Sports Movement in India

We, being a part of a great civilization, are making humble efforts to strengthen the financial position of India withholding all its virtues and therefore we are trying to bring a paradigm shift by working on the thought process of Indians such as giving preference to sports as career option, importance to fitness, strengthening banks in India, higher enrollment in schools etc. To address all the issues stated above we find making sports as a compulsory activity in schools as a Panacea (i.e. to cure all).

The reason I have stressed on our great civilization is because in last decade approx. 10,000 fugitives (including 5500 from India) from all across the globe took refuge in UK and brought fortune of $800 billion along with them. We can also follow the path of UK for strengthening our banking system, but we need to maintain high regards for morality and refrain from such activity and endeavor to find a holistic approach. I believe sports is the new undercurrent and therefore in this article we are emphasizing on PAN India sports movement for India’s economic growth which can be vividly perceived from the conduct of IPL, ISL, Pro Kabaddi League etc. A massive sports drive all across India can change the economic landscape. So, let’s begin with our holistic approach and have a brief look about how it positively affects various facets of the economy.

Problems to be addressed:

India today is considered as the youngest nation of the world. Indians are so obsessed with the status of young India, that they believe India will soon become “WORLD POWER”; Unfortunately, it’s a myth in my opinion. To reap the benefits of demographic dividend, first we have to address the primary issues such as schooling, malnutrition, obesity, medical safety etc.

Today, only 75% students enroll for primary education, 25% of India’s population is malnourished, the epidemic of obesity is touching the sky, and the significance of sports apart from few [such as Cricket, Football, Badminton, Kabaddi etc.] is virtually non-existence. The population of India is approx. 135 crores. And out of which 30 crores are in the schools, but our national budget for education is merely $ 14  billion (INR 99,000 crores) which is roughly INR 3300 per student. The budget allocation for sports is INR 2,900 crores, if we do calculate per student, then it is merely INR 97 per student.  

29% students in India are taking private education, so it means 71% of the student’s population is highly dependent on govt. schools. Even though “EDUCATION” is a Current List subject, the allocation of states are not sufficient to provide quality education, for example: students in Maharashtra are approx. 2.30 crores and the allocation for education in Maharashtra is INR 77,000 crores. So, on an average, India is spending INR 30,000 per student per annum, which is far behind than global average of education spending. For e.g.: OECD countries spend $16,000 per student which is roughly INR 11.50 Lakh in India.

Australia is way ahead than India in every aspect such as schooling, sports, economically, etc. For E.g.: ELLYSSE PERRY is an Australian sportswoman, she represented Australia both in cricket as well as in Football world cup, which shows the status of the sports in Australia.

Therefore, to overcome the aforementioned issue, I believe a national sports movement in India, helps India in multiple ways and brings paradigm shift in Indian economy.

Holistic Approach:

We should make sports compulsory all across India i.e. All sports which are recognized by OLYMPICS. Every student shall play 1 sports as per his will. Currently, schools are five days in a week, so we could follow 4 days schooling method, suitably school hours will be increased to compensate foregone hours and 2 days will be reserved for sports. If students start playing sports in large numbers, then we would require massive infrastructure for sports to implement this movement. Therefore, every ground belonging to government, municipality, privately held, educational institutes shall be deployed for sports. Each city shall be divided in 4 zones (North, South, East & West) and in each zone, the grounds will be dedicated for respective sports. On a particular sports day, a student has to visit the dedicated ground for their chosen respective sport. All the educational institutes, privately held grounds deployed for the sports, shall be fairly compensated by the sports authority.

To implement such movement, we need to setup Section 8 companies as per the Companies Act 2013, for every state, union territories and a holding company at central level. Each state will have to give their sports budgeted fund to these companies and holding company shall have distributed the national sports fund on pro rata basis to each states and union territories. Each student has to pay approx. INR. 3,000/- p.a as sports fees.

Every two years a sport competition shall be organized at state level, the winners at the state level shall be sent to national level sports competition which is to be held at the end of every 3 years and the winners of national level shall be trained for global sports championship.

Revenue generated from all the sports competition (Advertisement, Satellite Rights etc.) shall be allocated to states on pro rata basis.

BENEFITS OF SPORTS MOVEMENT

1. 100% students will be enrolled for schooling
2. Eradication of malnutrition and obesity from India
3. Reduction in medical expenditure of government due to increase of fitness amongst the citizens and it also achieve the objective of FIT INDIA Campaign initiated by Hon’ble Prime Minister
4. Development of Domestic Sports Industry
5. Reduction in Unemployment rate

STUDENTS PERFORMANCE MATRIX

EDUCATION

SPORTS

Now, let me explain the above matrix (3 out of 9 possibilities): – 

1. Suppose a particular student is excellent in education as well as in sports, then he/ she has various carrier options in education as well as in sports and now it’s up to them which field they want to pursue their carrier
2. A particular student is good in sports and education as well. Then he/ she can choose as per his/her will to increase their efforts in either of the one and build their career
3. A particular student is bad in sports and education as well. Then such student goes through a lot of pressure regarding career, so in such case if a student has a good business mind, he/she can get into their own business or get a good job with the help of his connections.

The beauty of this sports movement is the children from BPL family and the wealthiest of families will come together to play irrespective of cast, creed, religion, gender, etc. which will be good for our social fabric. The values of humility, poverty, gratitude etc. shall be ingrained in children from their tender age only. As we all know, the importance of networking and this sports movement will help to develop good network amongst the students which will help them in every possible way.

Indian Sport Goods Industry (The Game is Changing):

Sport is regarded as one of the largest industries globally in terms of employment and revenue. The Business of sports is a multi-billion-dollar global industry propelled by enormous consumer demand. The sports business means many different things to different people. This is a truly global industry, and sports stir up deep passion within spectators and players alike in countries around the world.

Today, sport’s contribution to India’s total employment is just 0.05%. The great initiatives such as Indian Premier League (Cricket), Hockey India League, Indian Badminton League, Prokabbadi, Indian Super League (Football) and professionalization of Heritage sports events such as Goti, Gilli Danda, Lagori, Kilithattu are changing the old face of Indian sports. Once, we believed that only cricket will succeed in India. But the above mentioned initiatives have shown Indians, a world of sports beyond cricket. These initiatives prove that sports have a future in India as a business.

In India sports industry is largely dominated by Adidas, Nike, Puma, etc. if these sports movement becomes reality than their will be enormous demands for sports goods and the same demand will be perpetual, which provides a great opportunity for Indian business houses to grow their business globally and compete with global players. This movement will create huge employment directly and indirectly, and help India to shine.

 BIRDS EYE VIEW ON INDIAN SPORTS GOODS INDUSTRY

• The sports goods industry in India is nearly a century old and has flourished due to the skills of its workforce
• A robust growth rate of 14.7 per cent in exports indicates a sizeable opportunity for India in this sector
• Being labor-intensive in nature, the Indian sports goods industry provides employment to more than 5,00,000 people
• The sports and leisure goods retail market in India was valued at US$ 17.7 billion for 2007-2008. The market grew at the rate of 18 per cent over 2006-2007 in value terms, primarily due to outlet expansions by industry players
• The nucleus of the industry in India is in and around the states of Punjab and Uttar Pradesh; Jalandhar (Punjab) and Meerut (Uttar Pradesh) together account for nearly 81.8 per cent of total domestic production with more than 3,000 manufacturing units and 230 exporters present in these two towns

EXPORT SCENERIO

• Industry exports were valued at approximately INR 585 crores in 2008-2009, growing from INR 320 crores in 2003-2004 at a rate of 14.7 per cent and in 2016 it has grown to INR 2,000 crores.
• India’s share of the global sports goods exports market is expected to grow manifold, with the country establishing the credibility of its goods in the global market
• In recent years, India has emerged as the leading international sourcing destination for inflatable balls and other sports goods for international brands such as Mitre, Lotto, Umbro and Wilson.
• Today, Indian sports goods manufacturers are exporting products under their own brand names, in addition to being original equipment manufacturers (OEM) suppliers for international sports brands
• From the period 2007-2008 onwards, general exercise equipment emerged the category leader in the domestic export products segment, witnessing the highest growth rate of more than 70 % per cent.
• In recent years, Indian products have been exported for global sports events such as the football World Cup 2002, where India-manufactured bladders were used. Athletic Boxing equipment made in India was also used at the Atlanta Olympics (1996) and Beijing Olympics (2008).

Source: Sports Goods Manufacturers & Exporters Association

FINANCES OF SPORTS MOVEMENT

The Funds can be raised multilaterally, such as:

The Government of India by offering loads of Incentives and Concessions attracts FDI of $ 49.97 Billion in FY 2019-20. If we implement Sports movement all across the India effectively along with Community Funding, we can easily raise approx. $40 to $ 50 Billion per annum.

IMPACT ON INDIAN ECONOMY

• Sustainable Flow of Funds in Economy
• Big boost for Manufacturing sector along with export opportunities
• Decrease in unemployment rate
• Increase in Public deposits with Banks and Financial Institutions
• Low Interest Rates

This concept raises various questions about its viability and sustainability and therefore i would like to discuss some questions that I have presently in my mind and how we can address the same, such as:

• How to manage finances of students belongs to BPL Families?

Ans. Encourage corporates to spend a certain portion of their CSR fund towards finances of students belongs to BPL families. We can also approach peoples to donate for sports in India and allow them deduction in income tax.

• How it can be prevented from being hijacked by Political parties?

Ans. To a certain extent, it can be prevented by disqualifying the politicians and their family members to participate in the administrative affairs.

• How to manage the Sports Administration?

Ans. The board must consist of retired sports persons, corporates leaders and ex defence staffs. The technical knowledge of sports persons can be applied to achieve the objective and the corporate leaders helps to get scalability and ensure to build the database to feed the Indian business ecosystem. The ex-Defence staff must be guarded with the responsibility of Human Resource affairs.

• What is the process of electing board members and their tenure?

Ans.  This is the most important aspect about this sports movement and the same must be designed in such a way that it must provide the sense of integrity. Therefore, I urge you all to share your thoughts with me.

• What if any student wants to switch to another sports?

Ans. There will be no restriction for switching to another sports.

So these are the few questions I presently have in my mind. If you have any other question or you may want to suggest any modification, you can communicate them to me on my email ID: pratikshinde197@gmail.com