Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju landed in Bengaluru on Friday morning (around 10 am) and crisscrossed the city — he visited Sports Authority of India regional centre, Anju Bobby George’s academy in Kengeri and then Asian Age Group Swimming championships at Padukone-Dravid Centre of Excellence in Yelahanka.
It was not until around 9 pm that he reached a plush hotel in the heart of the city. He seemed a little tired but was exuberant enough to speak about his policies and initiatives. In a freewheeling chat, he touched upon topics ranging from adoption of Sports Authority of India centres to BCCI coming under RTI, besides his latest project, the Fit India movement.
Excerpts...
Fastracking cash awards to athletes; sanctioning National Sports Development Funds for former international athletes to develop academies… Is this a policy decision to have less paperwork and quick sanctioning?
It is not a decision. It’s my way of functioning. I have a very typical way of looking at things. I don’t analyse too much of an issue. I just see the objective. If it is good, we have to get it done somehow. Bureaucratic hurdles are something that you have to use for a positive purpose. Rules you have to follow. There are regulations, there are policies that you have to follow. But those regulations, those policies should not be invoked for stalling the objective.
Secondly, I want to create some kind of a positive atmosphere in the sports ministry to create sports culture in India. Players who played for India earlier, they used to face a lot of issues, even for cheque clearance. They used to win international medals and they had to wait for months and years for their reward amount. So what I have decided is, when a player wins a medal or any championship, by the time the player reaches India, the cheque must be ready. If the player arrives at night, by morning the cheque must be ready. This is what I’ve done since I’ve taken charge.
When I visited some of the training centres, I realised there is a categorised way of providing food. When I went to Patiala, some juniors were getting two pieces of chicken while some seniors were getting four pieces of chicken dining in the same hostel. Why this discrimination in food? Some sportsperson may not require that amount of calories. Some sports like wrestling, weightlifting, boxing may require higher amount of calories. So it should be the coaches and the nutritionists who decide what kind of food and how much of it an athlete requires. It should not be decided by the federation or the government. It should be decided by the technical people and the government should support. So I have reduced or removed any kind of disparity. Athletes must be given whatever is due to them, whatever they deserve.
Honour to inspire others..
A sportsperson gives everything to the country, to the society by playing. If the honour is not there or if the sportsperson is not respected, then it will not inspire the next generation. I have met athletes who have never met a government official or a minister before.
There are many players who are living very oblivious lives. Nobody knows them. They thought society had forgotten them, so when I honoured them, they felt very nice. In fact, I could see the tears. The satisfaction is immense. They feel that the sports minister is taking care of them. When somebody plays for India, the Indian flag is something they hold close to their chest. Once somebody has represented India, held the Indian flag, then the emotional attachment always remains that he has represented India. So we should never let them down at any stage of time.
Taking care of medical expenses of ex-athletes..
Then there are some players who are unable to take care of their medical expenses. Any player who has played for India, whether they have won medal or not, if they are in a difficult situation where they are not having that kind of support system any more, they are financially weak, then we have to take care of them. So there is a provision that we can fund them for their medical expenses and for some emergency need. If anybody has represented India, or if anybody has won a medal in the national championships, we can take care of them.
Not fully, whatever is possible, because money is not unlimited. So I’m personally meeting former players. As sports minister, I try to give them maximum time. I also personally feel very satisfied when we meet players who we had heard of as children. Some of them, we were not even born when they played for India. These are not big policy matters but these are gestures that make a difference. We talk about creating a sports culture and these are the parameters in which society has to understand how that can be developed.
Reasons behind creating centre of excellence?
Depending on the suitability and potential of a particular centre. We are going to streamline everything because earlier there were too many complications. There was something called regional SAI centres, there were National Institutes of Sports, there were some centres called special training centres (STCs), SAI Special Area Games (SAG). Why so much of complication? So I have decided to remove everything. All sports centres are Centres of Excellence.
Some are national-level — national campers will get the training there. Some centres will be for juniors. We are making things very simple. There has to be a simplified form of nomenclature. I’m trying to bring whatever change is possible. My Prime Minister is so sports-loving and encouraging. So it’s my duty to fulfill his vision and make India a sporting superpower. Maybe in a decade, we should be able to do that. Things are happening. We won maximum number of medals in recent world championships in wrestling and boxing. Sindhu became the first woman badminton world champion. We are winning medals in various other disciplines.
Your Tokyo hopes?
Tokyo seems to be good but the Olympics is very tough. I hope the hockey teams qualify -- both men’s and women’s. Many players have already qualified at such an early stage. Today I met the secretary general of the Asia Swimming Federation. He’s from Oman. He was telling me that nobody from his country has qualified for the Olympics. You know how many from India has qualified… But shooting, we are a strong team, wrestling also. Archery, men have already qualified, hopefully, women will qualify. Badminton team I am quite hopeful. Let’s see we are hoping for best-ever performance.
Adoption of SAI centres?
Somebody should adopt. In fact, I was thinking of some of the SAI centres. There are so many SAI centres — there are more than 284 sports centres funded by us. The government cannot run so many sports institutes. Maybe I’m thinking, sports centres can be taken over by security forces (BSF, CRPF, Assam Rifles, ITBP). The security forces, they have some discipline in their culture, so they can create better sports culture there. My only objective is to increase the sports facilities, sports culture and performance. Ultimately, the country of India’s size cannot be satisfied with one or two medals in Olympics.
The sports ministry has finally brought the Indian cricket board (BCCI) under the National Anti-Doping Agency ambit. Will RTI be the next step?
Everything should come naturally. It’s not that sports minister wants this or wants that. Whatever is necessary, whatever is required must be done. My philosophy is not to force or impose anything. Whatever is necessary for the sector, it has to be done. If it (RTI) is necessary, it has to be. If it is not necessary, it will not be. It’s not my wish. I’m saying what is to be done, has to be done.
On revised sports code..
We’re meeting them, we will discuss with stakeholders first.
Are you getting strict with errant federations?
There is nothing called strictness. Why should I be strict with them? They have to follow the rules. If they don’t follow the rules, we will have to intervene. It’s not my wish. If there are problems in the federation, we have to intervene. In some of the cases, we had to intervene. Para-Olympics, we had to suspend them. All the sports, whether it’s rowing or gymnastics or archery — it’s in a deep mess — because of the problems of the federation, the athletes should not suffer. My intention is that athletes should be able to participate in any of the events, international or national. If there are too many problems, then the athletes suffer. Like the archery team. They have qualified for the Olympics. But they came to me, saying we’re really worried, our federation has been de-recognised. But I told them, don’t worry, the government will take care of you.
Course forward..
You’re seeing what I’m doing. I will follow like this only. Nothing much to say, because if I say things and if I can’t do it, then it’s not good.
On Khelo India and Fit India
The Khelo India programme is to make people play games, to make people adopt a sports culture for excellence. Fit India is to make general people of our country fit. It’s universal. If the citizens are not fit, how will the country become fit? So, ultimately, the citizens, if they are to be productive, they have to be fit. If I have a problem with my health, my mental fitness will have a problem. So physical fitness will lead to mental fitness, (which in turn) will lead to greater contributions. So the Prime Minister has launched Fit India movement and I am taking it further.
What feedback have you received?
Over the last 20 days, I have been receiving huge support. People are participating in the Fit India movement. They are running, jogging. On October 2 (Gandhi Jayanti), we are planning to do a plogging run — where we pick up plastics and litters around and make our society clean. If you do jogging or brisk walking, you can pick up plastics and other waste, thereby making your area clean and becoming fit in the process. If you’re doing nothing, you’re not running or doing physical activities, you are making your body unfit, while not contributing anything to the cleanliness of your locality.