Yojana September

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YOJANA September 2010 1

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Septemer 2010 Vol 54

Chief Editor : Neeta Prasad

Editor : Manogyan R. Pal

Joint Director (Prod) : J.K. Chandra

Cover Design : Sadhna Saxena

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Let noble thoughts come to us from every side

Rig Veda

(Circlation) : pdjcir_ [email protected]

C O N T E N T S


BEIJING : A WATERSHED FOR INDIAN SPORTS ...................... 5

Boria Mazumdar

MOMENT OF RECKONING FOR INDIAN SPORTS ...................8

Harpal Singh Bedi

EDUCATING THE SPORTS LEADERS OF TOMORROW ........12

Aditya Kumar

BEST PRACTICES BUILDING KNOWLEDGE

SOCIETIES AT THE GRASSROOTS .................................. .........16

Shailendra Sinha

THE CHANGING FACE OF SPORTS IN INDIA ........................ .18

Jaideep Ghosh

A PROMISING FUTURE FOR INDIAN SPORTS ...................... .21

V Krishnaswamy

WHAT AILS INDIAN SPORTS .................... ........................ .........24

Kaushalya Bajpayee

J&K WINDOW............................................................................27

NEED FOR SPORTS LAW IN INDIA ........................ ...................28

Francis Kuriakose, Deepa Kylasam Iyer

ACCESS TO EDUCATION: EMERGING

OPPORTUNITIES FOR MINORITIES ......................................... 31

Ashish Joshi, Pardeep Kumar

CARBON FOOTPRINT AND THE INDIAN INDUSTRIES .......35

Debrupa Chakraborty

URBAN COOPERATIVE BANKS:

A CASE STUDY OF KARNATAKA ...................... ....................... 41

Amrita Saha

NORTH EAST DIARY................................................................45

SHODH YATRA Auto Stopper for LPG Gas Stove ...................46

DO YOu KNOW?........................................................................51


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2 YOJANA September 2010

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I

t is all too easy to dismiss the series of scams and allegations that have surfaced

around sports events as inevitable. It is not that simple an equation. For a society

where the overwhelming majority was under fed and toiled hard, sports was a rare

and often utopian option. As the picture of the Indian society has started to change for

the better in the past two decades, that utopian look about sports has begun to be shed

for an absorbing reality.

More swathes of middle India are now able to enjoy sports and recreation. Weekends

have become longer and a young population is demanding ways to ll up those weekends

with options beyond roaming the markets or malls. The huge spurt in attendance at

international sports events are an indication of this shift. Of late participation in events

like marathons have leaped among all age groups. The interest level even for televised

events like the world cup soccer and the English Premier League has risen fantastically. This was inevitable as

income avenues rose for a large segment of the urban population. Since India now has an almost 400 million

strong urban population, that is a huge presence to cater to. The Indian Premier League in cricket cashed in onthis interest and is raring to go again. Meanwhile cities, especially, are discovering sports icons beyond just

cricket. The popularity of Chak De India and other sports based lms shows the Indian lm industry has also

woken up to the opportunity.

In the middle of the rising interest and demand, the supply of such events has however stagnated. Beyond

cricket and tennis, no Indian city offers any meaningful sports event to whet public appetite. This has happened

as the running of the events is still dominated by sports bodies that run on the belief that sportspersons can

survive for any number of years as amateurs. This has killed off interest among the youth to take up any sport

as a career, even as these bodies are the preserve of a politico-bureaucrat nexus that is quite comfortable with

the low level of achievement in which Indian sports has wallowed. There is no professional management and

no accountability for a bad performance. So when big money has begun to ow into some of these disciplines,

the organisers are clueless about how to utilise the sums.

The present scams, unearthed by various agencies are a reection of this dichotomy between demand and

supply. For instance, in the case of the commonwealth games the last minute rush is a result of inertia as

the sports administrators had no idea how long and deep they have to plan for the event, when they bid for

it. Tenders are bound to go askew and checks on the buildings constructed can take a back seat as the time

table for the games draw near very fast. So the right answer to these questions is not to withdraw into a shell

but to plan bigger and better for events in the future. There is no denying that sports as a major attraction is

gaining ground. This issue of Yojana looks at some of these emerging trends and paints a picture of the way

forward. q


Abot the Isse


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YE-9/10/5


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The medal

winners seemed to

satisfy a national

yearning and in

the process made a

statement about the

signicance ofsport in an era

of escalating

political turmoil

Beijing : A Watershed for Indian Sports

SPORTS

HEN SIR Dorabji

Tata organized the

rst modern meet of

Indian athletes with

an eye on the 1920

Antwerp Olympic Games, he found

that despite running barefoot their

performance compared well

with the times done in Europe or

elsewhere. Suitably impressed,

Tata personally nanced three of

the best runners for Antwerp, a

move that in his own words red

the ambition of the nationalist

element in the city. Eighty nine

years after that wind-swept day in

Pune, when Tata rst dreamt of an

individual Olympic gold for India,

shooting prodigy Abhinav Bindra

nally found the Holy Grail at the2008 Beijing Games. As the Indian

tricolor was hoisted in Beijing, the

poise and pride on the bespectacled

shooters visage spoke to a billion

Indians, becoming a leit motif of

gung-ho chest thumping in media

The author is a senior sports journalist, Senior Research Fellow, University of Central Lancashire and Adjunct Professor,

University of South Australia

commentaries and nationalist

i conography . In a coun t ry

undergoing a media revolution

like no other India now has more

than fty 24-hour satellite TV news

networks alone - the Beijing victory

created an unprecedented national

frenzy. In a country of a billion,

and a competitive media industry

looking for new heroes and new

stories, the lone gold medal was

justication enough to spark off

celebrations worthy of topping the

medals tally.

For Indian sport, Beijing was

looked upon as a watershed. It

was much more than a sporting

spectacle not just because Indias

performance at Beijing was itsbest ever at the Games but also

because it heralded the promise of

a new beginning for Indian sports.

Bindra was not an aberration.

His performance was followed

by near-podium finishes in

Boria Mazumdar

ANALYSIS

W


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badminton, tennis and archery.

Just when it was turning out to be

a tale of so near yet so far, Vijender

Kumar (bronze in boxing, 75 kg)

and Sushil Kumar (bronze in

wrestling, 66 kg freestyle) ensured

that the Indian tricolour went uptwice more at Beijing. Their

achievements, analysed for hours

on television, turned them into

national celebrities overnight. If

the media catharsis that followed

was any indication, for the rst

time, Olympic sports, apart from

hockey, was at the centre-stage

of what could be termed as the

national consciousness. It was

an indication that decades of ill

treatment and neglect, which

had reduced Olympic sport

to a footnote in India, could

just change. At a time when

the country was reeling under

the impact of serial blasts in

Gujarat and Karnataka, followed

by the unprecedented carnage

in Mumbai in November 2008,

medal successes at the Olympicsand subsequent international

sports competit ions l ike the

Boxing World Championships

in Moscow in December 2008

and Super Series Badminton

Competitions thanks to Saina

Nehwal helped emphasize the

point that across contexts and

timeframes victories can catapult

sport to the forefront of a nations

imagination. Three major themes

emerged in the discourse that

followed: renewed media focus

on sport as a nationalist playing

eld, the promise of a new Indian

Olympic culture and the fear that

without systemic change in Indian

sporting structures, this would be

yet another false dawn.

F o r t h e f i r s t t i m e i n

Indian sport ing history, the

m e d i a a p p r o p r i a t e d t h e s e

accomplishments in a manner

a s soc i a t ed commonly wi th

cricket. All of a sudden, Bindra

was ooded by sponsorship offers

that had long since been reserved

for over-pampered cricket stars

alone. A poll on Times Now,

Indias most popular English

TV news channel, revealed that

the national religion of cricket

had slid in the popularity charts.

According to the survey, 53 per

cent of sports fans in Chennai

and 44 per cent in Kolkata

were glued to the Olympics. In

contrast, 41 per cent of sports

fans in Chennai and 29 per cent

in Kolkata watched the Indian

cricket team in action against

the Sri Lankans. In Mumbai, an

amazing 64 per cent of the fans

interviewed were unaware of the

ongoing cricket series between

India and Sri Lanka.

The medal haul at Beijing- by

Indian standards - it seemed, had

suddenly woken up the country to

the signicance of the Olympics as

an event that Indians could win at

as well. The medal winners seemed

to satisfy a national yearning and in

the process made a statement about

the signicance of sport in an era

of escalating political turmoil.

International sporting success, the

victories demonstrated, held the

promise of uniting Indians across

the country. With some of Indias

greatest sporting achievements at

the Olympics coming at a time

when the nation was seeking

answers to sudden terror attacks,

their impact was all the more

visible. In the days before the

Olympic Games, most Indians were

grappling with the political crisis

at hand and were hardly concerned

about what the small contingent

of 56 could achieve in Beijing.

So much so that Suresh Kalmadi,

President of the Indian Olympic

Association (IOA), had issued a

statement asking sports fans not to

expect miracles from the athletes.

Set against this backdrop of gloom

and limited expectations, Indias

successes shone even brighter.

The success of the three Beijing

winners was as much a testament

to their own skills as it was a

metaphor for the larger story of

India. They had arguably shattered

the grand narrative of failure that

has characterized Indian sport

just as the emergence of the IT

industry in the 1990s signied the

end of the Hindu rate of growth

that dened the economy since the

1950s. Just as a Narayan Murthy

or an Azim Premji ---founders of

the IT giants Infosys and Wipro

-- created the self-belief for Indian

business to act as a global player

after decades of isolationism and

the license-permit raj, so did the

Beijing victories usher in a new era

of self-condence in sport. As John

MacAloon argues, the Olympics

are a crucible of symbolic force

into which the world pours its

energies and a stage upon which,

every four years, it plays out its

hopes and its terrors. For every

Indian, that terror always came in

the form of a question: A billion

people and no gold medal. Why?


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Beijing provided that answer, and

hence the nationalist frenzy that

ensued.

The annals of Indian sports

w r i t i n g h a v e b e e n f u l l o f

complaints about sporting failuresfor far too long. Analysts have

blamed the system, they have

blamed the politicians who run it,

they have even questioned Indian

genetics. Every four years, it

has become a collective national

ritual to blame everyone else

when found wanting in the global

mirror of the Olympics, only to

move on and repeat the same

catharsis four years later. The

Beijing athletes showed that it is

possible to succeed in spite of the

system. The BJPs late General

Secretary and former Cabinet

minister Pramod Mahajan once

said half-jokingly that the Indian

IT and beauty industries rose

to great heights only because

the government did not realize

their presence until they hadalready made a mark. Abhinav

Bindras success too followed

a similar template, at least with

respect to the national sporting

superstructure. Born with the

luxury of affluence and an indoor

shooting range in his backyard,

he emerged as a child prodigy,

only to taste initial defeat at

Sydney and Athens. He could as

easily have given up, blamed the

system and have been content

with his World Championship

and Commonweal th Games

medals. But he persevered. It was

a victory born out of the pain of

loss and an iron will to succeed.

Here at last was Indias answer

to those that point to the success

of Surinams Anthony Nesty or

that of the Ethiopian runners, for

that matter. It is indeed possible

to succeed without access to

government sponsored sporting

facilities. This is not to argue

against creating efficient systems

-- that would be a terrible folly

-- but in sports there are moments

when all it boils down to is self-

belief.

The question post-Beijing was:

were we to nally witness the birth

of a national sporting culture? Or

would Indians clap their hands in

glee and return to their daily dose of

cricket once the Beijing euphoria

receded? The three medals won

at Beijing could certainly be the

catalyst to help correct years of

frustration at Indias poor sporting

performances. With various

state governments promising

to set up academies to promote

boxing, wrestling, badminton andshooting, India did look poised

on the eve of the Commonwealth

Games to have an Olympic

sporting culture of its own. At the

same time it is important to keep

these promises and remember

amidst the euphoria of victory

that at least fifteen corporate

houses had turned down pleas to

sponsor the Indian shooters beforethe Olympics. While the Beijing

winners and Saina deserved/

deserve the highest accolades

and corporate coffers had/have

justly opened up for them, the

true legacy of their victories

depend on whether money was/is

nally made available to build the

training superstructure for other

athletes.

Come October 2010 and the

Beijing legacy will be put to

its sternest test. If India can

o v e r h a u l i t s m e d a l c o u n tachieved at the 2006 Melbourne

Commonwealth Games, it will

give an unprecedented llip to

Indian Olympic sport two years

before the mega spectacle in

London. A failed Delhi 2010, on

the other hand, organizationally

and with regards to medals won,

will mean that Beijings lasting

legacy will be conned to sports

history books by the time of the

next Olympics.

It is interesting in this context

to remember a telling exchange

between a senior te levision

journalist and Abhinav Bindra

on his return to India following

his gold medal winning exploit in

Beijing. Navika Kumar, Political

Editor of Times Now television hadasked Abhinav: Is this Abhinavs

gold or Indias gold? Abhinav,

epitome of political correctness,

was quick to suggest that it was

Indias without question.

I f t h e r e i s a s y s t e m i c

overhaul, thanks to Abhinav

and hi s col leagues , i t wi l l

certainly be Indias gold for all

times to come. However, if afundamental transformation of

sporting infrastructure in India

is not brought about Abhinavs

gold will always remain his, a

moment of individual brilliance

lost amidst countless failures

since independence. q

(E-mail : [email protected])


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The stakes

are indeed high

this time as the

government has

spent lavishly on

their training and

coaching. They havethe talent to produce

some glittering

performances and

one hopes they do so

Moment of Reckoning for Indian Sports

SPORTS

T IS a moment of

reckoning for India,

because as the host it

has much more at stake

in the 19th edition of

the Commonwealth Games to be

held in New Delhi from October 3

to 14, than sporting powerhouses

like Australia, England,Canada or

New Zealand.

The reason is simple - the

Games preparations have got

into endless controversies and

scandals implicating organisers and

ofcials with which the real stars

of the show, the sportspersons have

nothing to do. The government

has spent an unprecedented

amount of money to stage these

games and good showing by

the sportspersons and successful

conduct of this mega event will

be a positive endorsement and

good advertisement for India in the

comity of nations.

The author is Sports Editor, United News of India

India has taken part in fourteen

of the eighteen editions of the

Games which were rst held in

1930 and countrys total medal

tally in these games so far has been

271, including 102 Gold medals.

Indias best performance was

in the 2002 Manchestar Games

where it bagged an impressive

haul of 69 medals (30 Gold, 22

Silver,17 Bronze) In these Games

India also stunned the highly

fancied England to claim a gold

in the Womens Hockey.

At Melbourne in 2006, India had

50 medals (22Gold ,17Silver,11B).

In both these Games(2002 and

2006) India nished a creditable

Fourth. The reason for India

winning less medals in Melbourne

compared to Manchestar was that

in weightlifting, till 2002, three

sets of medals were awarded in

each weight category, while in

2006, just one set was awarded.

Harpal Singh Bedi

COMMONWEALTH GAMES

I


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Also Wrestling was not included

in the 2006 Games.

Wrestling makes a comeback

in the Delhi, while Archery and

Tennis have been included in

the Games for the rst time. Thecomparative medal tally in the

2002 and 2006 games is shown in

Table 1.

In weightlifting, till 2002, three

sets of medals were awarded in

each weight category, while in

2006, just one set was awarded.

As a host nation, India will be

taking part in all the 17 disciplines-Aquatics, Archery, Athletics,

Badminton, Boxing, Cycling,

Gymnastics, Hockey(men and

women)Lawn Bowls, Netball,

Rugby sevens, Shooting, Squash,

Table Tennis, Tennis, Weightlifting

and Wrestling-and fans are hoping

that sportspersons will do better

this time to not only to boost the

medal tally but also see countrynish at the top of the leader board.

Australia, has been dominating

the Commonwealth Games and

it will strive hard to maintain its

supremacy. India will also face

tough challenge from England,

Canada and New Zealand.

With the return of Wrestling

and inclusion of Archery and

Tennis, India can hope for moregold medals this time as compared

to what they earned in Melbourne.

The Hosts also expect more golds

with some good showing in

shooting -last time Indians bagged

27 medals in this event(16 gold,

seven silver and three bronze).

With Gagan Narang, Abhinav

Bindra ,Tejswani Sawant, Ronjan

Sodhi, Birendeep Sodhi, R.SRathore and others in good nick the

shooters will manage to improve

on the tally. The golden vignettes

of the last Commonwealth Games

in Melbourne are inspirational

but it remains to be seen how

much better they will do in these

games.

Indian women who surprisedeverybody, including themselves,

by winning a gold in hockey at

Manchester, managed to finish

second in 2006, but this time they

will need a herculean effort to

either regain the Gold or retain the

second place. The Aussies are in

tremendous form and England are

looking for revenge. The Kiwis

are also in the run for podium

nish.

The big draw for the local fans

will be mens hockey and the

Indians will be hoping to make

it to the podium for the rst time

in these game. India had nished

fourth In Kuala Lumpur Games

in 1998 and did not gure in the

2002 edition and were a poor fth

at Melbourne. Australia won thegold in all three editions. Hockey

is going through a tough time and

India fared very poorly in the World

cup held in New Delhi nishing

8th in the 12-nation tournament.

In the Commonwealth Games, the

Indian (men) team is clubbed with

Australia and Pakistan along with

three other teams in their pool and

it is indeed going to be very hardfor the host to rst qualify for the

knock out stage and then hope for

the podium nish.

After Hockey, Wrestling and

Tennis, the most watched sports

in Delhi Games by the home

supporters will be Boxing and

the Indian pugilists this time will

have no excuse but to perform.

Indian boxers buoyed by theirrecent impressive showing may

not feel the heat inside the ring but

having raised the bar, will be under

pressure from the expecting fans

in the Commonwealth and Asian

Games. In twelve editions of the

Commonwealth Games in which

Indian pugilists have taken part,

COMPARISON OF INDIAN MEDALS IN 2002 AND 2006

SPORT 2002 2006

Gold Silver Bronze Gold Silver Bronze

Athletics 0 1 1 0 2 1

Badminton 0 0 1 0 0 2

Boxing 1 1 1 1 2 2

Hockey 1 0 0 0 1 0

Shooting 14 7 3 16 7 4

Table Tennis 0 0 2 2 0 1

Weighlifting 11 9 7 3 5 1

Wrestling 3 2 1 NOT HELD

Judo 0 1 1 NOT HELD

Total 30 21 17 22 17 11


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their performance has left much to

be desired as they have won only

13 medals-2 Gold, 2 Silver and

nine Bronze. Mohd.Ali Qamar

earned the honour of being the rst

Indian boxer to claim the Gold in

Commonwealth Games in 2002 at

Manchester, and this was followed

by Akhil Kumar in Melbourne in

2006. However, without doubt the

dening moment for Indian Boxing

came on August 20, 2008 when

Vijinder clinched the countrys

rst ever Olympic boxing medal

with his historic 9-4 victory over

Carlos Gongora of Ecuador in the

middle weight category. Indian

pugilists enjoyed a lot of success

in 2009 as Vijender once again

hogged the limelight by winning a

bronze in the world championship.

These performances give a strong

indication we are on the right

track, said All India Boxing

Federat ion(AIBF) secretary

P.K.Murlidhar Raja, adding,

If we get a good draw in the

Commonwealth

Games we will denitely have

a lot of medals. There will 40

medals at stake(10 gold,10 silver

and 20 bronze) and I hope will get

a big number of them,Raja said

In the Wrestling competition

a whopping 64 -medals will be at

stake- 21 gold, 21 silver and 42

Bronze. Wrestling is returning to

the Games after a lapse of eight

years. In 2002 at Manchester ,Indian

free style grapplers dominated the

mat. The earlier editions of the

Games included only free style

wrestling, but for the first time

Greeco Roman and Women events

have also been included in the

forthcoming Games, informed the

chief national Coach Jagminder

Singh, winner of gold in the 1982

Games. He also informed that in all

the three events, competitions will

be held in seven weight categories

and India will participate in all

the categories. While the coach

was optimistic of bagging 14 to

15 golds, another senior ofcial

of the Wrestling Federation of

India (WFI) exuded confidence

of winning 18 to 10 Golds out of

21. The Wrestling Federation

of India officials concede that

Sushils bronze medal in Beijing

Olympic has given a huge boost to

the game in the country. The main

challenge for Indian men wrestlers

will come from Canada, England

and Pakistan .

Archery will be held for only

the second time in the history of

these games, the last time being

in 1982 at Brisbane. All eyeswill be on Archery because in

all 24 medals- four gold each in

mens and womens sections and

an equal number of silver and

bronze in both sections- will be

at stake, and India is hoping to

have a major share of medals, with

Australia and Malaysia being its

main rivals. In the Delhi Games,

Archery competition will includeboth recurve and compound

bow sections. The Indian seniors

both in recurve and compound

have won several medals in the

continent. They have claimed

the Asia Cup, Junior Asian event

and Commonwealth event. They

have equalled the world record

in individua l performance .

Tarundeep Rai, Rahul Banerjee,

Jayant Talukdar, Satyadev Prasad,

Mangal Singh Champia, Dola

Banerjee,. Chekrovolu Swuro,

Reena Kumari, Sumangla and

Bhagyabati Chanu among others

will be spearheading Indias

challenge at the Games.

Tennis is making its debut in

the Commonwealth games, but

unlike the other debutant discipline

Archery, it was not the rst choice of

the hosts who wanted Billiards and

Snooker to be part of the sporting

extravaganza. CommonwealthGames Federation(CGF), while

agreeing to include Archery and

re -induct wrestling, voted in favour

of Tennis. There are ve Golds at

stake in this competition- Singles

(Men and Women), Doubles (Men

and Women) and Mixed Doubles.

Each participating team is allowed

to enter maximum of three

Singles players and a maximumof two teams for Doubles Mixed

Doubles. Though the CGF has 71

members, it will not be wrong

to say that not more than ten

member countries have a good

tennis record. Interestingly the

Commonwealth Games are one

of the few competitions in tennis

where British players represent

their individual countries, rather

than playing under the banner of

Great Britain. So in Delhi, Great

Britain will be competing as

seven different teams - England,

Scotland, Wales, N. Ireland, Isle

of Man, Jersey, Guernsey. There

are not more than ve men players

from the Commonwealth countries


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who gure among the top 100 in

the World. The highest ranked is

Andy Murray of Scotland, though

in Grand Slams he represents

Great Britain, he is number four,

followed by Marcos Baghdatis

of Cyprus(ranked 30) Australias

Lleyton Hewitt (33), Denis Istomin

(71) and German based Jamacian

Dustin Brown (99). Indias Somdev

Devvarman is placed 111.

In the Womens section top

ranked players are Australias

Samantha Stosur who beat Venus

Williams in French Open. She is

ranked seventh. Britains ElenaBaltacha is 63rd, India Sania

Mirza is at 91st place while two

other Australians -Anastasia

Rodionova and Alicia Molik are

at 92 and 94th place. In the mens

doubles, Canadas Daniel Nestor is

3rd in the ATP ranking. Leander

Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi are

ranked 6th and 7th respectively.

Bhupathis partner Mark Knowlesof Bahmas is at 8th place. They are

followed by Aisam ul Haq Qureshi

of Pakistan at 46, Rohan Boppana

(54), Britains Ross Hutchins(60),

Jonathan Marray (74) and Britains

Jamie Murray (96th). In the

absence of top ranking players

India have a chance to win at

least two Gold, mens doubles and

mixed doubles, and with some

luck can hope to get a couple of

Silvers too.

Saina Nehwal will lead Indias

Badminton campaign. The World

number 2 has raised a lot of hopes

and expectations. Chetan Anand

and P.Kashyap are medal prospects

in mens section.

Ind i a s pa r t i c i pa t i on i n

Weightlifting is still not clear.

The Federation has to clear the ne

imposed on it by the International

body as more than ve lifters were

tested postive in one season. The

Wrightlifting body is hoping that

Indian Olympic Association and

Government will bail it out.

In Athletics the host challenge

is likely to be spearheaded by

the throwers Vikas Gowda andHarwant Kaur. There is a lot of

talent among the youngsters which

was showcased at the recently

concluded Nationals at Patiala.

Intrestingly India has won only one

Gold in Commonwealth Games,

that too way back in 1958 by

ying Sikh Milkha Singh.

Table tennis was a big surprise

in Melbourne where Sharat A

Kamal emerged champion andnow the ofcials hope that medal

tally in this discipline will go up.

In squash, India has a good chance

of bagging a medal or two with

S.Ghoshal in good form and young

Deepika doing well in the womens

section. It will indeed be a miracle

if India wins a couple of medals in

Swimming because competition in

this discipline will be really tough.

In Cycling, Gymnastics, Lawn

Bowls, Netball and Rugby sevens,

any medal (s) will be bonus.

Thus the stakes are indeed

high this time for India and the

sportspersons have no excuse

to offer as the government has

spent lavishly on their training

and coaching. They have thetalent to produce some glittering

performances and one hopes they

do so. q

(E-mail : [email protected])

YOJANAForthcoming

IssesOctober 2010

The October 2010 issue of Yojana will focus on the issue of Food Security

November 2010

The November 2010 issue of Yojana will focus on the Growth of the Telecom Sector in India

October 2010&

November 2010


12/52


There is a good

demand for talent

in managing sports

and world-over

it has become an

industry in itself.

India is only now

waking up in this

kind of skill

Educating the Sports Leaders of Tomorrow

SPORTS

RICEWATERHOUSE

COOPERS, the consulting

firm, recently predicted

that the global sports

market will be worth

$141 billion by 2012, representing

37-percent growth on the current

value. From the initial concept of

providing a wonderful opportunity

for holistic development of ourbody and mind, sports has gone

through a plethora of changes

in the last few decades. In the

beginning of the 21st century

it is clearly evident that a huge

amount of money, glamour, name

and fame, media exposure and

fan following have become an

integral part of todays sports.

This unprecedented speed ofchange in the sports industry

appears to have t r iggered a

new global trend: the creation

of masters degrees in sport

management and other areas

related to the business of sport.

The author is a former sports journalist and now works as a communications consultant with European Athletics

Association in Lausanne, Switzerland.

In the United States and several

western European countries the

sporting fraternity has warmly

embraced it. Sports management

involves all the activities on

and off the eld that are to be

performed for the success of

any sporting event. Professional

sports management companies

have come up in huge number in

those countries for taking care of

sports personalities and sporting

events.

Sports Management is a new

and emerging concept in India and

has made a good beginning. Indian

sports over the years have been

plagued by lack of professionalism,

misuse of power and politicali n f l uence e t c . Th ings a re ,

however, changing of late with the

introduction of professionalism in

Indian sports. Board of Control for

Cricket in India (BCCI) - the richest

cricket body in the world last year

Aditya Kumar

OVERVIEW

P


13/52


took a step forward by appointing

a full time paid CAO. The All India

Football Federation (AIFF) is also

making it compulsory for all the

National Football League playing

clubs to appoint a full time paid

CEO to look after the management

of these clubs. The success of the

Indian Premier League (IPL) has

put India rmly on the global sports

map.

The world of spor t a l so

recognizes Indias potential

as a huge market and possibly

the biggest opportunity on the

planet outside the saturatedmarkets of Europe and North

America. What India offers

is a market with high growth

economy, rapid rise of middle

class with disposable income and

leisure time, rapid growth in TV

households driving interest and

value in sports content, and rapid

growth in advertising as local and

international companies targetthis lucrative, underdeveloped

market. The sponsorship market

in India is estimated at $250m per

year, TV rights worth over $350m

per year and both growing fast.

Talking about sports l ike

Hockey, Tennis, Athletics etc.

the respec t ive apex bodies

are also trying to introduce

profess iona l i sm. Under thepresent situation it is pretty

much evident that the service

and expertise of professionally

trained sports manager will be

keenly felt in different sporting

Associations, Clubs and Sports

Management companies etc.

for the overall development and

management of sports in the

days to come. The chaos that the

Organising Committee for the

2010 Commonwealth Games in

Delhi nds itself in today, once

again highlights the need for a

professional set up, if India has

to have any chance of being

competitive at the international

stage.

Educating the future leaders of

sports is the only way of reaching

that level. Sports management

education has been embraced by

countries around the world with

success. Internationally suchcourses have existed for more

than 50 years, and the number of

those with dreams of a career in

sports has only gone up. Sports

Management courses are offered

in top US universities, such as

the New York University and

Columbia among many others,

normally with the curriculum

focused on the US sports industry.Such programmes have proven

to be the sourcing ground for

professionals for the top American

sports leagues like the NBA, NFL

and the MLB among others.

Australia also offers a selection

of courses, based in Melbourne.

Deakin universitys programme

covers sports management withstreams in strategic management,

marketing, nance and law.

Switzerland, home to a number

of International sports federations

and agencies, hosts two of the

most prestigious international

masters programme in sports

management Master in Sports

Administration (MSA) offered by

the Lausanne-based International

Academy of Sports Science and

Technology (AISTS), supported

by the International Olympic

Committee and the FIFA Master

Programme.

T h e F I F A M a s t e r , o r

I n t e r n a t i o n a l M a s t e r i n

Management, Law and Humanities

of Sports, is run in partnership

with three European universities,

each one teaching a different

module: De Monfort University

in the UK (humanities); SDA

Bocconi, in Italy (Management);and Universit de Neuchtel, in

Switzerland (Law).

Christophe Dubi, the sports

director at the IOC is of the

opinion that the edgling global

sports industry is in need of

people with relevant skill sets and

the demand will only grow in the

coming years. For several yearsnow we have followed a policy

of hiring trainees in different

departments at the IOC. We feel

that this is a fantastic opportunity

for the IOC to offer a good career

start to young individuals and

at the same time benefit from

fresh brain cells and energy.

We have found the link to the

FIFA Master and the AISTS veryhelpful, as a new pool of highly

dedicated and competent sports

managers graduate every year.

These graduates have gone on to

serve at a number of International

Sports Federations and their

national sports bodies. Sports,

being the growing industry that it


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is today, denitely needs more and

more people with relevant skill

sets at every level, he said.

France hosts several high-

q u a l i t y c o u r s e s o n s p o r t s

m a n a g e m e n t . T h e M S i nInternational Sport & Event

Management is hosted by Euromed

Marseille and is focused on sport

law, sporting event marketing

and branding, and event strategy.

The course is made up of six

months of classes and six months

of internship programmes and is

bilingual (English and French).

The European university,w i t h c a m p u s e s i n s e v e r a l

countries, offers an MBA in

sports management on its Spanish

campus in Barcelona, and focuses

its curriculum on sports marketing,

nancial management, ethics &

social issues and media relations

& sports broadcasting.

In Europe, the UK is a major

centre for sports studies with

specialization in management

and other aspects of sports,

with a large number of courses

offered by several universities.

Loughbrough University appears

as one of the top universities

in this eld in several different

rankings. There are options of

similar courses in Germany, South

Africa, South America, Asia and

elsewhere. There are also options

to take short-term courses or even

distant-learning diplomas. Sports

companies and international

sports federations are increasingly

recruiting employees with degrees

from such universities. Apart

from federations, companies of

all sectors of the sports industry

(agencies, consultancies, apparel

manufactures, leagues, clubs, etc)

are also taking graduates from

diverse courses into their ranks.

The courses normally prefercandidates with at least some work

experience in the sports industry,

although this is not mandatory. On

average, they claim that at least

70 per cent of their alumni are

employed in sports. There is a wide

range of curricula, titles awarded,

international approaches, offers

(or not) of scholarships, and

course fees.Recently the Indian Institute

of Management, Ahmedabad

(IIM-A) also announced that it

is planning to introduce a course

on Professional Management of

Sports Organisation (PMSO) from

academic year 2010-11. There

is a good demand for talent in

managing sports and world-over

it has become an industry in itself.India is only now waking up in

this kind of skill. This is a rst

move from our side to try and

professionalise the management

of sports, IIM-A director Samir

Barua was quoted as saying about

the PMSO course which is part

of the institutess Management

Development Progamme (MDP)

2010-11.

The Post Graduate Diploma in

Sports Management (PGDSM) is

presently available at only two

recognised universities in India:

Alagappa University, Karaikudi,

Tamil Nadu that offers a one-

year PGDSM and Indira Gandhi

Institute of Physical Education

and Sports Science, New Delhi

which offers the same. Several

private colleges and institutions

are now introducing diploma

courses in sports management.

The Naval Tata Centre ofExcellence in Sports Management

of the Indian Institute of Social

Welfare and Business Management

in Kolkata conducts a one-year

full time Post Graduate Diploma

in Sports Management (PGDSM).

This is a diploma offered by

the Institute, and is likely to

be afliated as a course of the

University of Calcutta from theSession 2010-2011.

T h e p r o g r a m m e o f f e r s

professional exposure to the

structure, economic impact,

organisation, marketing, funding

of the sports Industry as well

as current trends in sports and

relationship between sports and

the mass media. The course

structure also offers modules on

law and regulations that all leisure

and recreational organizations

have to follow giving a well

rounded perspective of the sports

industry.

Taking a Masters course

requires commitment, willingness

to invest time and a considerable

amount of money on course fees,plus expenses, and to give up

working and earning for a year

or more. The candidate also

faces tough competition, with an

average of only 25 to 30 per cent

of applicants being accepted on

many of these courses. q

(Email: [email protected])


15/52


YE-9/10/6


16/52


With the passingof the long

awaited Right to

Education Bill

which brings to

every child

the fundamental

right to learn,libraries across

rural India

could play a stellar

role in enhancing

this learning

Building Knowledge Societies

at the Grassroots

bEST PRACTICES

N THE rural areas of

Jharkhand, literacy level of

women is low. Traditionally

they have remained conned

to their homes and elds,

their world circumspect within

these defined parameters. They

rarely displayed any desire to seek

new avenues of information even in

areas related to their daily lives and

local developments. At least not

until Mobile Libraries burst upon

the scene. This is an initiative of the

PACS (Poorest Areas Civil Society)

project which seeks to address

issues of poverty in 120 districts

across India by improving access

to rights and entitlements for thosewho remain socially excluded, of

whom women form a large chunk.

Young enthusiastic boys ride

bicycles across 30 villages in

Maheshpur block in Pakur district

of Jharkhand, loaded with not

only books and newspapers but

I

Shailendra Sinha

also forms for old-age pension,

information on MNREGA and

Forest Rights for sharing with the

local communities. Initially the

women did not show much interest

in these materials, perhaps because

of an obvious lack of literacy

which made them unsure of how

it could at all relate to them. Butthen these young library activists

started to speak to them, giving

them information about the material

they had and how it could benet

them.

Women gradually came out

to listen with keen interest about

Annapurna Yojana, about facilities

available to a BPL cardholder under

various government schemes. The

desire to gain new knowledge and

insights about how to better their

lives had perhaps always been

there - it came to the fore with a

little help from the activists. The

Mobile Library had only triggered


17/52


it off. Stanecila Hambrum from

Birkitta village says that the women

now understand the importance of

this mobile library. We are making

them aware of their rights, laws

related to women including thoseon violence against women, the

Panchayat Raj system and their

participation in it.

To the urban conditioned mind

a library in a village is not easily

conceivable. Yet it is in these

very rural areas in Jharkhand, still

struggling with basic issues like

health, education, food and housing

that information needs to flow.

How else can rural communities,

poor and backward sections, the

adivasis link with the mainstream,

to access the fruits of development

and join in the march to progress?

Through such libraries, what is

happening is a gradual spreading

of this storehouse of information in

the villages. Rather than remaining

an institution which people access,

it has taken on a pro-active role

of taking the institution to the

people, breaking down its tomes of

information in such a way that it is

understood and assimilated by even

those who are out of the literacy net,

thus going beyond the conventional

sense of a library. In doing so, these

Mobile Libraries have upheld a

lofty principle, the core of any

enlightened or egalitarian society,

that knowledge is free and the

access to it should be unhindered

by societal divisions of class,

region, caste, language or gender.

Dr. Victor Tigga, Vice-chancellor,

Sido-Kanhu Murmu University,

Dumka district in Santhal Paragana

says, The ow of information is

vital, it changes the thinking ofcommon people. In a fast changing

world like ours, it is important

to understand so many things.

But unfortunately, information

revolution has not benefited the

rural areas.

The success of the project owes

a lot to the enthusiasm of its

members to bring about positive

change on the ground. Michael

Hambrum, says, I want to do

something for the society. As a

member of the mobile library, I

am working as a carrier of news,

information and knowledge. Today,

rural people are more awakened.

This is an effective tool to ght the

backwardness of the society.

The good news is that in

sp i t e o f t he backwardness

and low development, change

for the better is visibly taking

place among rural communities.

There is a keen sense of seeking

information about agriculture,

about markets, employment and

in fact developments beyond their

village sphere. This is in a sense,

the key to a holistic and sustained

development, one that emerges

from within society and not merely

from without or top-down.

Government welfare schemes,

programs for development will

remain limited in the absence

of an aware community, which

reaches out and derives benefit

from it. There necessarily needs to

be participation from the ground

for any benefit to be effectiveand deep-rooted. The Library

as a hub could work very well in

fostering this participation, building

a dynamic partnership between the

government and the governed.

The scope of such initiatives

in a rural scenario is manifold

and extends to new dimension

from merely academic interest ora collection of reading material

to become a dynamic vehicle

for social change. It points to a

direction, which should be taken by

agencies, those promoting public-

private partnership to rise to the

occasion and build on what the

PACS initiative has opened up.

With the passing of the long

awaited Right to Education which

brings to every child the fundamental

right to learn and break out of the

darkness of ignorance, libraries,

mobile or otherwise, across rural

India could play a stellar role in

enhancing this learning, aiding the

new generation of literates with

useful nuggets of information and

knowledge that can truly empower

them. The time is now ripe for us

to realize the dream of a society

where the mind is without fear -

as visualized by Nobel laureate

Rabindra Nath Tagore.

Charkha Featres


18/52


Suddenly sportsare all around us,

thanks to the media,

merchandising,

marketing and

promotions, as

much as the game

itself. It is a golden

opportunity for all

concerned to come

to the party

The Changing Face of Sports in India

SPORTS

PORTS IN India have

always had a love-hate

relationship with society.

While we as a people

always like to look up to

our stars, more often than not the

aspirations of youngsters aspiring

to emulate their heroes fall on the

wayside, done in by the pressures

of education, family, society andvery often poor facilities.

For every one star, there are 100

others who fall on the wayside.

Economic hardships, the desperate

need to make ends meet and even

social stigma have worked against

them, and many a star is lost before

he or she was born. However, things

have changed for the better in the

recent past. While even now the

pressures mentioned above remain,sports and the industry of sports

has thrown up many opportunities

which were practically unheard of

in the past. So essentially, while

not everyone can be a Sachin

Tendulkar, many can follow their

The author is a senior journalist who has been covering sports for close to 20 years. He has worked with leading News

Agencies and Newspapers including United New of India, The Statesman, Hndustan Times and Time of India.

star through an array of openings

that have come up, thanks to the

commercialisation of sports.

When we speak of this subject,

it is impossible not to start with

cricket. This game has very recently

shown us the effect of money, both

the good and bad sides of it. But if

one were able to keep some sort of

control on how money is invested

and used in cricket, it surely has

to be the sporting success story of

India. Lets not talk of the cricketers

at all. How much money they

make and how the game has been

marketed to make it a business

success is not news any more.

However, people do tend to forget,

or are unaware of the impact the

game has in terms of generatingemployment in many elds.

Lets begin with the media.

Earlier, press meant newspapers,

and in each of them, there was

this one man who used to write on

cricket. He was held in high regard,

Jaideep Ghosh

PERSPECTIVE

S


19/52


almost as high as the cricketer. But

once India won the 1983 Prudential

World Cup, the game changed

completely. As television channels

began to thrive in India, more and

more people were hired -- reporters,

editors, camerapersons, graphicdesigners and many others -- just to

cover cricket, on and off the eld.

Another boom came in the

sporting goods industry. Gone

were the days when cricketers

went on tours with two bats and

a pair of pads. Equipment has

gone through the roof, from bats

to protective armours to helmets.

Now practically every cricketer,

even the mediocre ones, carry

anything between ve to ten bats,

several sets of pads, gloves, inside

gloves, elbow guards, thigh pads,

chest guards, the list is practically

endless. Also, these bats do not

last too long, so the turnover is

tremendous, generating many jobs

in the sporting goods industry.

This boom can also be seen in

almost all other sports. Sportinggear and equipment, which had to be

imported almost in totality, has now

become a major foreign exchange

generator for the country, with

several manufacturers exporting

equipment all over the world. With

increase in competitive sports,

the demands on the athletes have

also gone up manifold. The body

now needs constant monitoring

and nurturing. Sports medicine is

another area where lots of openings

are coming up, through various

aspects including physiotherapy, or

even skills like massages etc.

Like the body, the mind too

is under pressure, and sport

psychology is another area

where the scope is increasing.

Sports administration isnt quitea professional business in India,

since almost all the administrators

come from varied elds. But sports

marketing is one side to this wholedeal that has already made money

for the enterprising, and its a marketthat has barely been tapped yet.

With money coming into theindustry of sports, even becoming

a sportsperson is a much morelucrative proposition. However,

not all sports are easy to get into,and it is not that everyone gets

to be a champion. But golf is agame where many players, a large

percentage coming from modest

backgrounds, have been able tomake a very comfortable living.

Money has also come into othersports, but the professional circuit

there is not anything to comparewith cricket, so there is always

scope for improvement.

Another industry that has

benetted is merchandising. Indian

Premier League T-shirts were prized

possessions for many a child, and

even adults, while lots of cricketersand other athletes have promotedand vouched for many brands.

Brand awareness is suddenly easyfor the kids, and to be seen in theshoes, shirts or shades of the star

player has thrown up a huge marketfor such things.

But while money is coming, not

too much is going into generatingsports as a culture in the country.

While the Government has acomprehensive sports policy andprogramme, providing funds to all

the disciplines to promote sportsfrom a young age , it is only in

selective places that the results arevisible. Ironically, cricket seems to

be the worst offender in this regard.

Considering the crores of rupees

the game makes, the investment

into junior cricket is negligible.Unfortunately, the game is nowtransforming into a super-lucrative

club league tournament, whichhas frequently crossed the line of

propriety or transparency. Sporting

success needs to lter down to thepeople who make it a winner, andcricket is losing out there.

The other sports are way toodependant on Government funding,

since their efforts at sponsorshiphavent always been successful,

simply because the athletes successrate is moderate at best. But a

combination of the two -- Publicand Private Sector money -- is the

best recipe for success. Unchartedand unplanned investment wouldnever be effective. On the contrary,

it will be detrimental to the sport inquestion. So essentially, investment

needs accountability and properutilisation of funds, aimed at

bettering the lives and careers ofpromising athletes, who would

one day bring glory to the nation.The signs are already there, with

individual medals already cominginto the coffer from top-levelevents like the Olympics and Asian

Games.

It has to be said that the sportsfacilities have turned a huge corner

and facilities are surely far betterthan what they used to be. That

explains the successes, beginningwith Leander Paes, followed by

Karnam Malleswari and then the

likes of Abhinav Bindra, VijenderSingh and Sushil Kumar. On the

other side, Saina Nehwal, GaganNarang, Tejaswini Sawant and other

such sportspersons are reecting the

preparation and facilities at home.

Having said that, there are still

too few real winners. The proportion

of one champion for a 100 failures

is still true, since somehow all


20/52


the efforts havent covered the vast country. But as

the results and medals start coming in, so will the

awareness and enthusiasm. Speaking of events, Delhi

is now on the doorstep of the Commonwealth Games.

Unfortunately, most of the headlines have been pretty

negative, but the only undeniable fact is that the

Games are round the corner, and it is time to ensurethat best use is made of the time available. Hosting

multi-sport international events add to the prestige of

the nation. The Beijing Olympics showed the country

in a very new hue as it left no stone unturned to ensure

that the Games were sensational.

India too has a golden opportunity. Apart from

the 1982 Asian Games, India has struggled to get

a nod in terms of such events, and the present one

should be treated like a great gift. While it would be

fair to assume that some damage has been done tothe nations image, the real event is still to come and

images can surely be changed.

Another remarkable thing about the sporting

scenario in India is the number of foreigners plying

their trades here. It all began with football really, as

players from Africa and several Asian countries began

coming to play in India for various clubs. Then there

were players from even bigger footballing nations,

including even Brazil! But for all the international

avour, the national team kept falling behind, and

the ranking kept falling. So having a lot of foreign

experts and players does not essentially mean the

home players skills will increase. So there is need

to keep a mix of inviting the best and only them,

from abroad to train our athletes, So long as it is not

overdone and the main reason for their being here

lost in the glare of riches.

Sports will always fascinate us. From grandfathers,

perched on their reclining chairs on a Sunday

morning, to children, striving to catch their favourite

teams T-shirt, it is all around us. Suddenly sports areall around us, thanks to the media, merchandising,

marketing and promotions, as much as the game itself.

It is a golden opportunity for all concerned to come

to the party, be they the athletes, the people making

a living through ancillary industries, the people in

general. It is a success story waiting to be told, and we

hope it is told, sooner rather than later. q

(Email: [email protected])YE-9/10/7


21/52


India, which

has successfully

moved into the

upper echelons of

technology and many

other areas, will

now, on account ofthe Commonwealth

Games, see itself

on the world

sporting map

A Promising Future for Indian Sports

SPORTS

N V I S W A N A T H A NAnand, India has a worldchampion in chess, whohas been at the pinnaclefor long and been amongthe top-3 of the world for

a better part of the last 15 years.In Sachin Tendulkar, India has theworlds most gifted and successfulcricketer. Alas, neither game is an

Olympic sport.

In Mangte Chungnei jangMarykom, India has a four-timeworld champion in womens boxingand in Koneru Humpy India has theWorld No. 2 in womens chess.Alas, neither are these two sportson the Olympic programme.

Same is the case with PankajAdvan i , a mul t i p l e wor ld

champion in amateur billiards andsnooker, who has also become theWorld champion in professionalbilliards.

But India also has Saina Nehwal,the World No. 2 in womensbadminton and the current WorldNo. 2 in mens Air Rie shooting in

The author is a senior sports writer and commetator, has covered ve Olympic Games, six Asian Games and four

Commonwealth Games besides numerous World and Asian Championships.

Gagan Narang. In tennis stalwartsLeander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi,owners of more than 12 and 10Grand Slam titles respectively,India has doubles exponents worthyof a place in the Hall of Fame.

Add to them the names ofs h o o t e r s A b h i n a v B i n d r a ,Rajyavardhan Rathore and ManavjitSingh, who not very long back wonmedals at Olympics and WorldChampionships. Then there are thelikes of boxer Vijender Singh, whowas ranked No. 2 in the world, anda whole bunch of wrestlers led byOlympic medalist Sushil Kumar.

With as many sporting stars, therecannot be a greater misconceptionthan the belief that we as a nationhave made little progress since ourlast sporting milestone, the Asian

Games in 1982. Such belief is notjust a fallacy, but is patently unfairto these worthy champions.

Indian sporting progress,in comparison to some othercountries, may seem slow when itcomes to Olympic medals, but it isnevertheless substantial.

V Krishnaswamy

ANALYSIS

I


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India in the not-too-distant pasthas had stars like badminton acesPrakash Padukone and PullelaGopichand and the eet-footed PTUsha. And before them were thelikes of Milkha Singh, RamanathanKrishnan, Vijay Amritraj and morethan a few generations of world-class hockey players.

R e c e n t c o n t r o v e r s i e snotwithstanding, the upcomingCommonwealth Games shouldmark another watershed in Indiansport, just as the Asian Games didin 1982.

The 1982 Asian Games wasthe rst big-ticket event to cometo India since the inaugural AsianGames. The Asiad, in a manner ofspeaking, did create an awarenessabout sport, but apart from a coupleof World Cups in cricket, whereIndia continues to be biggestmarket, a few Asian championshipsand an Afro-Asian games, therehas not been another truly globalsporting event. Even the World Cupin Hockey earlier this year was asingle discipline event as was the

World Championships of Chessin 2000.

So, in many senses the 2010Commonwealth Games will markthe beginning of a new era.

A new era

Medals at the Olympics havealways come in a trickle in factin solitary splendor, before thethree at the 2008 Games in Beijing hauls have been somewhat better

at the Asian Games. But it is at theCommonwealth Games, that Indiacan count itself among the leaders.The previous edition in Melbournein 2006 saw India finish fourth,behind the three Commonwealthsporting superpowers, Australia,England and Canada.

Indias haul of 22 gold medalswas way clear of fth placed South

Africas 12, and was only four shortof Canada in the third place. Nowwith the Games at home, it wouldnot be unrealistic to expect India topull itself into the top-three behindAustralia and England.

Shooting, which in SamareshJung threw up the 2006 Gamesbest athlete with ve gold medalsand one bronze, has always beenthe discipline India looks upto fora big haul.

This time around, weightliftingand boxing ought to fetch India morethan a handful, while table tennis,where Indias Sharath Kamal is thereigning champion, and badminton,

where India has World No. 2 inSaina Nehwal, also ought to gureprominently among medals.

Opportnities for the ftre

It is no secret that a countryssporting progress is often linkedto the kind of facilities that are onoffer for its youth. In a countryteeming with population, it is not aneasy choice for the government tospend on sports, when other sectorsare crying themselves hoarse forsimilar funding.

Yet, a healthy and young nationcan be more productive for thefuture.

The Asian Games in 1982brought about a whole set of newfacilities in the form of numerousstadia across the Capital. Alas, thestadia were never really thrown

open to the youngsters, as theyought to have been to usher in a newdawn in sporting awareness.

Schemes like pay-and-playnever really worked. The facilitiesshould have been open to thepublic. All over the world, studentsand youngsters in general get freeof cost the facilities they require topursue sport.

But by the time realizationdawned the facilities had begun

deteriorating and with it mountedcriticism that facilities built at huge

costs were never really used by theones they were meant for, after the

Games.However, the emergence of

DDA Sports Complex across Delhigave the local youngsters a new

chance to indulge in their hobby ataffordable prices.

This time around, better sportinggovernance can make up for that

mistake.

T h e D e l h i U n i v e r s i t y ,

traditionally the nursery fromwhere sportspersons emerge, and

the Eastern part of the Capitalhave always had fewer sporting

facilities. This time around, theCommonwealth Games has brought

in a brand new stadium and other

elds at the Delhi University and

the Yamuna Sports Complex, in theEastern part of Delhi.

The additional advantage will

be the setting up of training venues,like those at Delhi Public School,Universitys various Colleges and

Jamia Millia in South Delhi. Theseare besides wrestling facilities inLudlow Castle as well the Siri Fort,

which will be a classy venue formore than a few disciplines.

With the bigger sport ing

complexes like the JawaharlalNehru Stadium, the Talkatora

complex, the Indira Gandhi IndoorStadium, the RK Khanna TennisStadium, the Dhyan Chand National

Stadium for hockey, the Karni SinghShooting Range and the Siri Fort

Complex getting total renovation,it will indeed be a big boost for

sports in Delhi besides leading tostaging of many more national andinternational events.


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I m p r o v e m e n t i n c i v i c

Infrastrctre

It is generally accepted that thestaging of a mega sporting eventevokes a whole gamut of emotions,ranging from euphoria among the

sports community to anguish inmany other sections. It leads todebates to whether a developingcountry can afford the expenditureneeded for a mega event.

The truth is that it is usually onlywhen a mega-event comes aroundthat any city gets its sporting andcivic infrastructure upgraded. It hasbeen the case in many other cities,ranging from Barcelona to Atlantato Sydney and Athens and the latest

being Beijing. Melbourne (2006)and before that Manchester (2002)and Kuala Lumpur benefitted agreat deal from the CommonwealthGames, as did Asian Games hosts,

Doha (2006), Busan, Korea (2002)and Bangkok (1998).

There is also no denying thatmega events cause a great deal ofdiscomfort when facilities are beingbuilt, and cost overruns can have an

impact on the local economy.Similar debates have, expectedly,

been underway in India. But thefact remains that just as the 1982Asian Games brought about fournew yovers, three new ve-starhotels besides the Siri Fort SportsComplex and Asian Games Village,and, above all, Colour TV, the 2010Commonwealth Games will bringwith it many positives.

Beginning from a state-of-the-art International airport to a plethora of yovers, underpassesand expansion of Metro, theNational Capital Region has seen

a big leap forward. New hotels andmuch else though severe delaysand cost overruns have caused agreat deal of concern have comeabout.

Better planning and tighter

control on costs and timelinescould have avoided many heart-burns. Yet, there is no doubting thefact that these facilities are hereto stay and improve the quality oflife of those living in and aroundthe NCR.

Over and above all, India, whichhas successfully moved into theupper echelons of technology andmany other areas, will now, on

account of the CommonwealthGames, see itself on the worldsporting map. q

(Email: [email protected])

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ECONOMICS

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YE-9/10/8


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With the world's

youngest population

India certainly

has the potential

to compete withsporting giants

like China, USA,

Russia, Korea

and Japan

What Ails Indian Sports

SPORTS

H E C O M M O N -

WEALTH Games are

just round the corner

and its venue the

capital city of Delhi

is undergoing a grand scale of

renovation and restructuring. This

is undoubtedly an indication of

the growing importance of sports

in India.Over the years India has

witnessed several spurts of

highs in the sporting arena,

with momentous victories in

many disciplines in international

events. An impressive record in

Hockey with eight Olympic gold

medals, Prakash Padukone, Pulella

Gopichand and now, Saina Nehwal,

the world number two doing usproud in badminton, world chess

champion Vishwanathan Anand,

an impressive line up in tennis

from Vijay Amritraj to Leander

Paes, Mahesh Bhupathy and Sania

Mirza, world standing in cricket

and impressive performances from

The author is a Research Scholar at the Zakir Hussain Center for Educational Studies Jawaharlal Nehru University,New Delhi

our athletes like Milkha Singh and

P.T.Usha, shooters like Abinav

Bindra and Rajyavardhan Rathore,

our boxers like Vijendra Kumar

and wrestlers like Sushil Kumar,

to name only a few, have certainly

given us reasons to be proud, and

have, time and again, reconrmed

our faith in our sporting abilities.

This faith, has however, also been jolted on innumerable occasions,

forcing us to concede that our

moments of glory in the sporting

arena have been rather few and far

between, and we need to trudge

uphill many miles before India can

truly emerge as a sporting force to

reckon with.

The fundamental challenge that

sports in India is facing is that ithas been relegated increasingly

to the back seat, being treated as

an extra curricular activity which

cannot match up to the regular

curriculum in terms of importance.

The academic burden in schools

often leads to the sports period

Kaushalya Bajpayee

OPINION

T


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being struck off the daily time

table. School hours, and the tuition

classes thereafter, leave students

with precious little time and even

lesser energy to pursue sports even

as recreation or a leisure activity,

leave alone as a profession. Whilechildren usually start off with a

natural and spontaneous attraction

for games, this over emphasis on

academics ensures that any such

interest is killed off right in the

bud.

There is also a general belief that

sports is a very uncertain career,

and does not necessarily offer very

bright opportunities. So, childrenare forced to take up academics to

ensure stability in life, often despite

their inherent aptitude and knack

towards sports.

Another factor that acts as a

setback to the development of

sports is the obvious discrimination

between different kinds of sports.

While there is a lot of hype,

grandeur and money surroundingsports like cricket, football or tennis,

one hardly gets to hear about other

sports like taekwondo, kho- kho or

archery . It is very strange that we

hardly hear of radio commentary

or television broadcasts of these

sports. The Indian Premier League

has seen corporate houses coming to

the forefront with huge investments

involving large sums of money,adding to the existing grandeur of

cricket. But such investments are

lacking in the other sports. Even

for advertising, it is the popular

cricketers, tennis or badminton

players who are approached. Thus

while the glamour of some select

games may attract youngsters,

there are a lot of other games that

have not been able to draw the

attention of the youth to participate

in them.

The lack of academy and sports

complexes in the districts and

suburban areas of the country isanother major problem. The sports

clubs and academies are mainly in

the metropolitan cities. It is the same

Hyderabad which has produced

Md. Azharuddin, Sania Mirza

and Saina Nehwal or Delhi that

produced Tania Sachdev or Mumbai

that produced Sunil Gavaskar,

Sachin Tendulkar, Vinod Kambli

and others. But it is undeniable

that parents who are settled in

suburban towns are often unable

to shift their bases to provide their

children with adequate facilities

and guidance. Even in the metros,

the facilities for sports training are

very inadequate. Children often

suffer from the absence of proper

guidance and coaching. We lack

proper coaching facilities and

properly equipped training centersto train students for national and

international standards.

Besides, training in sports

requires huge investment. Not only

admission into an academy but

also sports kit, uniform and even

healthy and nutritional diet, tness

training etc require incurring of

huge costs. This often keeps sports

as a restricted terrain, especially forthe middle and low income groups.

Sports like golf, polo, billiards are

often tagged as elite sports.

While problems abound, a

gradual turn around in attitude is

clearly visible now. Promotion

of infrastructure is taking up high

priority, with the building of stadia

and sports complexes in Delhi. But

the Government really needs to

review its policies and make sure that

in the post Commonwealth times,

these infrastructural facilities are

properly put to use. In this context,

the Sports Authority of India (SAI)assumes great responsibility. It was

set up in 1984 for the maintenance

and efficient utilization of the

infrastructure that were built in

Delhi during the Asiad in 1982.

It has six regional centres at

Kolkata, Bangaluru, Gandhinagar,

Chandigarh, Bhopal and Imphal.

However, for a vast country like

India, SAI should have sub regionalbranches that would help it to bring

out the best talent from the various

corners of the country. Besides, the

state governments need to come to

the forefront to set up such agencies

at the state levels so that better

talents can be tapped at the district

levels and can be promoted with

proper training and guidance.

An important step towardsthis has been the National Sports

Policy, 2001, which was planned

to make sports more broad

based and promote excellence.

However, proper implementation

of the policy has been far from

reality. The National Sports

Development Fund was instituted

by the Central Government with

a view to mobilizing resources

from the government as well as

non government sources including

private/corporate sector and non-

resident Indians for promotion

of sports and games. In order to

make it attractive the government

provides 100% exemption from

income tax on all contributions.

The Government also provides


26/52


ass i s tance to the Nat iona l

Sports Federations (NSFs) for

conducting national championship

and international tournaments,

participation in international

tournaments abroad, organizing

coaching camps, procuring sportsequipment etc.

Schemes under the Ministry

of Youth Affairs and Sports are

however, mostly restricted to the

national levels and fail to promote

state level sports enthusiasm.

An important attempt towards

addressing this issue is the National

Sports Championship for women.

Under the scheme national levelcompetitions are preceded by

holding of lower level competitions

at block and district level for which

state and union territories are

provided nancial assistance. But

the amount is too meager -for block

level competition Rs. 1000 per

block, for district level competition

Rs 3000 per district, for state level

competition Rs. 10,000 per state

and for smaller states and union

territories Rs. 5000 per state or

UT.

Another important step by the

government is the scheme for

promotion of sports in north eastern

states under the PYKKA scheme.

Under this scheme, assistance is

provided of Rs. 50,000 per district

for district level competition and

75,000 per discipline for the state

level competition. In 1974, the

Commonwealth Youth Programme

came into being with the purpose

of promoting the development

of young men and women in the

commonwealth countries. More

initiatives are to be taken for inter

country championship as well as

sports festival. This will promote

local and regional harmony.

In India, the Government

must come up with the promotion

of such regional sports like the

rowing competition or Vallamkaliin Kerala. It is quite surprising that a

large number of sports are played in

India like oorball, Rugby, Bandy,

Netball, Korfball, Lacrosse etc,

though they are hardly heard about

or participated in. Often they have

remained conned to local areas .

For example, Ice hockey is played

mostly in the Himalayan region

of Ladakh, Bandy is played in

Himachal Pradesh and other areas

of North India, which generally has

ice and snow. Lacrosse is played in

the north eastern state of Meghalaya

and has not gained popularity in the

rest of the country. Proper setting

up of articial structures as well

as attracting people to these areas

should be taken up as a part of the

sports promotion programme.

Indoor games like gymnastics,

table tennis , carom, weight

lifting, power lifting, billiards and

snookers etc need to be promoted

further. .Some of the indoor

games can be an incentive for

the physically challenged people

who can channelize their talent

through participation in them. The

Government should initiate such

schemes which will be a moral aswell as economic booster for a large

number of the population.

To facilitate such schemes, one of

the primary requirements is of funds

and this can be achieved through the

public - private partnership. In this

context, the media should redene

its role, especially by highlighting

the different kinds of sports and

not by restricting themselves to

the broadcasting of games like

cricket and football only. The

sports channels should present

different programmes in more

attractive fashion mainly to attracta larger viewership which would

result in better promotion of sports

interest even in the distant corners

of the country and attract better

participation and investments.

More and more government

funded academies should be

opened where ex- sportsmen could

be engaged in coaching students.

Another way of promoting youthparticipation in sports might be

through the sponsoring of awards

not only at the national level but

also at the district and the block

levels. In fact, this will serve

both as a moral booster as well

as an economic incentive for the

upcoming sportspersons.

Through these measures, it

is possible to channelize a largepercentage of young energy in

a constructive way. With the

world's youngest population India

certainly has the potential to

compete with sporting giants like

China, USA, Russia, Korea and

Japan. India today is shouldering

the great responsibility of hosting

an event like the Commonwealth

Games, but the real challenge liesin attainment of a high level of

performance that will not only

channelize the vast potential

of her human resource but will

also establish her on the global

platform as a power to be reckoned

with. q

(E-mail:[email protected])


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J&K WINDOW

E-GOVERNANCE IN JAMMu AND KASHMIR

The government of Jammu and Kashmir is keen to introduce e-governance

in all departments. IT is a strong tool for speeding up process of socio-economic transformation and economic development.

Information and Communication Technol

Documents

Yojana September