THE ILLS AFFECTING INDIAN SPORTS. PART - I.

The Abhinav Bhindra phenomenon and India’s medal tally of one gold and two bronze medals has set me thinking about the Indian sports and it’s future. To add salt to injury, I read a blog that said India had silenced its critics by getting two bronzes in addition to its lone gold. I know you guys mean well but come on guys give me a break. These medals when viewed in the context of India’s vast talent pool and population pales into insignificance. Actually we should be ashamed of ourselves. Why do we think that patriotism means to praise the country blindly? Constructive criticism should not be confused with pessimisim. Let us learn to call a spade a spade.

Sometime earlier, I had posted a blog on the main thrust areas which a plan must adopt, but I then realized that there was something more than a plan that was needed. The plan must be preceded by a change in mindset of the powers that be who give a step motherly treatment to sports in general

As a young boy I used to follow the Olympics which usually had U.S.A and the undivided U.S.S.R heading the medals tally. The ascendance of China as a sporting nation in a comparatively short span of time has therefore been remarkable and is sufficient proof of what efficient promotion, talent scouting, rigorous scientific training and clean administration can do. India remains an antithesis of this.

Therefore wanting to learn more about sports and its development in our country, I planned to take up a study of the same. However my current position would not permit me to carry out such a study on the scale that I imagined and I therefore decided to limit my study to the State, wherein I reside, which is Tamil Nadu. I am sure that one grain of rice will be sufficient to find out if the rice has boiled properly; meaning to say that observing one State will help me understand the situation in other states as well.

As a prerequisite for understanding the current situation of Sports at the school level and the steps taken by the Government of Tamil Nadu, I started visiting the Government schools in my city to gain first hand knowledge of what is currently being done.

I learnt that the policy of the Government with regard to fees payable by students of Government schools had been discontinued by a recent Government order which had prohibited Government schools from collecting fees of any kind except for Rs 2/- which is charged towards application form and Rs 25/- per annum which is payable by the students towards the Parent Teacher Association (P.T.A) fund. As a result of this move the Government has curbed the financial resources for sports in the Government schools. Instead of allowing them to collect fees from the student for the development of sports, the Government has currently decided to give a grant to each school on the basis of the strength of the school.

Earlier the Government used to permit the schools to collect Rs 10/- towards sports from students of sixth to grade, Rs 20/- from ninth and tenth grade, Rs 30/- from eleventh and twelfth grade. The schools were expected to give 30% of this to the Government leaving them with only 70% of this frugal sum in their hands.

Can you believe it? Rs 7 per annum is what the Government allocates per student at the primary level and Rs 21 per annum per student at the Senior Secondary grade. While the average middle class Indian would not mind spending Rs.25 on a meal, the Government School students are expected to do well in Sports on this sum which can hardly help them obtain the equipment they need. This is what the school had to help the child learn and train in sports and that too has been prohibited by the Government. You can’t even obtain Masala Dosas with this money let alone gold medals. This too has now been taken away and the Government is supposed to give a grant equivalent to the sum earlier collected by the schools but when it will be given is something that only astrologers can foretell.

However, I am told by my sources that the present Gazetted Order (G.O.) is not clear on the exact quantum of grant that will be provided towards sports. I believe the G.O also states that until such grant is given the school can take care of its sports expenditure from accumulated funds (which no school has). In case no such funds are available, the funds available with the P.T.A can be borrowed by the school as a loan. Knowing bureaucratic red tape very well I am sure the funds allocated for this year will only be released sometime next year and until such time the sportsmen will have to sit twiddling their thumbs.

This being the current situation in Government schools; most of which do not have even the required play area and trained staff, I wonder how we can be optimistic of producing better results.

The Government for its part expects students who are interested in sports to be identified by the school teachers and their names forwarded to the Sports Development authority of Tamil Nadu also headed by a bureaucrat, who will then train them. However, expecting Instructors to identify talent without even providing the basic equipment or play field necessary is a tall order.

In contrast China’s systematic sports programme including its talent scouting, and catching them young as well as the huge resources ploughed in has yielded tremendous results as witnessed in the current Olympics.

If we really want to emerge as a world super power in sports we shall have to change our mindset before we put in place a systematic plan of action.

If things don’t change for the better in Indian sports administration our performance at the 2010 Commonwealth games to be held in Delhi will only see the nadir of Indian sports that will help us remain at the bottom of the heap in the medals tally. Let us draw lessons from the Chinese juggernaut and move forward.

Tags: indian, sports, schools, government, gold medals

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