Indian
Express: Chennai: Sunday, 22 February 2015.
The Board of
Cricket for Control in India (BCCI), the richest sports body of India, must
come under the ambit of the Right to Information Act (RTI) if it is eligible
for tax breaks, former Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir Omar Abdullah said.
Abdullah made
the comments on Day II of the ThinkEdu15 Conclave in Chennai on Saturday while
conversing with Union MoS of Information and Broadcasting and Olympic silver
medallist Rajyavardhan Rathore. “I would support bringing BCCI under the RTI.
The BCCI does not pay any taxes too. If it is receiving tax concessions, it
must come under the RTI,” Abdullah said. The taxed money could then be
distributed to other sports that are in dire need of funds, he added.
Responding to
a query on the popularity of cricket affecting other sports, Abdullah noted
that other sports could be given priority by the government, but no sport would
ever replace cricket as the most popular sport in India. “You can promote, but
people must have interest in other sports,” he said.
He said that
the quantum of money pumped into sport by the government was not enough.
Rathore
lamented on the lack of participation in outdoor sports by the current
generation.
“When I
recently asked a youngster what games he played, he said video games. When I
asked him about running, he said Temple Run. The time spent on the field is
reducing,” he said.
Abdullah
bemoaned that India wasn’t a sporty nation as yet, but the interest in sports
was increasing. “With the increase in academic pressure, sport will be used by
children to circumvent studies.” Abdullah cited the example of his own boys,
who he said were not the best at studies and were looking at excelling in
sports.
Change could
be brought by having more sports periods in schools and conducting organised
sporting activities during these sessions, Rathore suggested. “I have requested
the Human Resource Development Ministry to enable online educational
opportunities for sportspersons who might miss their regular lessons while
practicing. They should have an Option B,” he said.
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