Sports policy remains a dream

“Empty vessels make much noise” is the old saying. The new game of our politicians is to exploit the sentiments of the youth in the hope that they would carve a strong vote bank constituency. In post-insurgency period, more and more political leaders and concerned administrative echelons are feeling impelled towards scratching the emotions of the youth of the State in a bid to divert their attention from subversion to creative activity, How far have they succeeded is a moot question.
Policy planners believe that the best way of diverting the attention of the youth from joining militancy and subversive activities to creative and healthy activities is to provide them facilities for sports whether through their respective educational institutions or through social development channels. Theoretically speaking, this is a fine and time tested idea. But the crux is of translating it into practice. Each State has sports policy keeping in view that the youth should excel in balancing the growth of body and mind among them. However, we in our State have the policy wrapped in papers and files and nothing is visible on the ground. It is not true in the case of sports only. This void gap between the words and deeds is visible in many departments and organizations. It was in 2013 that the government felt the State should have a well-considered and well-defined sports policy. The purpose is to give the youth a good opportunity to develop their inherent aptitude for sports and qualify for competitions so that the State is also brought on the sports map of the country. One thing all of us agree is that our youth have the potential of developing as proud and skilful sportsmen and sportswomen provided adequate opportunities are available and they are caught young to be groomed as budding spots lovers. This is indeed a redeeming factor and ought to have been exploited thoroughly.
The exercise of formulating sports policy in the State is going on since 2013. Almost five years have passed and yet even the outlines of a sports policy are nowhere in sight. The reason for this criminal delay is that we have not one but several agencies functioning in various directions under the label of lovers of sports. These are the Department of Education, J&K State Sports Council, Department of Youth Services and Sports, Nehru Yuva Kendras and various Sports Associations; all working in a haphazard manner but to no avail and ultimate purpose of sports is getting defeated. Why is sports activity in the state shared by a number of agencies and why have not they been able to forge a single window for improving and making coordinated efforts for gaining excellence in sports activities. Perhaps merging all these agencies into one organization with a comprehensive sports policy would have been healthier than what we have today. We learn that a draft of state sports policy had been circulated in the public domain which did not receive palpable response. However, in an overall estimation we find that there is lack of interest among the wider sections of people about the utility and necessity of developing sports in the State.  We learn that the Department of Youth Service and Sports tried to bring the stake holders together in which the outlines of the State Sports Policy were discussed but not agreed upon. The result is that the policy has not been framed and what will be its future is anybody’s guess.
We need to prove that we can exploit our hidden talent in our youth to win as appreciation in tournaments. We need drastic reformation in the sports by providing adequate infrastructure to the district headquarters like playing fields, organization, arranging of tournaments, promotion of talent, adequate exposure of the talent, requisitioning the services of experts, participation in national events and encouragement of sportspersons, both boys and girls, and providing proper sports equipment., Annual or seasonal events provide recreational opportunities for the society and public recognition of outstanding sportspersons instills in the youth a desire to become a good sportsperson. We would suggest that firstly all agencies connected with the sports should be brought under one umbrella and their activities coordinated in a manner that they feel proud to make their contribution.

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