A national disgrace Unthinkable has happened and the worst is to follow. International Olympic Committee (IOC) has refused to lift the suspension on the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) due to the refusal of IOA to incorporate a clause barring persons charged by courts to contest elections to IOA. Any further continuance of this stalemate may lead to India’s disaffiliation from Olympic movement. The consequences – Indian sports persons will not be permitted to participate under the tricolour. Indian Flag, in any case gets very few opportunities in medal ceremonies to flutter on the tunes of Jana Gana Mana ---, now even its limited exposure in the opening and closing ceremonies will be denied. And it will deal a mortal blow to the image, pride and the prestige of the country. It will also cement our reputation as the most corrupt country in the world. But who cares? Are we not witnessing the same spectacle to undo what Supreme Court has ruled about immediate disqualification of convicted legislators and also barring those in jail to contest elections? If the statements attributed to him in the newspapers are true, the Minister for Sports, Mr Jitendra Singh, has almost thrown his hands up. I also wonder at the slumber of the vast sports bureaucracy at the centre and the states. A Government of India publication says that ‘Achievements in sports have always been a source of national pride and prestige’. The silence and the inaction of the custodians of the government baffle me when the pride and prestige of India has been bruised and mauled. I don’t think, any country among the 100+ counties who play sports and participate in international competitions has the kind of elaborate bureaucracy that India has – a Minister for Sports at Delhi with his own retinue of officials – right from Secretaries/Additional Secretaries belonging to the one of the finest higher civil services in the world (according to Mr Srivatsa Krishna, himself an honourable member of the service), to the junior most clerks and peons, every state has a similar set up with a minister and his Secretary- again, mostly coming from the finest service in the world. At one time, it was reported that Uttar Pradesh had one ‘Minister for Khel’ and one ’Minister for Kood’. In addition, we have an umpteen number of sports federations and academies to promote sports. Most of these bodies are headed by either eminent and honourable political leaders who have hardly played any sports except the (dirty) politics that they play all the time or the members of the finest higher civil service in the world(IAS) or their runners up - the second finest service in the world (IPS). After all, it is a question of national pride and prestige and cannot be left to sportspersons. And what do the sportspersons know of national pride and prestige? Let’s take a look at our performance during the last 67 years. India took half a century (51 years) to get its first gold in 2008. India is the second most populated country in the world with a very young demography – 28.9% (35 crore) are between 19-35 years and 38.8% (47 crore) fall between the age group of 0-18 years. What was our rank & medal tally in the last Olympics at London in 2012? 55th out of 79 participating countries that won medals. We got 6 medals with no gold. Who were ahead of us – Kazakhistan, Jamaica, North Korea, Ethopia, Kenya, Azerbaijan, Colombia, Tunisia, Bahamas, Grenada and Uganda? Whose fault was this? Of course, the sportspersons are to be blamed for their pathetic performance. The king can do no wrong. The other day in the Parliament, Mr Chidambaram was very condescendingly saying in the Parliament that we cannot compare ourselves with countries with population of few millions. You are right Mr Chidambaram, they are far ahead of us. Yesterday, one parliamentarian was referring to a friendly sovereign neighbour – Bangladesh as ‘Chuhia’ as compared to Indian ‘elephant’. Apart from being in bad test referring to a sovereign nation like this (would we like India to be addressed as the hunger/malnutrition capital of the world?), the statement betrayed our arrogance. Nation is paying dearly for this arrogance and hubris of the ruling class and the apathy of the middle class. Where is the hurt pride – we get offended so easily by songs, movies and music? Till we develop that sensitivity and feel the hurt at the mauling of our cities by repeated terrorists attacks, all pervasive deprivations of 80% of our people and the brazenness of the decline in moral values amongst each one of us, nothing will change. INDIA will continue to be in the dumps. Is Narendra Modi listening? Wake up Middle Class, WAKE UP.
Posted on: Sat, 07 Sep 2013 04:01:35 +0000
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