DNA Edit: Corruption has eaten into Indian sports

Indiian sports have been abuzz with activities in recent years. A new private sports league is announced practically every quarter and the sports sponsorship bazaar is growing at a pace of over 12 per cent in India, and is currently valued at well over Rs 5,500 crore, as per estimate.

The cricket broadcast rights alone are pegged at over Rs 900 crore a year, and this is expected to grow more than double in the next five to seven years. With such huge amounts of money coming in, there is a need for greater accountability, which is why the Sports Code 2013 bill has been drafted at the behest of the government. The Bill’s aim is to bring about legislative reform to improve the integrity of sports, which has, in recent times, suffered a series of scandals.

The most recent embarrassment to Indian sports is of tainted officials winning influential positions. Suresh Kalmadi, who spent 10 months in prison due to allegations of corruption following the 2010 Commonwealth Games, was honoured by the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) along with another corrupt politician from Haryana, Abhay Singh Chautala.

It is shocking to see politicians and ex-bureaucrats holding positions such as chairman and committee members for decades. With the government of India pumping crores of rupees into various sports bodies for promotional activities and encouraging sportsmen, these associations have become fertile grounds for politicos and ex-bureaucrats to make money. Dynastic rule may have ended in politics but it’s alive and kicking in the field of sports.

Parminder Singh Dhindsa of the Akali Dal is president of the Cycling Federation of India and his son Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa is president of the Punjab Olympic Association.

The rot runs deep and the prime example in this regard is IOA’s own president N Ramachandran. As the president of IOA, he has been holding on to various other posts. This damaging culture explains why India lags behind some of the poorest nations in the world in terms of sporting achievements, despite having a huge pool of talented sportspersons. We do well in the junior categories but when it comes to senior levels, where the capabilities of our sportspersons are rigorously tested, we fail miserably. Even though huge sums are spent on the training and grooming of players, we still have not been able to achieve desired results. The prime reason for poor performances is corruption and political interference in running our sports federations. The sad truth is sports authorities behave like feudal lords.

It’s time the government pushed for the Sports Code Bill in Parliament so we don’t see many more Kalmadis and Chautalas being honoured for their wrongdoings.