Olympics or Kaun Banega Crorepati?

On the day Great Britain vanquished the Indian womenrsquos hockey team at the Tokyo Olympics nine of the players belonging to Haryana lost more than just a bronze Each of them under the State governmentrsquos sports policy squandered the chance of pocketing Rs 25 crore and getting an entry into Group B Service Defeat by contrast entitled them to Rs 15 lakh each and a post in Group C Service A match can be a lottery for Haryanvi sportspersons a goal scored or saved can reset the life chances of playersBut Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar stepped in bestowing Rs 50 lakh on each of the nine women players Javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra does not need Khattarrsquos generosity for his historic gold will fetch him Rs 6 crore and a post in the Haryana Civil or Police Service with eight years of seniority In case Chopra opts for the police service he could rise to the rank of Director General of Police Wrestler Ravi Dahiyarsquos silver will fetch him Rs 4 crore and appointment in the Haryana Civil or Police Service with four years of seniorityNobody will grudge the winners their money and jobs for their feats buoyed the nation in these times of Covid19 and a slowing economy But spare a thought for the Haryanvis who lost out in the medal huntmdashSonam Malik Seema Bisla Seema Punia Vikas Yadav et al And though they will receive Rs 15 lakh and qualify for Group A or Group B jobs they are likely to wistfully imagine what life might have been for themTalent and training can come a cropper because of unforeseen occurrences as it happened with Manu Bhaker whose gun jammed in Tokyo The lavish cash awards compound the tragedy of those Haryanvis labelled as the alsoran in the Olympics particularly the poor among athletes whose lifealtering moments hinge on winning a medalYet their disappointments will not diminish the lure of the Haryana governmentrsquos sports policy for the youth The state accounts for merely 209 per cent of Indiarsquos population but nearly 24 per cent of the Tokyo Olympics squad was from Haryana Talk to coaches and they will say quest for money and jobs is fuelling a sports revolution never seen before in Haryana Yet for every Chopra or Dahiya there will be many who will fall by the wayside failing to even reach the national level Their quarrel with destiny will come laterBut it can also be argued that the chance of poor or lowerclass Haryanvis improving their life chances through sports is as slim as it is through studies Forget the quality of education Haryanarsquos job market is shrinking particularly in the rural areas The Reserve Bank of India figures show that 95 persons per thousand were unemployed in rural Haryana in 201819 against the national figure of 50 per thousand Haryanarsquos offer of hefty cash awards and jobs to sportspersons with a secure tenure and pension turns the playing fields into casinos where families gnawed by insecurities hope their children would hit the jackpotUnlike casinos though adhocism does not govern Haryanarsquos sports policy which was streamlined by Ashok Khemka the IAS officer renowned for his crusade against corruption during his stint with the sports department A gold at the Paralympics fetches Rs 6 crore at the Asian Games Rs 3 crore at the Commonwealth Games Rs 15 crore at the World University Games Rs 7 lakh etc Money rides silver and bronze medals too Winners get jobs as well Even a National Games gold has a tag of Rs 5 lakhGovernment coaches such as Jaibir Lochab Anand Dangi and Neelam Beniwal testify to children thronging sports centres Some are too poor to afford kits and a nutritious diet A track suit can be a motivation Monetary assistance from the state helps as do scholarships for the meritorious If a Sumit Kumar whose family washed utensils in a restaurant could earn Rs 25 crore for the bronze the hockey team won who is to argue others cannot The starry dream has led to the mushrooming of private sports academies and social groups other than the Jats entering the stadium An example the nine Haryanvi women hockey players comprise four Jats and five backward castesYet quite depressingly the cake in sports is just not large enough to satiate the hunger for government jobs among thousands and thousands of aspirants Their hopes will zoom only to shatter Coaches will exploit their aspiration to make a quick buck Baldev Singh who built from scratch the Shahbad Hockey Academy widely regarded as the nursery of womenrsquos hockey can already discern early signs of corruption turning the playing fields into incubators of mediocrityThe state has the responsibility of facilitating the march of sportspersons to the podium Khemka said to me This can only be done by building topclass sports infrastructure accessible to all and creating centres of excellence that are home to modern techniques and scientific experiments The state governmentrsquos showering of crores on medalists turns sports into a Kaun Banega Crorepati showThe writer is a senior journalist Send your feedback to mailbagmiddaycomThe views expressed in this column are the individualrsquos and donrsquot represent those of the paper