Our country is developing very well but not equitably. It is a difficult task to achieve equitable distribution of wealth and facilities. Wealth must be created by all healthy endeavours but should be distributed as equitably as possible. Presently we are talking about winning more medals in the next Olympics. Notwithstanding the individual brilliance and the face-saving medals of P.V. Sindhu and Sakshi Malik, India’s performance has been mediocre among all big countries. Experts have called for overhauling sports bodies and curbing corruption and developing sports culture in the country.
It is necessary for school and sports federations to identify children at young age nurture them and provide world class training to them so that they qualify for Olympics. Instead of politicians, sports persons should head sports bodies. The government has failed to take effective steps to promote sports in the country. Even parents too don’t allow their children to participate in sports and instead ask them to concentrate on studies. Mostly parents are anxious about the future of their children. It must never be forgotten that parental dedication and support is primary and vital for development of the athlete.
Too much money is invested in cricket but other sports are sidelined in our country. Here, the government can do some arm twisting so that BCCI coughs up some money for building two- three world class swimming pools in Mumbai. I fail to understand why we cannot win medals in swimming and cycling? Cycling has to be encouraged among youth.
Food items, fruits, milk, eggs and meat must be available to youth at affordable rates. This is the prime duty of the civil society and our government. Sakshi Tiwari a class IX student from Navi Mumbai had written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi about the lack of playground in her area. Modi intervened in this matter and asked CIDCO to make it available. The institution has started work after receiving a notification from PM. The CIDCO chief engineer Kiran Phanse went to the sector 10 school and interacted with Sakshi Tiwari to know about the problems faced by her.
Tiwari regularly listens to Modi’s programme ‘Mann Ki Baat’. She was inspired by the show and wrote to Modi and brought up the issue of the school not having playground. PM Modi then wrote to the regional head of CIDCO to construct the playground. Sakshi expressed her gratitude to Modi for resolving this issue. The school trustee Santosh Shukla too said the students will be able to use the playground. No nation can develop without discipline and healthy, skilled and responsible citizens. I will reiterate my demand for one year national service for our youth and it will work wonders for them. Best wishes to all readers. Jai Hind
(The views expressed by the author in the article are his/her own.)