Sports in India have been one of the most neglected areas in the last 62 years. Though the country has made rapid economic progress which has put India on the global platform but if there is one significant area where India is lagging behind compared to the big powers of the world then sports is one major area.
Two major sports controversies made headlines in the last few days for all the wrong reasons. Indian hockey players went on strike due to non payment of compensation and Abhinav Bindra not been selected to represent India in the upcoming ‘Commonwealth Games’.
The hockey players issue reflects the sad state of affairs of our national sport. On the one hand cash rich BCCI has been growing richer thanks to the invention of 20-20 format and on the other Hockey federation of India does not have money to even pay its national players. Let’s not forget that hockey has won India much more laurels than any other sport. Indian hockey has won the Olympic gold medal 8 times, silver medal once and the bronze twice. The team has been unbeaten at the Olympics from 1928 to 1956 winning the gold medal six times in a row. India has won the hockey world cup once and is one of the four teams to have won the world cup.
Abhinav Bindra, the only Indian to have won the gold medal in the history of Olympics not been selected for the commonwealth games has left everyone startled. The reason given by NRAI (National Rifles association of India) is that Bindra did not turn up for the trials. Bindra’s clarification is that he did turn up but the association & the ministry postponed the date. Bindra all this while was training in Europe for the event. But the most absurd point in all this is that the association is not ready to consider Bindra’s international performances in the last few months. By any logic the international events are much more competitive & the participation standards are much higher.
These two events are just the tip of the iceberg. Indian sports need a serious makeover not only in terms of nurturing talent but also a major restructuring of the whole system is the need of the hour. The sports ministry has been the biggest failure to start with. Whether it was the hockey fiasco or the recent Bindra controversy, the ministry has failed to diffuse the situation. Only a few months back India’s athletic legend, PT Usha was reduced to tears by the kind of beheviour that was metted out to her by the ministry when it came to arrangements for her stay in Madhya Pradesh. Not far behind is the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) which has constantly failed to infuse any sort of encouragement among Olympic athletes. The IOA which is also responsible for organizing the Delhi commonwealth games is already receiving flak from the international Olympic committee for the sloppy preparation progress made so far.
Actually in this scenario the government should take a leaf out of the BCCI model. BCCI is the only sporting body which is not government controlled and is autonomous. Not surprisingly it is also the most successful in terms of financial independence and managing the sport. The Sports ministry should dissolve all the government appointed sport associations. In most of these associations’ members and their office bearers end up holding the post for decades with out any changes. E.g. Suresh Kalmadi has been the president of the IOA for last 14 years. He is in his 4th term which ends in 2012. In all probability he is expected to get another term in 2012. The administrators have to be made accountable and for that the sports ministry should redraft the constitution. A limit should be set as far as the number of terms a person can hold in the general body. This will ensure that the office bearers also change with time. All the sport bodies should be made autonomous with the sports ministry giving them infrastructure assistance & financial backing. Initially there might be issues in raising funds but with time and better administration it shouldn’t be highly difficult for various sports to draw sponsors given the rising interest of people in sports other then cricket. All bodies would be overviewed by the sports ministry minus interference in the administration. The Sports ministry should have ‘special powers’ to intervene in extraordinary circumstances.
Sport is an essential part of any society, especially for a nation that’s on its way to become a superpower. All round development is incomplete without success in multiple sport disciplines. The government should give this sector a lot of significance as India’s glory would be incomplete without success in the world of sports’. One billion plus population and only one individual Olympic medal is a complete injustice to the potential this nation possesses!!!
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