| A highly placed Indian Singaporean says that Indians talk while the Chinese act, adding that China stole a march with Arakan gas while India was "" bad pun "" still gassing about pipelines. The Draft Comprehensive National Sports Policy 2007 recalls that comment. At 8,616 words, it's certainly comprehensive, but will it go beyond words? |
| Obviously, funding is the main problem. But not the only one. Perception matters. Near my home in Kolkata is one of the world's biggest "" in terms of enrolment "" schools with classes in shifts and sections to cram in as many pupils as possible. Not a blade of grass grows in the premises but no one minds. Its students score high marks. That's all that matters to ambitious middle class parents who want their sons to join the most lucrative central service or get a Green Card and marry enormous dowries. |
| The exhaustive policy document says that 50 million Indian children have access to sports grounds, leaving nearly 700 million without any facilities. Against that, we have the shaming information that 37 per cent of China's population actively participates in physical education activities thanks to 620,000 sports facilities and more than 450,000 instructors. No wonder younger Chinese are taller and better built than their parents. That is also true of Japan, South Korea and Singapore. |
| I like the proposal for special sports nurseries to nurture children below the age of 14 (why not even younger?) who have shown special talent. Catch 'em young through a strictly impartial selection process but don't focus only on the gifted few. The rest matter even more. The nation's health is at stake. |
| Even if the nurseries plan is cleared, money made available, and the contractors and others have taken their cut, the powerful will try to abort the scheme by exerting pressure to get their offspring, talented or not, admitted. That's the Indian way. The 1982 Asian Games are not remembered for promoting sportsmanship but for boosting TV one-upmanship. Nothing is immune to patronage, profit and politics. But to the extent possible, sports nurseries are a must. |
| The document opens with a saddening summary of the years of neglect from the First Five-year Plan to the Tenth. It tells us that the Sports Authority of India was created in 1984 to spot and nurture talent. Eight years rolled by before an Action Plan was devised in the shape of the National Sports Policy "to move towards" "" notice the cautious phrasing! "" realising the objectives of the 1984 policy. So, when the present draft says "the Union Government shall bring out an Action Plan in consultation with all stakeholders for the implementation of this policy," one cannot but wonder what happened to the 1992 Action Plan. |
| Given this background, and despite giving the challenge a great deal of thought, the document's authors may have allowed enthusiasm to run away with practical sense. They have crammed everything under the sun into a complicated draft "" coaches, scholarships, corporate patronage, incentives, talent spotting, infrastructure, mass participation, anti-doping, indigenous sports, facilities for the disabled, facilities for senior citizens. Nothing is omitted. |
| A multiplicity of activities can mean a multiplicity of committees, authorities, experts, advisers, consultants and instructors "" more jobs for the boys in fact. Where will the money come from if sports now accounts for only 0.073 per cent of the budget? Aiming too high might mean being grounded forever. |
| A start has to be made, but a balanced overall perspective is also essential. Can we demand public swimming pools in Muzaffarpur if Delhi doesn't even boast a decent public library? Or expect tennis courts that anyone can book when villages have no schools to speak of? Sports promotion must be part of an all-round improvement of living conditions. We live in a country whose obsession with nuclear glory ignores the basis of true power "" a contented populace with a decent living standard at all levels. The mix of leisure and learning that should inspire a realistic sports policy is impossible if our main aim is to hurtle to the moon in a bullock cart trailing the Bomb. |
| Stressing that the real value of Eton and Harrow lies in enabling a man to survive with qualities of discipline and heart even in the bush, Lee Kuan Yew once told local principals that other nations produce the same virtues. "The Americans produce them, the Russians produce them, the Chinese produce them, the Germans produce them, the Indians produce them, but with this slight difference: that the Indians have never placed emphasis on the physical side. They have always placed it on the spiritual side." The draft's inclusion of yoga splendidly marries the physical and spiritual. |
| The point of Lee's comment was that the best education doesn't have to create world class athletes. It's enough to generate stamina, confidence and the ability to relax. The draft speaks of "mass participation and enhanced performance." I would any day place the former above the latter. Let nurseries shape the gifted few while simple sports facilities throughout the country ensure that the next generation of Indians is taller, broader and healthier. |
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