Capping the Tenures of Sports Office Bearers, to Rejuvenate Competitive Sports in India

The Delhi High Court’s direction to the Ministry of Sports and Youth Affairs, to provide information regarding Government policy, orders and rules & regulations on the Management and Administration of the National  Sports Bodies; with a view to enable a  comprehensive grasp of the matter as raised and submitted through a PIL to the Honorable Court, resulted in the Sports Minister’s public fiat to Cap the tenures of the Office Bearers. This has lead to the on going turf war between the Minister and the President of the IOA, Mr Suresh Kalmadi, who in a brazen display of solidarity displayed and expressed by the various Heads of SOAs/NSFs, has frontally launched into an acerbic attack on  Mr MS Gill, accusing him of interfering in the affairs of these Sports Bodies and disregarding their autonomy, as enshrined in their respective Constitutions. The Secretary General of the IOA has even quoted from written correspondences received from the IOC and the OCA, that any attempt by the Government to over ride the autonomy of and interfere in the affairs of these Sports Bodies, will result in the exclusion of our participation in International Sports, including the Asian and Olympic Games.

The previous Sports Minister, Mr Mani Shankar Aiyyar’s attempt to rein in the Sports Bodies by regulating their functioning and making these more accountable, was a non  starter as it was sabotaged by non other than the politicians who occupied positions of power in these Associations/Federations, eventually clipping the MOYA&S portfolio from him in the UPA 1 Government. The Principal Office Bearers of the Sports Bodies have inexorably stood up against any  attempt or even a suggestion by the Government, to follow best management practices in their functioning, for a better and improved Sporting Environment, which lends itself to enhanced International Performance and Achievement by the Country’s Sportspersons. The four prongs of Sporting Excellence viz  Sports Vision, Sports Culture, Sports Infrastructure  and Corporate Funding will ever remain the mutually inclusive responsibilities of the Government and the Sports Bodies. The bottom line for both is to throw up excellence and actualize the Sports Potential of its vast pools of untapped talent.

In sixty three years of our Sports History, our achievements have belied our potential, only because the four prongs which sustain and elicit Sporting Excellence were unaligned and disjointed . What little we did achieve, in either few team or individual sports in these years, has been more Despite the System than Because of it. The Ministry as also the Sports Bodies are responsible for this pathetic state of sporting glory, in which we find ourselves today. The two sports which have given us Gold and Silver medals in the Olympics, have their respective Federations in disarray , wherein the hockey players and shooters have come out openly and vociferously against the mismanagement of affairs in these Bodies. Is it anybody’s  case that the Office Bearers of these and similar other Federations must continue to tenant offices and bring these sports to their nadir. No. The pride of the people of India is  at stake, to which the elected government and its executives are fully and wholly accountable. We cannot get into a situation where the Sports Minister when asked about the failure of the Indian Hockey team to qualify for the Beijing Olympics 2008, gives a tongue in cheek response “I can only watch and suffer”

The oft repeated and stated bogey of the IOA, about our being banned/excluded from the International Sports Conglomerate and sports participation, has been used to great effect by the spin doctors who run these National Sports Bodies and which must be nailed by the Government and the Courts of the Country, for the pride and dignity of the PEOPLE and the glory of sports. The desire of those who wish to continue with their offices in the Sports Bodies is driven more by the greed for Power, Visibility, Perks and Privileges than all else. This is the TRUTH. While the Chief Editor of the News Channel, did embarrass the President of the NRAI during the prime time debate and visibly disturbed him, by asking about the clique which brings them to office again and again, it was disappointing that the matter was not pursued and debated to its logical conclusion. Where is the doubt that the elections to the office of the President of IOA/SOAs/NSFs are foregone conclusions, when Politicians and Public Servants are in the fray. It is Money and perceived Favors which swing the results. The entire process is contrived and a sham. Unfortunately it is not overseen by any Election Commissioner. The foreign tours, social status and jauntings which are on offer to the supporters, is a given. That is the clique, Mr Arnab Goswami, which you surprisingly missed out on .

Finally, let it be unequivocally understood that neither the IOC or else the International Sports Bodies are answerable to the people of India,  who have been short changed by their own National Bodies, in the prolonged mismanagement and  maladministration of sports in the country, resulting in the loss of NATIONAL pride, esteem and self belief. We have been done in by our own. So where is the question of these International Bodies Cracking the whip on us through their interpretations of the Olympics Spirit as enshrined in the Olympics Charter. The Government, formed of the elected representatives of the People of India, is fully accountable to them and the Country and must act in the best interests of the Nation State. No directive, ruling, order or advice of the IOA/OCA/International Sports Federations can supersede the interests of the PEOPLE and the Country. This is the Grandfather Clause, which is overarching and inviolable. The, long delayed fiat of the Sports Minister to cap the tenures of the Association/ Federation Heads, is the best thing to have happened for Indian Sports and Sportsmen after the euphoria of Chilly Rathore’s Silver and Abhinav Bindra’s Gold Medals in the Athens and Beijing Games, respectively. Mr MS Gill must not buckle to any pressure  from the Prime Minister now, even if premised on the compulsions of coalition politics.

Brigadier(retd) S D Dangwal

Dehra Dun 248001