Just after the triathlon in Goa, I was running on Miramar beach when I came across a group of young athletes warming up. I stopped to soak in some inspiration. Then on a signal from their coach, the men ran into the sea and began swimming towards a float, few minutes later the girls followed suit. They were Goan triathletes training for the National Games.
The women were strong swimmers. They were coming out of the sea as the boys transitioned to the next stage – cycling. The coaches switched between shouting out instructions and inspiration, and checking their watches.
Like the rest of Goa, I was immune to the preparations for the 37th National Games. I marvelled at the manner in which our respected PM Narendra Modi found space in many National Games banners. One couldn’t miss the slogans Judenge Jeeyenge Jeetenge; We Play India Wins; Come Together, Play Together Celebrate Together; Celebrating Oneness Through Sports; One Nation One Spirit; It’s Time To Celebrate the Spirit of Sportsmanship and so on.
The National Games were in my periphery even with all these in-your-face banners. That is until Sunday Nov 5th when my partner and I stumbled on the women’s triathlon. We joined a sparse but vocal crowd to watch the competition. The crowd consisted of members of a Goa triathlon group who cheered everyone. The coaches and families were per force more selective as were the few fellow state athletes who had come to support the triathletes from their state. There were also a few, like the two of us, who had planned to start the day with exercise but then chose to cheer the sportswomen. The event had more support staff than viewers.
There were other noticeable features to this event which I believe mirrors India.
The first is that a name or surname no longer suggests place of birth, state of domicile or origin. For example, one of the athletes representing Goa in this event was Ananya Mukherjee, the surname is very Bengali. For the past few decades’ names no longer mark one’s religion. Parents have been choosing names like Manav and Kabir that do not conform to any particular religion. Interestingly, ancient surnames like ‘Mulla’ are today ignorantly conflated with Islam. However, surnames linked to caste and religion continue to lead to historical bigotry.
With more Indians settling in regions not associated with their regional-cultural identity and therefore their names, the concept of name based regional identities is getting diluted.
The second is the disproportionate ratio of event support staff to sports persons and spectators. There are two ways to look at this – the organisers expected large number of spectators and therefore had proportionate number of staff; the other reason is that the authorities understood the potential for disorderly behaviour of spectators, no matter how few, and therefore needed large number of staff to ensure no thoughtless disruption. If it is the former, then one must question the efficacy of the hoardings across Goa and the decision-making process that led to throwing money into banners which ultimately creates copious amounts of waste. If it is the latter then the problem is not new and the question remains – why doesn’t the government do something to build the civic character and moral fibre of Indian citizens.
The triathlon highlighted the fact that nothing can be achieved if either training, aptitude or gear are below par. In the same vein, the contributory factors to Economic Growth are rise in capital goods, labour force, technology and human capital. Though industry surveys suggest capital goods sector is supposed to grow by 16-18% in FY 24, Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) states that ‘India’s labour participation rate fell to 39.5 per cent in 2022-23, from an already low 40.1 per cent in 2021-22. This suggests that more than half of India’s working age population is neither employed nor willing to seek employment’. According to the CEIC database the Indian Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR) was 53.42 in 2012. Human Capital is ‘is a concept used by economists to designate personal attributes considered useful in the production process. It encompasses employee knowledge, skills, know-how, good health, and education. Human capital has a substantial impact on individual earnings’ India ranks 116 out of 180 in the Human Capital Index (HCI). HCI ‘combines indicators of health and education into a measure of the human capital that a child born today can expect to obtain by their 18th birthday, on a scale from 0 to 1’. Given this abysmal rating one wonders whether PM Modi’s Vocal-For-Local and his PM Vishwakarma scheme are attempts to generate self-employment or formalise caste-based employment in the Indian economy.
India, the world’s 5th largest economy, ranks 111th out of 125 countries in the Global Hunger Index. As per ‘The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World’, a report brought out by a mix of UN organisations, 74.1% of India’s population – or more than 100 crore citizens – cannot afford healthy food.
Given these figures one wonders whether Modi’s promise of making India a USD 5 trillion economy is feasible and if so whether it will be sustainable and stable.
This then brings us back to the National Games slogans. The slogans speak about the sportsmanship which Cambridge Dictionary defines as ‘the quality of showing fairness, respect, and generosity toward the opposing team or player and for the sport itself when competing’. These are no different from how democracy is supposed to function. Are any of these attributes of sportsmanship being displayed in India which the PM claims to be ‘Mother of Democracy? Similarly, other slogans ring hollow too.
Athletes require dedication and attention to all aspects of the sport. The same goes for India’s economy, and democracy. India’s leaders can learn much from the sports they promote. Then, they can practise what they preach during these occasions.
(Samir Nazareth is an author and writes on socio-economic and environmental issues)
