The Sports bill proposed by Ajay Maken has the right idea when it comes to demanding greater accountability from sports bodies. But rather than encouraging intervention in bodies like BCCI, Maken should have demanded accountability from the ministry itself.
The recent altercation over the ‘Draft National Sports Development Bill- 2011’ aka Sports Bill has exposed the conflict of interest between Union Minister for Sports and Youth Affairs Ajay Maken on one side and the vanguards of sports federations in India on the other side. Ultimately, the bill has been rejected by the Cabinet.
This unique sports bill that is more or less unprecedented in the absence of a law to the effect, has three essential points. First, heads of the sports federations will retire at the age of 70 years from now on. Secondly, all the sports federations including the autonomous BCCI and IOA (Indian Olympics Association) will come under the purview of the RTI Act. And thirdly, 25% of the seats will be occupied by former sports persons from the same sport on the executive boards. Apart from this, all federations need to register themselves under the new act within one year to be eligible to send their teams for participation in any foreign sporting events. Also, all the federations will come under the purview of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). While ministers like Vilasrao Deshmukh (President, Mumbai Cricket Association), Sharad Pawar (ICC President), Farooq Abdullah (President, J&K Cricket Association), Praful Patel (President, All India Football Federation), and C.P. Joshi (President, Rajasthan Cricket Association) among others are against the new proposed bill, sports persons of repute including cricketers Kapil Dev, Bishen Singh Bedi and badminton legend Prakash Padukone are favouring the move.
The bill faced heavy criticism upon being introduced in the cabinet meeting on September 1, 2011, with some calling it a draconian law to strangulate sports authorities in India. It may be true to an extent considering the government’s efficiency at handling sporting events in the past (most recently, the CWG mess). There’s also the inherent fear – quite rightly so – that if obscenely cash-rich organisations like BCCI are brought under direct government control, it won’t be long before one of the strongest sporting fields – cricket – is reduced to, say, hockey’s current state; hockey, for information, is supposed to be the “National Sport” of India. On the other hand, Maken argues that a proper sports law would have in fact prevented the scams in the CommonWealth games. In fact, Ajay Maken also sent a letter to the PM blaming former sports minister Mani Shanker Aiyar for the CWG mess to an extent, claiming that Aiyar had played an “obstructionist” role. Of course, it is a different matter that true to his reputation, Aiyar ripped the ‘dichotomous’ cake out of Ajay with his now well known “me Stephanian, you Hansraj” rhubarb.
On hindsight, in rejecting Maken’s jumpstart overtures, the ministry seems to have acted in both the right and the wrong manner. For sure, the bill needs to be studied in depth on the matter of how it has delegated the powers so that it is not misunderstood as being intrusive in nature – and this is what is the ministry’s primary reasoning. Another immediate issue is the lack of significant official representation from the government. For example, in the National Sports Development Council that the bill envisages, there are 23 proposed members in all consisting of eminent athletes, officials of the national sports federations and dignitaries from other walks of life – and there are supposed to be only four government officials.
The recent altercation over the ‘Draft National Sports Development Bill- 2011’ aka Sports Bill has exposed the conflict of interest between Union Minister for Sports and Youth Affairs Ajay Maken on one side and the vanguards of sports federations in India on the other side. Ultimately, the bill has been rejected by the Cabinet.
This unique sports bill that is more or less unprecedented in the absence of a law to the effect, has three essential points. First, heads of the sports federations will retire at the age of 70 years from now on. Secondly, all the sports federations including the autonomous BCCI and IOA (Indian Olympics Association) will come under the purview of the RTI Act. And thirdly, 25% of the seats will be occupied by former sports persons from the same sport on the executive boards. Apart from this, all federations need to register themselves under the new act within one year to be eligible to send their teams for participation in any foreign sporting events. Also, all the federations will come under the purview of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). While ministers like Vilasrao Deshmukh (President, Mumbai Cricket Association), Sharad Pawar (ICC President), Farooq Abdullah (President, J&K Cricket Association), Praful Patel (President, All India Football Federation), and C.P. Joshi (President, Rajasthan Cricket Association) among others are against the new proposed bill, sports persons of repute including cricketers Kapil Dev, Bishen Singh Bedi and badminton legend Prakash Padukone are favouring the move.
The bill faced heavy criticism upon being introduced in the cabinet meeting on September 1, 2011, with some calling it a draconian law to strangulate sports authorities in India. It may be true to an extent considering the government’s efficiency at handling sporting events in the past (most recently, the CWG mess). There’s also the inherent fear – quite rightly so – that if obscenely cash-rich organisations like BCCI are brought under direct government control, it won’t be long before one of the strongest sporting fields – cricket – is reduced to, say, hockey’s current state; hockey, for information, is supposed to be the “National Sport” of India. On the other hand, Maken argues that a proper sports law would have in fact prevented the scams in the CommonWealth games. In fact, Ajay Maken also sent a letter to the PM blaming former sports minister Mani Shanker Aiyar for the CWG mess to an extent, claiming that Aiyar had played an “obstructionist” role. Of course, it is a different matter that true to his reputation, Aiyar ripped the ‘dichotomous’ cake out of Ajay with his now well known “me Stephanian, you Hansraj” rhubarb.
On hindsight, in rejecting Maken’s jumpstart overtures, the ministry seems to have acted in both the right and the wrong manner. For sure, the bill needs to be studied in depth on the matter of how it has delegated the powers so that it is not misunderstood as being intrusive in nature – and this is what is the ministry’s primary reasoning. Another immediate issue is the lack of significant official representation from the government. For example, in the National Sports Development Council that the bill envisages, there are 23 proposed members in all consisting of eminent athletes, officials of the national sports federations and dignitaries from other walks of life – and there are supposed to be only four government officials.
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