Soft Sheen To India Shining
After I wrote my column titled ‘India Continues to March Ahead’ for the 19 November 2022 issue of BW Businessworld (my first column for this magazine), much has happened on the economic front and technological growth, as well as our climb up the political and diplomatic ladder as we make subtle progress in almost all walks of life. Now I plan to focus on the ‘softer aspects’ like sports ‒ including for persons with disabilities ‒ that reflect on a holistic growth of Indian Society which is equally important for any nation with ambitions to move up to being a superpower by around 2050. Sports excite nationalism and, unlike politics, everyone respects rules on the field. No matter how nationalist the home crowds may be, if their team loses, it loses in the open and if it wins that too is in the open. Sports are transparent from start to finish. If you don’t agree with the rules, you are not allowed to play. There is that historic example of the WW2 time Olympics, when Hitler offered the great Indian hockey player Dhyan Chand a switch to the German team. Chand politely refused and even the Fuhrer respected this decision. Violence on the sports arena is simply not allowed. Sportsmanship is above all and is a test of how a society and the country are evolving. India is witnessing an era of transformation in sports and that should rub off on everything else.
Let me start with our most popular sport ‒ cricket. Notwithstanding the fact that we lost the final of the World Cup to Australia ‒ that broke a billion hearts ‒ watching the matches every day ‒ with India’s unprecedented record of winning all nine matches and also the grueling semi-final with New Zealand ‒ filled every citizen’s heart with pride. Hundreds of millions were glued to the TV screen hoping and praying for yet another win for the country. Virat or Rohit figuring among the ‘top run-getters’ or Shami’s name on top of the world’s ‘best wicket-takers’ is always a matter of national pride.
These things don’t happen just by luck ‒ such performance needs consistent attention to work ethics, fitness, sustained practice, strength of character, regular introspection ... in short values of life. Comparisons inevitably go to our first World Cup victory in 1983 when Kapil Dev had almost single handedly saved the disastrous situation (17 for 5) by scoring an unbeaten 175 and India lifted the cup. Again, that knock wasn’t merely luck ‒ it was the man’s resolve, determination, superb fitness, and character that brought great honour to India. World Cup, IPL or any series is not just hoopla and big money; it means much more. It is a test of the discipline and rigorous training of the players, unquestionable umpiring, diligent work to prepare pitches and planning and execution capabilities of the administrators. It involves many life lessons that reflect on character building of a team, society, really an entire nation!
That the PM went to congratulate the winning team shows great courtesy and sportsmanship. We didn’t cancel any of the elaborate performances, awards to previous WC winning captains and other razzmatazz; our players were sad but they didn’t sulk.
And, what happened at Hangzhou (China) during the 2023 Asian Games? Finally, India could claim that it’s athletes were measuring up to ‘world standards’. Our medals tally ‘70’ at the last edition of the games ‒ at Jakarta ‒ was expected to improve but no one was sure that we will cross the magic figure of 100. The fact that our 655-strong contingent came home with a whopping 107 was a dream come true. The 28 gold, 38 silver and 41 bronze medals put us in the fourth rank after China (383 medals), Japan (188) and Korea (190).
Considering that we ranked 48 at the 2020 Olympic games in Tokyo (where China and Japan were ranked second and third) we can claim that our boys and girls punched above their weight at Hangzhou. We succeeded in athletics, javelin throw (where the gold and silver both went to Indians), shooting, archery, badminton, wrestling, boxing and hockey. The ‘Hockey Gold’ is a fine example of the strides that India is making. No one has forgotten the 7-1 humiliation that we suffered against our old rivals Pakistan in the 1982 Asian Games final in Delhi. Our success in squash and badminton too were great examples of revival. It was the tremendous mental strength of our men’s doubles pair in Badminton to win the gold against South Korea despite injuries. All this shows huge strides by way of improved coaching facilities, selections from a wider set of youngsters, sponsorships for training, grit, hard work and ‘fire in the belly’ traits that are developed by a lot of societal backing, things that point to big leaps in games across the board. Let me also add that our 107 medals came despite setbacks like delayed visas and other associated hurdles that didn’t allow our players to get acclimatised to the venue before their matches.
By far the most soul stirring for me is our team’s success at the ‘Paralympics’ that followed at Hangzhou. No one can forget the video of 16-year-old Sheetal Devi ‒ born without arms ‒ from a village in J & K, drawing the bow with her toes and going on to win three golds in mixed archery. It was an NGO volunteer who saw her a few years ago, while she was undergoing some treatment in Bengaluru, and felt that she could take up archery and introduced her to coaches at Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Sports Academy in Jammu.
Senior coaches felt that indeed archery would be a good fit for her indomitable grit and power of concentration. They modified equipment for her to learn with her legs and the rest, as they say, is golden history! Similar great sense of purpose and nationalist fervour was displayed by other para-athletes like Adil Ansari in Archery (bronze), Praveen Kumar in High Jump (gold), Ankur Dhama (golds in 1,500 and 5,000 metres). Most inspirational here is that all of them are from poor families and hail from different parts of the country ‒ great for inclusivity! The record haul of 111 medals, including 29 gold, is the country’s biggest ever tally in any major multisport event.
No wonder we are now aspiring to host the Summer Olympics in 2036. It may be our need to make a statement because we have now reached a respectable per capita GDP milestone.
The recent cricket tournament also brought out the fact that ‘India derives its strength from its diversity’, more excellence leads to more social mobility; our players came from varied backgrounds ‒ Gill from a Punjab village near the Pakistan border, Jadeja’s father worked as a watchman in Jamnagar, Siraj’s father drove an auto-rickshaw in Hyderabad. As more people get a chance to hone their skills and excel, the more our country will shine in other areas too. Matches were held all over the country. Lot is indeed happening to bridge the yawning gaps in inclusivity which will add to give us an even greater soft sheen.
Proportion of the poor has dipped to about 15 per cent from about 25 per cent in 2015-16. Aspirants for the IAS and other civil services are coming from poor families in tier- 2, tier-3 and tier- 4 towns; daughters of farmers, mechanics and daily wage earners from Maharashtra villages are making it to the national hockey team.
As a recent issue of BW Health brought out ‒ bright young achievers are getting involved with public healthcare in an effort to make it affordable, pioneering efforts are on for ‘special needs education’ and healthcare for the disabled, support is emerging for the elderly by way of ‘companionship good-fellows’ like in Sweden. A successful ophthalmologist has opened five schools in the slums of the millennium city and now an IAS aspirant has changed tracks and is also taking classrooms to the slums in Gurugram. There’s a Social Exchange which should help NGOs raise funds. Even the apex court has made space in the hallowed SC complex for a café run by the disabled and, as the Chief Justice of India said, “inclusiveness is not a mere aspiration, it is the key to unlocking full potential of our society”.
On the flipside, there are huge challenges too. Incidents of killings by drunken drivers and road rage murders are increasing at an alarming rate; so are tragic cases of rapes; ragging at universities at times leads to suicides; stalkers turn to injuring and even killing girls if they resist their advances; child marriages continue to happen; air quality in the metros is worsening year after year, so is the quality of water, both leading to severe impact on life expectancy.
There are ever increasing cases of Diabetes and Cancer. No one paid heed to the SC orders and burst crackers with abandon on Diwali. Communal intolerance peaks at times ‒ we saw a horrible case of a religious ‘yatra’ turning into riots. Workers trapped for almost two weeks in the tunnel in Uttarakhand ‒ which is obviously a case of criminal lack of adherence to quality norms in public works construction.
The author is member, Managing Committee, Indian Cancer Society Delhi and former member Governing Council, Rajiv Gandhi Cancer Institute & Research Centre. He is past president of the All India Management Association
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