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The South
Asian Life & Times - SALT |
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Contents Cover Story
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There are29 states
and
5 Union Territories in India – with a total population of 1 billion. The
question often raised by critics is how come a country of 1 billion cannot
win enough sporting medals in international events. Medals have little to do
with the numbers in a country. What matters is the means, facilities, aid
and infrastructure available to the potential athletes. Does the money
allocated for the athletes by the Centre and State Governments actually
reaches them? An estimated 37.2% of Indians live below the country's
national poverty line. A 2010 report by the Oxford Poverty and Human
Development Initiative (OPHI) states that 8 Indian states have more poor
than 26 poorest African nations combined which totals to more than 410
million poor in the poorest African countries. One in three malnourished
children worldwide are found In India, whilst 42 percent of the nation's
children under five years of age are underweight. Given these statistics,
the country should salute the 81 athletes who will be contesting the Gold in
London next month. Many among them have braved poverty and lack of
facilities to reach where they have through sheer determination and passion
for their sport. An important fact that
emerges from the state wise breakdown is
that women from the north-eastern states
are dominating in sports that are traditionally male-dominated. Three of the
four athletes from Manipur are women, so is the lone athlete from Nagaland.
Similarly, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh – states with unimpressive sex ratios
– have fielded only women athletes.
States
not represented by athletes at London Olympics: Arunachal Pradesh, Bihar,
Chhattisgarh, Goa, Gujarat, Jammu & Kashmir, Madhya Pradesh, Meghalaya,
Mizoram, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu, and Tripura. There are no athletes from any of
the five Union Territories.
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