Government’s and society’s attitude towards sports and sportspersons in India

The performance of Sportsperson in the international sporting events is the barometer of the sporting spirit of a nation. On this count, performance of India, a nation with 17% of world population with its insignificant medal tally for years, reveals the ignorance of the sports. The outlook, spirit and attitude of people and government towards sports at large need to change to bring an enabling environment for sports.

Sports are an integral part for human being not only for recreational and health purpose, bus also they teach us important lessons of unity, coordination, harmony and team work. Sports can be called as mini version of life, as like life they also witness ups and downs, sadness, joy, romance, win, loss. Thus important lessons of life can be learned from sports.

In the recent era of Information and technology, where things are a click away and we getting more indoor centrist, sports hold greater relevance. Along with body, they are important for intellectual development. In the context of India, where, from school education to society, from our negligence to governments apathy, promoting sports hold increasing relevance for bringing health rejuvenation domestically and prestige internationally. A healthy sports environment will lead to revenue generation, employment, emotional satisfaction among people, glory to the nation etc.

Indian sport has been a victim of society's lean attitude towards it, and as a result, sports have not been considered as a secure career, except for a few. With majority of population consisting of poor and the middle class, economic aspirations are high. As a result, either the stress is to excel academically or to start earning. This restricts participation in the sports.

Government has not taken sincere efforts to promote the level of games apart from some post-performance rewards like scholarships and government jobs. Sports in India need a complete overhaul right from the society’s perception to the government’s policies. It is the emotions and
mental robustness that drive the sportsperson and all this depend upon the
society’s attitude towards them. Unfortunately the attitude of the society and
the government has not been very promising so far.

Following steps need to be taken if India has to stand among the best performing nations of the
world in sports arena.

Ø  Sports should be made the integral part of the life and not just as the other earning sphere.

Ø  Children should be nurtured from the childhood as china has shown in the Beijing Olympic.

Ø  Meddling by the politicians in sports matter needs to be checked rather sports persons and experts should be roped in.

Ø  Fresh impetus should be given to sports institution and sports infrastructure.

Ø  SAI the apex body of sport in India, which often comes in news for all bad reasons than for good reasons, needs to be made more professional body.

Ø  Sports facilities esp. hostel for women needs a revamp. Cases of harassments need to deal with firm hand.

Ø  To improve and encourage the hidden asset of our sports capabilities, India needs to take some exemplary actions like more budgetary allocations to the sports field and proper nourishment and living conditions of the hostels should also be taken care of.
For women and differently able persons, special committees should be constructed where the issues related to their needs and security could be handled carefully and empathetically.

Ø  Rural areas should not be neglected and only particular sports should not be promoted. Corruption and politicization should also be thrown out of sports ambit.

Ø  Laurels and rewards both monetary and motivational should be provided.

Ø  FDI in sports infrastructure

Ø  Encourage people especially EWS towards sports as career options.

Ø  Try to develop sports as an industry as it has multiplier effect for tourism, hotels etc.

Ø  Make sports governing bodies autonomous and revamping them
Scrutiny of these bodies by means of RTI, CAG audits

Ø  Society needs to drop prejudice against other sports. Kabaddi league, Tennis league etc help in this.

Ø  With the encouragement and support, India's tremendous hidden asset of sports can bring many awards and applause to the nation and these sportsperson can reach to their deserve

In this regard Indian Govt., taken many positive steps to promote sports:
1. Various awards and scholarships for sportspersons
2. National Youth policy 2014 is a visionary document to encourage sports
3. Various institutions are established
4. Also used sports as part of foreign policy.

Society's attitude towards sports should be changed  in the following ways:

Ø  Audience for sports thus providing encouragement

Ø  Preservation of traditional sports like kabaddi

Ø  Promotion to new sports. Like football in Bengal due to community participation

Ø  Primary problem in society is the dubious perception for sports as career.

Ø  The society needs to have a change of mindset that along with education, sports are also necessary and sports apart from cricket.

Ø  The people need to understand the importance of sports and feel proud of other sports as well.

Ø  Attitude of society needs to shift to sports as a mean to healthy, disciplined and principled life.

Ø  All schools must incorporate sports in the curriculum not to create Olympic gold medalists but make sport a part of life.

Ø  Politicization of sports bodies must be stopped and manning them with sports veterans.

Ø  Making sports a high priority and part of Indian culture with increased funding and clear policy.

Why this needs to be done?

• For a healthier society

• To crowd out youths from engineering, medical and management

• Enhance India’s pride by better performance in international events

• Most importantly, it is a great vehicle of national integration blurring the boundary of caste, religion, state, gender etc.

The above steps can act as a booster to promote well being among sportspersons as well as encouraging sports as career option

The required change shall be bringing in by multi pronged strategy. The increasing spending on sports for infrastructure, Human resources and promotional infrastructure is important. Equally important is making sports part of life. Formally it can be done by revival of sports in our education system. Trainers, resources, time allotment, sporting events can bring much needed encouragement in students. A big problem is shortage of finances, which can be financed by some sort of taxes such as sports cess, local taxes etc. In all government departments long neglected sporting activities shall be organized more frequently and regularly. Through awareness, employment opportunities, organizing sporting leagues, sports can be promoted in society. Reviving traditional sports such as Kabaddi, Kho-kho, mallakhambh etc.With citizen participation and inviting sponsorship may bring societal interests.

Conclusion:

With promotion of sports at domestic level thorough required inputs and changing the positive orientation for sports in societal mindset, India can nurture much required international medal and large sought better heath domestically. Sports are not only gives medal, pride   but it builds the healthy human resource for a nation and spread spirit of friendliness to other countries. With the encouragement and support, India's tremendous hidden asset of sports can bring many awards and applause to the nation and these sportsperson can reach to their deserving stature.

The attitude of both government and society has to change. Sportspersons are need to given infrastructure and support to develop their talents and government has to decrease its interference and should place eligible person to sport authorities who can actually contribute towards various sports. We have to change our attitude towards sports, it is moral duty of media to promote all games equally, finally best infrastructure, livelihood security, and recognition provides best tonic.

References:

1. Critically comment on Indian government’s and society’s attitude towards sports and sportspersons critically –insights India.

2. Indiabix.com

3. shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/bit stream

4. haryanasports.gov.in/pdf/sportspolicyeng.pdf

5. Wikipedia