29 August was National Sports Day in India, to commemorate the great hockey player Dhyan Chand. But the outlook was rather dismal. According to a report presented before the Indian Parliament in September 2006, out of India's 800 million-strong youths, 700 million have little to no access to sporting facilities of any kind. Of these, at least 450 million live in rural India.
It is widely accepted that youth sports are essential components of a country's human-resource development – providing recreation, improving productivity and fostering social harmony and discipline. With more or less these same objectives in mind, in 2001 the government of India formulated a new national sports policy, following up on previous work done in 1984. Village panchayats were subsequently to be mobilised to facilitate the development of requisite infrastructure (and identify talent) in India's rural areas. Indigenous games were also to receive increased promotion, including kabaddi, kho-kho, wrestling and tug-of-war. Unfortunately, in the intervening six years, even partial targets on these goals have yet to be achieved.
According to the Indian Constitution, sport promotion comes under the purview of state governments. But between 2001 and 2006, despite the availability of funds, many state governments only submitted one or two annual proposals requesting financial assistance for the specific development of rural sports. This means that children in rural areas are missing out on development worth hundreds of thousands of rupees per year. In addition, according to the latest available figures, during the period 2004-05 the Indian government released less than INR 2.8 million under the so-called Grants to Rural Schools for Purchase of Sports Equipment and Development of Playground – a pitiable sum given India's vast rural population. This is not only a matter of negligence; state governments are actively avoiding their responsibilities.
Needless to say, infrastructure development such as building roads, flyovers and five-star hotels is not the best way to prepare for the 2010 Commonwealth Games, currently slated to take place in Delhi. All in all, INR 50 billion is estimated to be spent on the games. But sports are associated with players, not buildings. Indian policymakers need to take a long look in the mirror and ask whether they are excited for India to be an active participant in the Games – or just a good host.