Name- Amit Kumar Singh

Roll Number- IMB2021044

Subject- Needs Of Bharat
Submitted To- Dr. Neetesh Purohit

Why India Is Still Lagging Behind In Sporting Events

India has the second largest population in the world. It is also one of the fastest growing economies.
Yet, it lags miles behind in terms of sports. India is one of the worst performing countries in
Olympics. It is disappointing to know that India possesses only 35 Olympic medals since the start of
Olympic Games. India sent its first fencer Bhavani Devi in Tokyo Olympics 2020 and it speaks itself
how India is at sporting. The major powers which India compete in terms of economy, firepower,
manpower lags in terms of sports. The reasons are quite visible and known to everyone from
relevant authorities to people yet no concrete measures are taken to uplift India at a decent spot in
global sporting events. The reasons why India is not known for sports are listed as following-

1. Lack of Sports Culture

Sports are often viewed as an extra-curricular activity by majority of adults in India. The children are
discouraged to pursue sports and pushed towards academics from an early age. Youth who have the
talent often use sports to secure admissions at universities or better jobs instead of pursuing it as
passion.
The ground reality is that the sports period in schools are often taken for academic purposes and
the budget allotted for purchasing sports gear and kits just remains on papers and along with that if
somehow the former are managed the children remain unexposed to proper training.

2. Lack of Infrastructure

Since it is not given the deserved respect and importance, the infrastructure for practicing a sport
lacks in majority of schools in India. Not just in schools but the public sports grounds too are not very
well maintained in many towns and villages.

At national level India has very few stadiums and practice arena that people do not have access to it.

3. Social And Economic Inequalities

Social and economic inequalities have a negative impact on the Indian sport. Denial of access to
sports infrastructure due to poverty, concentration of stadiums and other sports avenues only in
cities, lack of encouragement to girls to participate in sports, etc, have impaired the development of
a positive sports culture in the country.
4. Allocation of Budget

Government of India has allocated a budget of 2596.14 crores for financial year 2021-22 against
2826.92 crores in financial year 2020-21. The budget allocated is less than 1% of the total budget
and this represents the severity of critical condition of Indian sports.
The players of other sports excluding cricket are not paid well and some medal winners have to work
to make their ends meet.

5. Lack of Viewership And Sponshorship

People of India watch more cricket than any other sports even compared to its national sport. The
captain of Indian Football team Sunil Chhetri once requested people to come to ground to see their
performance. The Hockey team in Olympics 2020 was not getting any sponsorship and at last it was
sponsored by a state government.

Conclusion

 For a country of over 1.25 billion, the existing sports infrastructure is not satisfactory. The lack of
world-class infrastructure and the inadequate support of the government is reflected in poor
performance of Indian athletes in major international events like the Olympics. Tiny countries like
Cuba, Croatia and Lithuania performed better in the 2016 Olympics compared to India. It is high
time, the public and private sector should come together to lift the Indian sport sector from the
present deplorable situation.

References
1. https://thecsrjournal.in/csr-why-india-is-lagging-behind-in-sports/
2. https://yas.nic.in/documents/budgets