the stage is set for the national games in punjab. but are they really achieving their objective of promoting a sports culture among the youth in the country? are the sportsmen at least enthusiastic about them? times news network looks into the biennial extravaganza. not many may be aware that the upcoming national games in punjab will be the thirty-first ones! the inaugural games were held way back in 1924. over the years, however, they have degenerated into some kind of a biennial ritual. in the 70s the games were not held at all and it was vidyacharan shukla, who during his tenure as president of the indian olympic association, first realised that they could be marketed by organising the first modern games in 1985. suresh kalmadi then went a step further by selling them to the states; there was no need for a sponsor anymore! the motto of the modern games is beg, borrow or steal, as kalmadi would say: hold them in your state, in your own interest. never mind that the games are not competitive and that they are treated as a mela or a festival, at least the infrastructure accruing from them is a boon. no-one is really serious about these games, but they must be held because every state that organises them gets a whopping rs 150 crore gift in the shape of infrastructure. "will any state spend that kind of money to create facilities without being pushed to hold them," asks ioa chief kalmadi. when the latest edition of the games kick off at the gurunanak stadium in ludhiana on november 19, there will be a number of pessimists who will pinch themselves to believe that the games were indeed being held. not many were sure that these jinxed games would ever be held. they were allotted to punjab first in 1987 to be held in 1989. the then governor siddharth shankar ray was keen on hosting the games to divert people's attention from terrorism. he even sanctioned rs 8 crores for creating the infrastructure. but his successor shot it down, saying it wasn't the right time to hold them. inderjit singh bindra, the bureaucrat better known as a marketing wizard in cricket circles, was in charge of the games when they were first allotted and is back in the saddle when they returned to the state. as the organising secretary he is using his marketing techniques to lessen the fiscal burden on the state. "the games here will make it difficult for all future organisers to inflate figures," he says. unlike in other states where all the infrastructure was crammed into one city, punjab has created smaller sports complexes at a motorable distance of less than two hours, and in different cities. the main venue is ludhiana where the opening and closing ceremonies, the football semis and final and athletics will be played. jalandhar, patiala, chandigarh and anandpur sahib are the other centers. the federation officials, who are used to being pampered by their state units, will find things different at the games. they are not serious about them anyway. how much do the ioa officials care for the games? well, kalmadi went for a meeting once while secretary-general randhir singh may have gone to his native place patiala but not to see how the games' work is progressing. you can't blame them because they are so busy with their international commitments as members of the international olympic committee and other international federations. the national games have to be treated as an important event in the national sports calendar. but they have been devalued. no prestige is attached to them, except incorporating in the preamble that the president or the prime minister must inaugurate the games, failing which any other dignitary of similar status. when the games will be on, the national camps will also be in progress as will the inter-university events. the games mean nothing to the ioa or the states. they couldn't care less if they are postponed thrice or six times. barring tamil nadu where the sportspersons have some incentive for winning medals, the states don't even bother to have training camps to pick their squads. why can't the ioa stick to the dates by allotting the games four years in advance so that the states have time to plan their infrastructure and fix target dates? all major games like the olympics, asian and commonwealth games and even most of the world championships are held between july-september. the national games too must be held around the same time and the states must comply with the dates. if not, why go through the farce of conducting them? the state organizing the games in other words is only offering the visitors a paid holiday. if the federations are serious, the swimming federation wouldn't have woken up so late to tell the world that the water in patiala will be too cold for the swimmers' comfort in november. the sfi has a point, if they continue to swim in open pools, no-one will ever think of an all-weather pool in the country. indian amateur athletics federation secretary lalit bhanot quips that "they are participating in the games in true sportsman spirit." kalmadi is clear in his mind that his job is over once the games are allotted to a state. "the organizing states must convert their games village into sports hostels so that they can hold training camps and billet the trainees there. if only the players building, now housing the delhi state secretariat, had been made a sports hostel most of the national camps could easily been held in delhi." for kalmadi it's a win-win situation. "how can any infrastructure come up in the country with an allocation of only rs 10 crores in the union budget, he asks. the states must take advantage of the games. the manipur government cut 5 percent of every ministry's budgetary allocation to finance the manipur games." the budget for the punjab games has been pegged at rs 46 crores, not rs 175 crores as in the case of imphal and rs 143 crores in bangalore. it is to be seen to believe how an austere games would look like. as randhir says punjab will make the games a big success because of its hospitality and ram lal anand, in charge of the ioa's national games committee, is mighty pleased with the infrastructure created. the purpose is served. maybe, the government of the day might use it as sop for people in the year of election.
