarily have to spend more to make it work.

The examples which we have drawn upon support the notion that the size of your audience and the power of your message is driven largely by the quality of your marketing strategy.

Not only can marketing sway an election, it can win an election.

Co-operation Ministry - Headed by Amit Shah

 

केंद्र सरकार ने मंगलवार देर शाम 'सहकार से समृद्धि' के विजन को साकार करने के लिए प्रधानमंत्री नरेंद्र मोदी के नेतृत्व वाली केंद्र सरकार द्वारा एक अलग 'सहयोग मंत्रालय' बनाया गया है. केंद्र की नरेंद्र मोदी सरकार ने देश में सहकारिता आंदोलन को मजबूत करने के लिए एक नया सहकारी मंत्रालय सृजित करने का फैसला किया है.

will aim to strengthen the cooperative movement in the country.

Describing the launch of the ministry as a 'Best Move', the Center said it will help realise the vision of "Sahkar se Samriddhi", which roughly translates as "Prosperity through Cooperation".

With a focus to help deepen cooperatives as a true people-based movement, the ministry is mandated to "provide a separate administrative, legal and policy framework for strengthening the cooperative movement".

The ministry will streamline processes for ‘ease of doing business’ for cooperatives and enable development of multi-state cooperatives.

The history of cooperatives in India goes back to more than a hundred years and they continue to stay relevant due to their grassroots reach and ability to bring economic growth to undeserved sections.

The portfolio has been given to Home Minister Amit Shah after the Wednesday last Cabinet expansion.

The government said the Ministry “will provide a separate administrative, legal and policy framework for strengthening the cooperative movement in the country” and do much to streamline the processes for “ease of doing business” and enable development of Multi-State Co-operative Banks” (MSCBs).

Ministry’s objectives?

A media release from the Press Information Bureau said the Ministry of Cooperation will provide a separate administrative legal and policy framework for strengthening the cooperative movement in the country.

“It will help deepen Co-operatives as a true people based movement reaching upto the grassroots.

In our country, a Co-operative based economic development model is very relevant where each member works with a spirit of responsibility.

The Ministry will work to streamline processes for ‘Ease of doing business’ for co-operatives and enable development of Multi-State Co-operatives (MSCS),” it said.

Why necessary ?

Sanjiv Babar, former managing director of Maharashtra State Federation of Cooperative Sugar Mills, said it was necessary to restore the importance of the cooperative structure in the country.

“Various studies conducted by institutions like Vaikunt Mehta Institute of Cooperative Management have shown the cooperative structure has managed to flourish and leave its mark only in a handful of states like Maharashtra, Gujarat, Karnataka etc.

Under the new Ministry, the cooperative movement would get the required financial and legal power needed to penetrate into other states also,” he said.

Who is the new Indian Railways Minister? - Ashwini Vaishnaw , the former IAS officer of the 1994 batch

 

• The 50-year-old IAS officer, has a MBA from Wharton School, Pennysylvania University and MTech from IIT Kanpur
• 
  
• Vaishnaw is a Rajya Sabha MP for Odisha
• Ashwini Vaishnaw , the former IAS officer of the 1994 batch, will be the new Railway Minister as well as Ministry of Communications and Information under the Modi government's mega cabinet expansion.
• He was awarded President's Silver Medal, Commendation by National Human Rights Commission.
• he has 17 years of experience in leadership positions in infrastructure development.

He developed 5 mtpa coal import terminal, privatized container business, developed cruise terminal, three mooring dolphins and implemented ERP at Goa Port.

He is a Rajya Sabha MP for Odisha. He handled important responsibilities over 15 years and was particularly known for his contribution to the PPP framework in Infrastructure.

Cabinet Expansion - Who has Become the Commerce & Industry Minister.

Ministers of State (Independent Charge)

1 : Rao Inderjit Singh

Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation; Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Planning; and Minister of State in the Ministry of Corporate Affairs

2 : Dr Jitendra Singh

Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Science and Technology;

Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Earth Sciences; Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office; Minister of State in the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions; Minister of State in the Department of Atomic Energy; and Minister of State in the Department of Space

Ministers of State

1 : Shripad Yesso Naik

Minister of State in the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways; and

Minister of State in the Ministry of Tourism

2 : Faggansingh Kulaste

Minister of State in the Ministry of Steel; and Minister of State in the Ministry of Rural Development

3 : Prahalad Singh Patel

Minister of State in the Ministry of Jal Shakti; and Minister of State in the Ministry of Food Processing Industries

4 :Ashwini Kumar Choubey

Minister of State in the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution; and Minister of State in the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change

5 :Arjun Ram Meghwal

Minister of State in the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs; and Minister of State in the Ministry of Culture

6 :General (Retd.) V. K. Singh

Minister of State in the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways; and Minister of State in the Ministry of Civil Aviation

7 : Krishan Pal

Minister of State in the Ministry of Power; and Minister of State in the Ministry of Heavy Industries

8: Danve Raosaheb Dadarao

Minister of State in the Ministry of Railways; Minister of State in the Ministry of Coal; and Minister of State in the Ministry of Mines

9 :Ramdas Athawale

Minister of State in the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment

10 :Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti

Minister of State in the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution; and Minister of State in the Ministry of Rural Development

11 : Dr. Sanjeev Kumar Balyan

Minister of State in the Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying

12 : Nityanand Rai

Minister of State in the Ministry of Home Affairs

13 : Pankaj Chaowdhary

Minister of State in the Ministry of Finance

14 : Anupriya Singh Patel

Minister of State in the Ministry of Commerce and Industry

15 : Prof. S. P. Singh Baghel

Minister of State in the Ministry of Law and Justice

16 : Rajeev Chandrasekhar

Minister of State in the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship; and Minister of State in the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology

17 : Shobha Karandlaje

Minister of State in the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare

18 : Bhanu Pratap Singh Verma

Minister of State in the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises

19 : Darshana Vikram Jardosh

Minister of State in the Ministry of Textiles; and Minister of State in the Ministry of Railways

20 : V. Muraleedharan

Minister of State in the Ministry of External Affairs; and Minister of State in the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs

21 : Meenakashi Lekhi

Minister of State in the Ministry of External Affairs; and Minister of State in the Ministry of Culture

22 : Som Parkash

Minister of State in the Ministry of Commerce and Industry

23 :Renuka Singh Saruta

Minister of State in the Ministry of Tribal Affairs

24 :Rameswar Teli

Minister of State in the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas; and Minister of State in the Ministry of Labour and Employment

25 : Kailash Choudhary

Minister of State in the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare

26 : Annpurna Devi

Minister of State in the Ministry of Education

27 :A. Narayanaswamy

Minister of State in the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment

28: Kaushal Kishore

Minister of State in the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs

29 :Ajay Bhatt

Minister of State in the Ministry of Defence; and Minister of State in the Ministry of Tourism

30 : B. L. Verma

Minister of State in the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region; and Minister of State in the Ministry of Cooperation

31 : Ajay Kumar

Minister of State in the Ministry of Home Affairs

32 : Devusinh Chauhan

Minister of State in the Ministry of Communications

33: Bhagwanth Khuba

Minister of State in the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy; and Minister of State in the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers

34 : Kapil Moreshwar Patil

Minister of State in the Ministry of Panchayati Raj

35 : Pratima Bhoumik

Minister of State in the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment

36 : Dr. Subhas Sarkar

Minister of State in the Ministry of Education

37 : Dr. Bhagwat Kishanrao Karad

Minister of State in the Ministry of Finance

38 : Dr. Rajkumar Ranjan Singh

Minister of State in the Ministry of External Affairs; and Minister of State in the Ministry of Education

39 : Dr. Bharati Pravin Pawar

Minister of State in the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare

40 : Bishweswar Tudu

Minister of State in the Ministry of Tribal Affairs; and Minister of State in the Ministry of Jal Shakti

41: Shantanu Thakur

Minister of State in the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways

42: Dr. Munjapara Mahendrabhai

Minister of State in the Ministry of Women and Child Development; and Minister of State in the Ministry of AYUSH

43 : John Barla

Minister of State in the Ministry of Minority Affairs

44 : Dr. L. Murugan

Minister of State in the Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying; and Minister of State in the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting

45 :Nisith Pramanik

Minister of State in the Ministry of Home Affairs; and Minister of State in the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports