India at Commonwealth Games: Sports governance needs to change

Source: The post is based on an article “India at Commonwealth Games: Sports governance needs to change” published in the Indian Express on 28^th July 2022.

Syllabus: GS 2 Government Policies and Interventions for Development in various sectors and Issues arising out of their Design and Implementation.
Relevance: Sports Development in India

News: Recently, the Indian contingent for the commonwealth games (CWG) has landed in the United Kingdom (UK)

Some developments in Indian Sport’s Sector

In India. sports have become commercial. India’s sporting accomplishments have grown quicker and medals have come at a faster clip than the rate at which the institutional setup for sport has evolved.

The government spends a lot of money on training people abroad and hiring foreign coaches. Therefore, Indian teams and individuals spend time training and acclimatising in Europe, Japan, Korea, and the United States.

Issues with Indian sports industry

In the Olympics and the Commonwealth Games (CWG), India’s performance is shadowed by the performance of other countries like China.

In comparison to China, India’s economic growth does not strongly correlate with India’s sports performance. India’s sports market has not kept pace with the rapid economic growth of India. For example, the market has failed even when India registered an economic growth of over 9% during 2004-09. The institutions were unable to keep pace with a rapidly growing economy.

The national sports agencies still operate in the 20th-century mode. The associated mindset is that there should be lifetime employment in the federations. Therefore, they are run like fiefdoms. This has been brought to the fore by judicial intervention in several cases involving national federations. For example, the courts appointed Committee of Administrators (CoA) ran the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) for six years before handing it over to an elected board.

There are several sports in India that are subject to the same monopolistic attitude and conduct of federations. These federations are run by bureaucrats rather than by people who know the game.

What should be done?

Institutions that govern the market in India should become much more friendly and facilitate the efficient functioning of markets.

The Indian institutions managing sports need to change their culture that supports sport is critical to move to the next level. Former sports persons can take charge of guiding, mentoring and even running federations if not completely,

India should become a training hub for sportspersons from different parts of the world. For example, in cricket, India can become the sought-after destination for training global talent.