NEW DELHI: While the plan of the Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports to rank the National Sports Federations (NSFs) based on multiple criteria is a good move, it will be a meaningless effort if it is not linked to the fund flow to these organisations.
A news report in The Indian Express said the ranking would take into consideration the NSF’s administrative capability, transparency, talent-spotting, medal count, and implementation of the sports code. The sports secretary, Rahul Bhatnagar, is quoted in the report as saying that the sports ministry will set up a committee consisitng of sports administrators, sportspersons, and professionals from various fields to arrive at the ranking.
However, he said that there is no plan to link the ratings to the funding by the ministry, which is looking at it just as an incentive for the NSFs to improve on the overall front.
This will be a wasted effort as it is well-known, the administrators who control the NSFs are immune to such initiatives as long as the money flows in. Why else would someone want to continue as an official even after the age of 70 years, and is not willing to leave unless pushed out by law.
The NSFs will gladly participate in this exercise and even make the right noises as long as the funds don’t dry up. That is the only incentive that can make the NSFs function more efficiently. Unless there is a huge penalty for not fulfilling certain criteria and reaching a minimum level of points, there is unlikely to be much improvement.
And what is the benefit for the NSFs which achieve top rankings, and why should they strive to reach the top spot if they are not rewarded for it. According the report, the minsitry plans to introdcue the ranking system for the financial year 2017-18, with the final rankings to be released in May. While it might be too late to decide on the reward-and-punishment scheme right now, the ministry should be informing the NSFs that the current ranking will be the benchmark for future ratings and incentives. other wise it would be better off spending this money on focused athlete development.
