The growing unhappiness of National Sports Federations and the Indian Olympic Association over the purported high-handedness of the sports ministry and SAI officials has led to Union Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju stepping in. Rijiju has conveyed a strong message to all stakeholders that the government will continue to seek smooth and regular consultation with all involved to ensure that India's sport ecosystem and results improve in international competitions like the Olympics in the long term.
Rijiju had on April 16 received a long WhatsApp message from IOA president Dr Narinder Dhruv Batra allegedly complaining about a communication between Target Olympics Podium Scheme (TOPS) CEO commander Rajesh Rajagopalan and Athletics Federation of India high-performance director Valker Hermann as being tantamount to government interference.
Following on the heels of Batra's complaint, AITA too had complained of high-handedness by Union Secretary for Sports Radhey Shyam Jhulaniya during an interaction between sports ministry officials and representatives of 10 NSFs via videoconference on Thursday amid the national lockdown. The sports ministry is continuing such consultations, going over plans of each federation regarding talent search, training and preparation of their respective athletes.
Jhulaniya had reportedly also remarked that if federations think the ministry's efforts to make them answerable was tantamount to interference, then they should not avail SAI facilities for teams.
"The way I have understood is that now the CEO TOPS has told AFI president that AFI HPD is employee of SAI, and SAI has every right to call him for any discussion and it is in the contract between SAI and HPD. If Secretary Sports, DG SAI and CEO TOPS remember correctly, then my opening remarks in the meeting regarding appointment of CEO and HPM in all NSF to get professionalism. I had told that there is lack of trust in the intentions of MYAS and SAI by almost all NSFs and it is interference in the autonomy of NSFs and SAI, and MYAS thru these appointments want to do remote-control of NSFs,” Batra had allegedly conveyed to the sports minister.
Interestingly, Batra later denied having sent any such message but Rijiju appears to have taken strong note of it and not allowed the communication to pass.
"I've been made aware of some concerns of Indian Olympic Association resident, Shri Narinder Dhruv Batra, and news published in some section of media regarding autonomous functioning of National Sports Federations (NSFs) vis-a-vis perceived control of the sports ministry and SAI on their day-to-day functioning,” Rijiju said.
“I have had detailed discussion with my officers regarding this issue and would like to reiterate the following: The common goal of the sports ministry, IOA and the NSFs are improving the overall sports ecosystem of the country with focus on identifying and nurturing grass-roots level talents on the one hand and grooming elite athletes to achieve sporting excellence on the other, providing the best facilities to our athletes in terms of training, diet and top-level competition exposure, to ensure that India finishes in the top 10 in 2028 Olympics, an ambitious target declared by me as sports minister of the country."
Rijiju further added that to achieve these goals, smooth communication between all concerned is of utmost importance and also added that NSFs and IOA should be transparent and adhere to good governance principles.
"To achieve these goals, the way forward is to have a proper coordination between sports ministry, SAI, IOA and NSFs. Government is committed to work closely with all NSFs and IOA to ensure that there is no gap in the communication between stakeholders. While reviewing the critical sporting activities, the autonomous functioning of the National Sports Federations must be maintained at any cost. Adherence to National Sports Code and good governance in NSFs are cornerstones of transparency and fairness in all its conducts. Government is committed to provide necessary support to NSFs for the promotion of sports and to ensure the well-being of our athletes is not compromised,” Rijiju declared.
It must be noted that the sports ministry has been quite accommodating of the concerns of the NSFs and IOA over the Sports Code matter, agreeing to junk the draft National Sports Development Code 2017 prepared by Olympian Abhinav Bindra. Rijiju has announced formation of a new committee to prepare a fresh draft.
Rijiju said remarks by officials should not be treated as matter of policy and advised upset NSFs to not cry foul. "Regular consultation and discussion among the stakeholders at various levels must be smooth, but undesirable conduct by individuals at any circumstances should not dampen our cooperation spirit and any remark made by individuals at certain situation should not be treated as a matter of policy. We are determined to work together to realise the dream of making India a sports superpower,” Rijiju explained.
Reacting to the minister's statement, IOP president Narinder Dhruv Batra said he agrees with Rijiju and added that they too are working towards the same aim. “We also have to work together to fulfill the targets the honourable minister has set for 2028, ie. India in Top 10 in medals tally. I have always respected and appreciated the proactive and friendly vision of the honourable minister and the support of MYAS and SAI to attain this vision,” he said in a statement.