As the Indian contingent gears up for the Rio Olympics starting later this week, the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday expressed concern over the plight of sportspersons. Raising the issue, BJD member and former Indian hockey captain Dilip Tirkey said that while cricketers MS Dhoni and Sachin Tendulkar figured in the list of the richest athletes, some sportspersons were forced to sell “tea or gol gappa, or work in a dhaba” to make ends meet.
Associating herself with the sentiments expressed by Tirkey, Olympian, former world boxing champion and nominated member Mary Kom said players at the highest level struggled to receive top class training facilities and proper diet. In fact, they got the diet only when participating in a competition, she said narrating her own experience while fighting it out at the international level. The entire House backed Mary Kom and Tirkey’s observations.
Minister for Sports Vijay Goel assured the concerned Elders that the Government has provided the necessary facilities, including customised training and quality diet. He informed that Rs 30 lakh to Rs 1 crore have been spent on some top class athletes now preparing for the mega-event in Brazil. He also said 119 sportspersons are representing the country in the Olympics.
Drawing the attention of the House to the condition of Indian sportspersons, Tirkey said during the Question Hour while small countries like Jamaica had a sports budget of more than Rs 4,200 crore, Indian budget for the same was Rs 1,500 crore.
Faced with this situation, he asked the Government to spell out its policy to promote sports and encourage youth to adopt sports as a career. Hoping that the Indian contingent will at least bag seven to eight medals in the forthcoming Olympics, the BJD leader also sought to know the Government’s plans to rope in business conglomerates for funding sports as part of corporate social responsibility(CSR).
In her debut intervention during the Question Hour, Mary Kom expressed concern over the training and the diet provided to players participating in international sporting events.
Stressing that the diet should be given to them on time, she said there were instances when the food had arrived just when the players were about to go for a match.
Admitting that sports budget was inadequate, Goel said the Government is considering widening the scope of CSR activities to include promotion of sports, including indigenous ones, through corporate funding.
The Sports Ministry had taken up this issue with the Corporate Affairs Ministry in promotion and development of rural sports, nationally recognised sports and Olympic sports, he said.
In an effort to promote sports at grass-roots level, the Government will hold sporting activities in 30 cities and involve 25,000 schools at national level games, Goel said.
The House saw a brief spat between Congress member Rajeev Shukla and RJD member PC Gupta when the latter commented on the cash-rich cricket while the other sports were languishing for want of funds.