The Indian government is planning to amend the National Anti-Doping Act to criminalise doping, marking one of the biggest policy shifts in the country’s fight against performance-enhancing drugs.
Highly placed sources in the Sports Ministry have told India Today that the proposed amendments will, for the first time, go beyond punishing athletes and seek criminal action against the wider ecosystem that enables doping.
LEGISLATION TO TARGET BEYOND ATHLETES
The proposed amendments are expected to target coaches, trainers, support staff, suppliers and others involved in procuring, trafficking or administering banned substances to athletes, recognising that doping is rarely an individual act but one sustained by a larger network.
At present, athletes found guilty of Anti-Doping Rule Violations (ADRVs) face sporting sanctions such as suspensions and disqualifications under the National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) Code. The proposed law aims to add a criminal dimension to those violations by bringing the people who facilitate doping under the ambit of criminal law.
The move comes at a time when India continues to battle a serious doping problem, particularly in athletics.
According to the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU), India has consistently ranked among the worst-performing nations globally in Anti-Doping Rule Violations over the past four years. The country has recorded 212 ADRVs in athletics alone between 2022 and 2025, finishing inside the top two every year and topping the global list in both 2024 and 2025.
India recorded 48 ADRVs in 2022, 63 in 2023, 71 in 2024 and 30 so far in 2025, figures that prompted World Athletics to designate the country as an “extremely high-risk” nation for doping earlier this year.
Following that assessment, the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) Board reclassified the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) from Category B to the stricter Category A under Rule 15 of World Athletics’ Anti-Doping Rules, placing Indian athletics under greater international scrutiny.
“Unfortunately, the quality of the domestic anti-doping programme is simply not proportionate to the doping risk,” AIU Chair David Howman had said while announcing the decision.
Concerns around India’s anti-doping ecosystem have also been echoed by international agencies.
“We’re concerned in general with the state of doping in India and we’re hearing a lot of things happening on the ground,” International Testing Agency Director General Benjamin Cohen had said earlier this year.
The issue has also played out repeatedly on the domestic circuit.
At one athletics meet in New Delhi earlier this year, several sprinters reportedly fled the venue after officials from the anti-doping authorities arrived to conduct in-competition testing, highlighting the scale of the challenge facing administrators.
The government’s proposed legislation is understood to be part of a wider effort to restore confidence in India’s sporting ecosystem as the country aggressively pursues major international events.
Over the past few years, India has significantly expanded its international sporting calendar and recently secured the hosting rights for the 2030 Commonwealth Games. The country is also bidding to host a Diamond League meeting and has made no secret of its ambition to stage the Olympic Games in the coming years.
While infrastructure and event organisation have earned praise internationally, doping continues to remain one of the biggest concerns surrounding Indian sport.
Sports Ministry officials believe that targeting only athletes has not been enough to dismantle the system that enables doping. By bringing coaches, support personnel and suppliers within the scope of criminal law, the proposed legislation is expected to shift the focus from individual offenders to the networks that sustain the practice.
The proposed Bill is currently under preparation, with further details on its provisions expected once it is formally introduced.
ASIAN GAMES NOT AN EXPOSURE TOUR
Meanwhile, Sports Minister Mansukh Mandaviya made it clear that the Asian Games will not be treated as an exposure tour for athletes seeking government jobs.
Speaking to the media on Thursday, July 2, the minister said only those athletes with a realistic chance of winning medals and making the country proud would be selected for the Games.
“Let me make one thing clear: the Asian Games is not an exposure tour. It is a platform for athletes to make the country proud with their best performance. So, as I have repeatedly stated, only those who can deliver will travel,” he said.
“Exposure can be gained elsewhere. It doesn’t have to be the Asian Games. Anyone looking to secure jobs through participation certificates will not be cleared. The Games are about performance and we will ensure that,” he asserted.
The Asian Games begins on September 19 and is set to conclude on October 4, 2026. In the last edition of the Games, India had won 107 medals, their best ever tally in the competition’s history.
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