Revolution and Evolution is a rhyming pair and a
complementing couple too. For anything to materialise in life, I believe they
must co-exist. A human life follows the pattern of evolution, however without
the frequent spurts of revolution now and then, the process of humanisation
would have been predictable, certain, very slow and a touch boring.
These ‘bursts of revolution’ change the course of evolution
and to a large extent accelerate the process. Failure to adapt to the new
conditions can be a master stroke and thereby retaining one’s individuality or
be a lack of vision in not staying with the times. I am all ok with the fact of
retaining one’s tradition, values, culture which makes globalisation
interesting; in fact very intriguing. At the same time, closing the door(s) of
improvement in the name of tradition is baffling.
Take India for example and I am amassed at the growth it has
had in the past two decades. It is not a stranger anymore on the world map and
there are many reasons to it which have been well covered by a lot of writers,
opinion makers, creative artists and a lot others around the globe. Not all
endorse and understand (a bit) my country in a way I see it, that’s fair
enough. I too do not have the same words to feed into their ears. What exists,
in spite of these sociological differences is that, there is a mutual
admiration society.
And to go further, I take the example of sports - While
growing up; I did not know what it meant to be ‘Behind the Scene’ of a sporting
event. The events were shown live on television or transmitted via radio
commentary or presented graphically and written poetically on the print media. Olympic
Sports and its values was zilch to me as there was no uniformity of sports
education growing up. I knew about sports because my parents played right until
their youth before they were married and continued supplementing with
information. What I knew was that, only a fanatic or a close relative/friend of
a sports person was involved in the sports industry. Like many of my age that
time, I too and previous generations to us played sports with basic rules applying
the human ethics and general physical awareness. Sports were just another
activity which did not involve studies. So, we all liked it, didn’t we? That
was a long time ago or is it?
Now, we are fighting for the Sports Bill, a huge document
which is making rounds from a long time in India. It is the Government of
India’s initiative with a purpose to streamline the Indian Olympic Association.
Its implementation so far has been limited or to say less penetrative. While
the Government is spending a lot of money on Olympic Sports, the National Olympic
Committee of India is many miles away from Nirvana. I believe unless Sports is
of national priority and a long term government policy, it is very difficult to
implement a set of rules and regulations. Indian Olympic Association (IOA) in
my view was established so that it can lobby on behalf of Indian Olympic
movement and create a platform where more athletes could concentrate on their
activities than dwell on petty politics; instead; let them spread the value of
Sports and act as the voice of the ideals that were drawn up by few good men of
the yore who drafted the Olympic Charter.
I believe IOA has failed on this aspect and looked for
excuses for their repeated failures and still continue to do so. It took Commonwealth
Games to bring the ghosts of IOA from the closet. What if India never
hosted CWG in 2010? Few businesses would have made less money or more money
depending on which side of the spectrum they are; Indian government would have
spent the same money elsewhere and the IOA would have continued to be a member
of IOC. A lot of the working stuff who did their bit in the Organising
Committee and volunteers would have worked in different industries and there
would have been less support to the few activists who appeared to have rebelled
for a long time with a cause but achieved little to no results.
India is a land of people living under innumerable cultures
and of different beliefs. There is a struggle for basic amenities, presence of
turbulent neighbours’ since Independence and these are some of the factors that
put sports in the lesser priority category. Is housing more important or a play
ground? Basic infrastructure or Sporting Infrastructure? Food or dietary
supplements? Clothing for Protection or for performance? Education to create a
better self or to excel in Sports?
In an ideal world, these problems must never be an alibi for
sports organisations that are entrusted to look after this and create a
systematic sports culture. Sports for a lot were and are a means to escape
studies. It was outlawed as it interfered with many of the growing kid’s
education and the practice is still on. Parents, Schools and families seldom give
importance to sports. It remains an extra-curricular exercise and not
co-curricular subject. It is a candy and not nutrition. Back then, very few
Robin Hoods existed in our society and now we have a slow raise in fan
following. Again, when we talk of numbers it is easy to justify but when we
consider the percentage, the graphics would do the talking.
With all these and many other factors, sports continue to
shine with its gloss increasing with time. Field Hockey and then Cricket,
probably the only two team sports that were consistently part of and competed
at the International level. Individuals came and left, but the effect did not
trickle down to others in case of individual sports baring Tennis and to an
extent Badminton. Shooting, Boxing, Football and Wrestling has potential. Hockey,
after having won eight gold medals by the time LA Games (1984) were about to
begin, faded and devolved with time. Failure to adapt and an organisation led
by the thoughts that, hockey was in success auto-pilot mode failed to have
contingencies in place. To put it bluntly, it crashed. Thirty – three years
hence, we are still in the process of restoration and even the small intervals
of revolutions failed to take off once it was on the run way. The answer to
this delay will be a thesis subject, and of my interest the day I shall take up
my doctoral studies. Hockey is not in a transition state at the core, it is
merely lacking direction, guidance and management to take it forward. Where is
our Messiah hiding?
I would not like to talk much about cricket as it has
outgrown everyone’s expectations in the world. I believe India has one of the
best infrastructures in the world to play cricket at the moment and the people
who are running the game will just have to sort their power struggles. For now,
the sport is safe and unless a meteor strikes heavily, the influence and
popularity will not fade that easily.
I had to wait 12 years of my life to see an Indian athlete
wearing an Olympic medal; Leander Paes at the 1996 Atlanta Games. Individual
sports are a luxury and till today, it requires a special effort to go through
the hurdles of representing the country. How many athletes would be happy to
just participate and not bother under what flag? That is a debatable point, as
it is not a ban on competing. It however has repercussions, as the funding from
the International Olympic Committee and the International Federations get
curtailed and Indian Government can only spare a few hundred millions of rupees
for sports. Very few private enterprises with deep pockets are into individual
sports. For the size of India, it is not enough. We can be content with
whatever we are given, but cannot expect to be world challengers or beaters if
this continues.
If Sports Ministry gets involved in running the affairs of
Indian Olympic Association, the ban will continue unless the interference is
aligned with the Olympic Charter. IOC requires non-governmental intervention
while running the National Olympic Committee. Bulk of the money is provided by
the Sports Ministry to the athletes and their welfare which comes as minimum
requirements and for some in the form of Government jobs. So naturally, the
political honchos expect IOA to behave while IOA use the governmental
interference clause to live on the edge of being banned. That tight rope was
cut last December and the struggle is on to be reinstated back to the Olympic
family. The
ban on IOA remains and was not changed at the recently concluded IOC
General Body meeting.
The only solution for IOA is to mend their ways and for certain
egotist individuals to come out of their incumbency. An instance like this is
when the democracy of India fails to remove the cynicism of a sports
enthusiast. There is hatred, there is anger, a lot of malice, dirty politics,
power struggles, incapable of letting it go and other adjectives that matches
the aforementioned frequency. The efforts of certain athletes and sports rights
activists are of limited use. Are they fighting in what appears a lost battle
already? Or are they doing their little bit and need more of the same from
others?
Yes and No - the very fact that Indian Sports is under constant
discussion makes it interesting for the future; how long are we prepared to
fight to make IOA a proper governed body? Do we have the courage, patience and
optimism to see it happening? I believe so and this I rely on evolution and the
current on-going battle (from the year 2010) to force IOA to mend its way is
the revolution that is complementing the evolutionary process of Indian Sports.
For now I let go of my little frustration. I see and hear a
lot of kids in India playing different sports, have more playing facilities and
resources than I did. They are well informed too on international sports. Things
can be much, much better than what it is. Let me be a pragmatist and step back
a little and see what’s happening. I see there has been an improvement at the
grassroots level, which keeps me in a good mental health and optimistic about
Indian Sports and for its future.
