India to UNUnited Nations, Nov 14 (PTI) Sports-stars can play a keyrole in spreading development messages and cricket icon SachinTendulkar's participation in major campaigns on hygiene andcleanliness has proved it, a senior Indian diplomat has toldthe United Nations.
Addressing the UN session 'Sport for development andpeace', Srinivas Prasad, Minister on Sports Committee ofIndian Mission, also underlined the role of sports as"celebrations of global goodwill".
"The spread of the Olympic movement and the immensegrowth in popularity of national and world championships ofmajor sports like soccer, basket ball, cricket, hockey andtennis highlight their role as celebrations of globalgoodwill," he said.
Srinivas said the story of many sports-persons who haverisen from poverty and destitution are powerful messages ofhope and happiness to millions of young people in the world.
"The sport-stars, in turn, become valuable messengers inspreading developmental messages," he remarked.
"As a national sport of India which reaches millions ofpeople in cities, towns and villages, cricket and its starsprovide a very important platform for spreading socialmessages. Indian cricket's greatest icon Sachin Tendulkarillustrates this.
"Tendulkar was part of a popular national campaign topromote hygiene among children which encouraged schoolchildrento wash their hands before eating food. Similarly, he hasrecently been a brand ambassador for India's 'Swachh Bharat'or the Clean India campaign," Srinivas said.
Tendulkar, 44, who retired from all forms of cricket in2013, was invited by Prime Minister Narendra Modi as a publicfigure to make a contribution towards Swachh Bharat on October2, 2014.
The minister also apprised the session about Indiangovernment's initiatives which have advanced social andeducational development in backward areas.
He talked about the creation of sports hostels spreadacross the country which he said have been made to takeadvantage of location-specific sports talent.
"Sports hostels in India, particularly in eastern statesof Bihar and Jharkhand, have given platform to young girlsfrom tribal areas of the two states.
"The opportunity has paid dividends not only for theyoung women themselves but also for India. Today India'sjunior and senior hockey team are dominated by players whohave emerged from these tribal areas," he told the world body.
He brought to light the situation in Naxal-infested Sukmadistrict of Chhattisgarh where introduction of sports inprimary schools has brought about a positive change in youngstudents.
"Sport is an important building block for a peaceful andbetter world," he emphasised.
Srinivas also hailed the designation of April 6 as'International Day of Sports' as an important marker forflagging the relevance of sports to development and peace. Heappreciated the work of the UN office on sports fordevelopment and peace over the last decade. PTI KIS AKJKIS.
This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.