By Arpit Agrawal :
Cricket is unarguably the most famous sport in India, but the recent governments have started investing on different sports as they try to build good infrastructure and provide world class facilities. For the betterment of sports and players various schemes and allowances for providing well trained coaches and training centers are open for the talented players. If there is a requirement to send players abroad for training, then government is also willing to send them abroad with government expenditure enabling such movement. The aim is to help the players perform better in the Olympics and other such international events of renown.
For enabling talented players and promoting sports, the government has spent enormous sums in making of stadiums and provided job quotas for sportsmen/women. The focus of such schemes is to promote players and make them give their best while unencumbered from necessities of livelihood. Private sponsorships also play a key role and private organizations joining hands with the government paves the way for promotion of sports across whole of India.
Government Budget as a Key Resource for Development of Sports in India:
Government has been serious about sports for some time and this can be observed by comparing budgetary allocations over preceding fiscal years, which shows government is increasing the sports budget year by year. Govt expenditure is about 0.01% of Indian GDP on sports. Let us look at the detailed picture of year-by-year budgetary allocation towards sports:
- 2018-2019 – In this year the budget for the sports ministry had been allocated Rupees 2,196 crore rupees for Development and training purposes.
- 2019-2020 – In this year the budget for the sports ministry had been allocated Rupees 2776.92 crores rupees for Development and training purposes.
- 2020-2021 – In this year the budget for the sports ministry has been allocated Rupees 2826.92 crore rupees for Development and training purposes.
KHELO INDIA Scheme has also been launched for motivating Olympic players and Rupees 890 crore has been allocated for Khelo India. This clearly shows that government intentions about sports are serious and in the right trajectory.
Sports Schemes by Governments to Create Future Talents:
- National sports talent contest – This scheme has been implemented to scout sports in the age group of 8-14 years from school and nurture them into future medal winning players by providing advanced training.
- Army Boys Sports Company Scheme – This is a collaborative venture of SAI with the Indian army. The main objective of the scheme is to make use of good infrastructure and disciplined environment of the army for training boys in the age group of 8-16 years of age.
- SAI Training Centers Schemes – Main objectives were to make it possible for the Central Government and State Governments to work together for sports development efforts, through the integration of various Schemes.
- Extension Centre of STC /SAG – The extension centers of STC/SAG were started to cover schools and colleges for wider coverage in 2005, with a view to develop sports standards in schools and colleges which had the requisite basic infrastructure and had shown good results in sports.
- Special Area Games Scheme (SAG) – For Junior level trainees – Special Area Games (SAG) Scheme aims at scouting natural talent for modern competitive sports and games from inaccessible tribal, rural and coastal areas of the country and nurturing them scientifically for achieving excellence in sports.
- Centre of Excellence Scheme (COX) – For Senior level trainees – As a natural corollary to the Schemes for Sub-Junior and Junior, the Scheme of Centres of Excellence was started in 1997. The scheme envisaged induction of sportspersons, who had performed well at Sr. National Competitions, for further advanced scientific training at the Regional Centres of SAI for 330 days in a year.
- COME and PLAY Scheme – The Come & Play Scheme was initiated for optimum utilization of SAI sports facilities in Delhi and across the country, and primarily focused on encouraging local sportspersons in areas where SAI sports facilities/Centers are operational. While providing youth from local communities and sports enthusiasts with an opportunity to train under SAI coaches.
Job Reservations Through Sports Quota
The government has focused on the economic needs of the players and subsequently provided 5% reservations on government jobs in Group-C category. Quotas are however not available in Group A or B. But there is exception in Punjab and Haryana where Group A and B jobs are also available under quota. Central government has provided reservation to players of 43 sport but recently 19 other games have also been included which takes the total number to 63 games. State governments have provided 2% reservation to players.
Cash Prizes and Jobs for The Winners
The central government and state governments provide cash prizes and job guarantee to the players and there is a marked difference between both. Cash prizes motivates the players for winning. The intent behind giving cash prize to winning team or player is to create awareness about the sports and demonstrate that sports can lead to national and worldwide recognition. The purpose of giving cash prize is also to support the players to meet their necessary requirements and for the purchase of high-end equipment which they may be unable to afford due to financial constraints. The procurement of such equipment can help players prepare for future tournaments and spend money on training.
Through job schemes the players are guaranteed that they can dedicate their full concentration on the game. The need to improve and focus on winning medals for the nation is prime imperative behind such schemes. It is necessary to remove worry about the future and equally important to secure livelihood for their families.
Incentives Provided by Other Nations
India is not the only state that provides such incentives and many nations employ similar schemes:
- Singapore – Olympians from Singapore have a chance of winning $737,000 if they win a gold medal at the 2021 games. Moreover, the country is rewarding its silver and bronze medalists with $369,000 and $184,000 respectively.
- Kazakhstan – Kazakhstan is one of the richest Central Asian countries and the country is offering their Olympic medal winners $250,000 for winning gold, $150,000 for a silver medal, and $75,000 for a bronze medal.
- Malaysia and Italy – These two countries share the third spot on this list. Malaysia offers its athletes $236,000 (for gold), $71,000 (for silver) and $24,000 (for bronze). On the other hand, Italy gives its athletes $213,000 (for gold), $107,000 (for silver) and $71,000 (for bronze).
- Hungary – This European country rewards its medallists with a cash prize of $168,000 for winning gold, $126,000 for winning silver, and $96,000 for winning a bronze medal.
- India – India stands fifth on this list. The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) has fixed cash prizes for athletes at $100,834 for winning gold, $53,778 for silver, and $33,611 for winning a bronze medal.
- Brazil and Japan – These two countries share the sixth spot by giving their athletes $49,000 and $45,000 respectively for winning gold. Additionally, Brazil gives its athletes $29,000 for winning second and $20,000 for coming third. On the other hand, Japan gifts its winners $18,000 for winning silver and $9,000 for winning the bronze.
- USA – The United States is almost on the top of the medal tally at almost all Olympic games. The country’s medallists win a cash prize of $37,500 for winning the gold medal. Athletes who take home silver and bronze medals get $22,500 and $15,000 each.
Sympathy Politics After Winning Olympics
Let’s breakdown this argument through three points:
Firstly, every country wants that their players to win maximum number medals for their nation. The govt hopes that if they invest money in training, infrastructure and hiring well-trained coaches, government of the day can take credit for the success and advertise it for future elections.
Secondly, the opposition is ready and willing to blame the govt for failure to achieve sufficient tally of medals especially in the Olympics. This creates a negative image of the govt and tarnishes its reputation which may be even more pronounced if other nations and their own tallies are compared and national pride is stoked.
Thirdly, there is momentary profit for political class. Politicians in India have always had had a close relationship with sports and sports federations as positions in such organizations come with a lot of prestige and power both in monetary as well societal terms. Good performance in events such as Olympics can open a lot of doors for politicians to secure positions in such federations and organizations.
Reasons for Failure of Popularization of Sports in India:
One of the reasons for the decline of sports in India is that we have been mostly concentrating on the youth living in metropolitan and urban areas. We have ignored the rural, the tribal and indigenous communities. In fact, city dwellers often do not enjoy good health because of the polluted environment. This has led to most of seventy percent of India’s rural population from being ignored while more and more focus is given to urban talent.
But in order to draw the attention of the rural population towards sports we will have to provide basic amenities like playgrounds as well as advanced facilities for training in the villages. Competitions among the villages can be arranged periodically to foster sportsmanship and develop a culture of rural pastimes involving sports at its core.
The already existing rural sports competitions should be given much more publicity and should be organized on a grander scale. Similarly, some coaches could be recruited to encourage tribal youth and for imparting training in the different fields of professional sports. Perhaps, the participation of rural youth in some of the sports events like long jumps, archery, high jumps and races can be increased with some encouragement.
Conclusion
Politics in the Sports is a double-edged sword. On one hand politics has encouraged the governments to increase spending on sports and at the same time it has led to unneeded attention towards players and federations which create undue pressure to perform and even hinder the performance of players in key events like the Olympics.
The problem of nepotism and corruption in sports can only be solved with greater scrutiny. But such scrutiny has the tendency to politicise sports as nationalist sentiments are involved with sports, and the need of the hour is grant greater autonomy and flexibility to federations and players across the board. Most importantly perhaps the government should focus on encouraging sports in India in all strata of society rather than focusing on micro-managing the sports authorities.
JAI HIND JAI BHARAT