Friday, Mar 29, 2024 | Last Update : 10:39 AM IST

  Make spending on sports accountable

Make spending on sports accountable

Published : Aug 22, 2016, 11:49 pm IST
Updated : Aug 22, 2016, 11:49 pm IST

For decades, India has averaged two Olympic medals at each game.

For decades, India has averaged two Olympic medals at each game. Therefore, it was rash of the minister for sports and youth affairs until recently — the man pitchforked lately as Assam chief minister — to believe that Rio would yield 10 medals for India. Perhaps, he should be asked to enlighten us why he thought so.

The stark fact is that performance in the Olympic Games too is, essentially, a socio-economic thing. Usually, the more well-off a country, the better administered it is, and also more accountable in every sphere, including in the running of sports. Maladministration is a hallmark of underdevelopment.

Olympic prizes typically go to countries from Western Europe, North America and Australia, with several others chipping in on the margins. Russia and Eastern Europe are not what they were since the fall of communism. China has become a significant presence on account of two factors: its very rapid economic growth accompanied by focused elimination of hunger (in India hunger is for real) without which there can’t be serious sports; and its medals-focused aggressive sports expenditure. Remember, China’s per capital income is about three times that of India’s.

While these countries get the medals, we get heart-breaks — auto-propelled individual sporting geniuses, having pushed themselves heroically, just falling short. But the boastful officials, after messing things up at the preparation stage, are the picture of confidence before a major contest. It is time the CAG conducted a thorough probe into even the small sums provisioned for sports in India. Goings-on in cricket have shocked everyone. Inquiry into wider sports administration and management too is likely to yield an unpleasant shock.

In India, it is no secret that even the selection of sportspersons for intensive training before a major event is shot through with corruption. And this is the case even at the level of sub-district competitions. Those who have picked up rewards at the Olympic level have done so despite the government. But in the Indian context, this cannot be an argument for eliminating government from sports, for private entities are unlikely to go down to the grassroots-level to help develop sports facilities and infrastructure and unearth talent.

Recent data shows that Britain — which had one gold medal in the 1996 Olympics — has a tally of 67 at Rio, coming second overall, and that its sport expenditure is three or four times that of India’s. While we won’t be able to equal that even if we raised our sports spend four times, an important factor is to overhaul sports administration and introduce accountability, whose lack is a scourge.