Even though leading federations seem to be happy with the decision and have been open to the idea of following with a similar shunning of government money, not all federations can afford to fund their sport themselves.
The Indian Olympic Association’s (IOA) decision not to take financial help from the government starting this financial year is a move towards autonomy, but there are fears that it might lead to a split in the sporting fraternity.
Even though leading federations seem to be happy with the decision and have been open to the idea of following with a similar shunning of government money, not all federations can afford to fund their sport themselves. “It will be a difficult decision for federations of several less popular sports. One has to wait and see whether all of them actually fall in line,” said a senior IOA official who did not want to be named.
The IOA and sports federations are reportedly looking to avoid coming under the scanner of the Right to Information Act (RTI) which the sports ministry has made mandatory for the IOA and all the federations as they are funded by the government.
In a letter dated March 31, IOA secretary general Randhir Singh wrote to the sports ministry: “The Indian Olympic Association would like to thank the Government of India for the financial support it has provided to the Indian team till now under the aegis of IOA.”
The move from Randhir followed a recent ‘annual recognition scheme’ under which sports federations were asked to furnish details in order to continue receiving funding from the government.
This was after a move by the government (following a Delhi High Court order) to bring all sports bodies costing the exchequer Rs10 lakh or more under the purview of the RTI. Though the money sanctioned to the IOA itself is not huge, money to the sports federations is routed through the body.
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