It seems that good times are back for the National Sports Federations (NSFs). The NSFs, which violated the National Sports Development Code-2011, had been de-recognised.
The Sports Authority of India (SAI) might have played an active role to tide Indian sportspersons over that difficult time, but the reality was that they had to face a lot of problems. It took sportspersons a lot of time to get their allowances including TA and DA cleared for the national camps.
Now, with 20 National Sports Federations having got their recognition back, this problem of the sportspersons seems to be getting over. At least, this will result in smooth functioning of the national camps for the Olympics. The Sports Ministry has given back recognition to NSFs of several games such as judo, cycling and swimming for a year. Federations of boxing, football and athletics have been given back their recognition till 31 December 2020. But there is a rider that these federations have to hold their long due elections according to the sports code.
The ministry has given six months’ time to all the NSFs to fully comply with the six sports codes. The order restoring recognition to weightlifting and wrestling was issued on Monday. Boxing, athletics and football federations have been given recognition till 31 December on the condition of holding elections.
What is also important is that there should be transparency in the attitude of the government and also in the functioning of the NSFs. Most of the sports federations are associated with Indian Olympic Association (IOA), and IOA is associated with the International Olympic Committee (IOC). It is worth mentioning that the IOC considers any act of interference on the part of the government as violation of its autonomy. That is why the IOC had put a ban on the IOA eight years ago. This 14-months ban was removed only after assurance of restoring the autonomy of IOA.
The government side also needs to have a practical view of the same. Paralympic and rowing federations had been suspended till September this year. Even the recognition of Sports Games Federation of India (SGFI) was suspended regardless of the huge loss it might have caused to the youth and teenage players of the country. Why was not an alternative arrangement made? When the responsibilities are given to Sports Authority of India at the in place of sports federations at the centre, why can’t the same be done in terms of school games? Was this done for promoting Khelo India?
While issuing guidelines, the government should also see as to how its Sports Codes 2017 were rejected at such a level, with organisations from IOA to every sports federation joining hands against this. In fact, there are politicians and bureaucrats calling the shots in sports federations, and the sports code, interestingly, keeps MPs, MLAs and government servants out of these federations.
So, before bringing this code, the government should have given it a thought that several sports federations today are running successfully because of the influence of the politicians. Since, the government is giving just a small amount for senior, junior and sub junior national championship, so these sports federations have to look towards the influential people of the society.
The government should, therefore, pay special attention to the practical side of the issues related to the sports code. Apart from this, the government should also take note of the fact that international organisations of the sports should not see it as any interference. But the other side of the picture is that arbitrariness, which was going on for a long time in the sports federations, has been checked.
Now nobody will be sticking to his post for a long time. The Sports Code 2011 actually abolishes several ills plaguing the sports federations. Let’s hope that the sports federations will also pay heed to these issues and fulfil the conditions, as laid down by the sports codes in the interest of sportspersons.