The Money Game

Gill couldn’t resist the temptation of switching on the television to find out what his ex-colleague and current finance minister P Chidambaram had in store for the nation,and the sports fraternity in particular. The ‘coup’ could wait.

The government released its annual budget where the total expenditure for the 2013/14 fiscal year is projected at Rs 16.65 trillion. Who is getting what out of the budget is a popular topic of discussion. Sports administrators too keenly await and inevitably compare notes about who did the best from the pork barrelling. Fans,on the other hand,are interested in whether the government has thrown a bone in the direction of their favoured sport.

In his speech,though,the finance minister hardly mentioned the potential impact of the budget on sport,as India looks to build on its solid performance at last year’s London Olympics and prepares for next year’s Asian Games and Commonwealth Games. There were no apparent surprises for sports in this budget. It stayed on the far fringes,like every other year.

Like many others,Gill — who was the sports minister from April 2008 to January 2011 — too was disappointed upon finding out how insignificant sports was yet again,taking the overall budget into account.

Disappointed,not surprised.

“What did you expect? Our system,from top to down,is such that it stunts the growth of sports. Sport is not a priority for the government and it shows in the budget year-after-year,” Gill rues.

It’s surprising to hear this from Gill,considering that he was in charge of the portfolio when the sports ministry received its highest-ever funding (2009-10 and 2010-11 for the CWG; see box). But he makes a valid point.

The finance ministry on Thursday approved a hike of Rs 214 crore from the previous year for the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports,allocating it Rs 1,219 crore.

Of that,Rs 792.92 crore has been set aside for sports,while the youth department will get Rs 301 crore. It’s described as a ‘significant’ increase by the ministry officials and on the face of it,these are big numbers. However,federations and sportspersons,believe much more could have been done considering that this is a crucial preparatory year for the Indian athletes.

Most of them though remain clueless as to how the magic figure of Rs 1,219 crore is arrived at,which probably highlights one of the biggest flaws of the process.

Come September

There are stories about how during his time as the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) president,Suresh Kalmadi swung into action in September every year. This used to be one of the rare occasions when the beleaguered sports administrator paid visits to officials from the sports ministry,Planning Commission and Sports Authority of India (SAI).

September is the month when the process of preparing the budget begins,and Kalmadi knew most of the lobbying had to be done during this period to extract as much funds as he could for the IOA and other ‘important’ federations.

Preparing the budget is a laborious and lengthy exercise that takes close to five months. The department of economic affairs under the Ministry of Finance starts the process of formulation of the next financial year’s budget in the months of August-September every year. The sports ministry receives a circular from that department,which in turn is forwarded to SAI,which is its nodal agency.

The ministry is required to provide three different kinds of figures — budget estimates,revised estimates and actuals — relating to their expenditures and receipts during this process of budget preparation. Explains sports secretary PK Deb. “Apart from this,the expenses are basically divided among planned and non-planned. Planned expenses include the various schemes that are put in place for the ministry,approval of new schemes,the money allocated to different federations,etc. Non-planned includes salaries,office expense and other captial expenses.”

What is intriguing in this whole exercise is how small a role a sports minister or the national federations play. Majority of the work is carried out by the officials at the secretary level and the employees of SAI.

A reason for this,says a former sports secretary,is that it reduces direct interference from the sports ministers and federation officials,who try to get ‘favours’ done. The SAI and ministry officials work closely with the members of the planning commission,updating them of various requirements and expected expenditure. The officials need to do some pretty charismatic preaching to get the ministry and planning commission to buy into their projections. The process culminates in the month of January and if there is any conflict between the sports and finance ministry with regards to the allocation of the budget,the matter is supposed to be resolved by the cabinet.

The numbers

Majority of the money allotted goes to SAI,who are also responsible for taking care of the federations’ needs. Items of expense such as national camps (lodging,boarding,food supplements,transport,etc),participation in international and domestic tournaments,appointment of foreign coaches,Indian coaches and support staff are taken into account,while allocating the budget-share for each sport.

The SAI allocates funds to various sports federations on the basis of performance and sentiments,and divides them into three grades. For instance,hockey may not have produced big moments on field but has a high sentimental value so it continues to find a place in Grade A. However,it’s the inclusion of sports like taekwondo over,say,tennis in Grade A that is intriguing.

“We believe that India stands a good chance of winning a medal in sports that are divided in weight categories. That neutralises the advantage the opposition has over our players. That’s the reason taekwondo and judo are in Grade A whereas tennis and swimming are in Grade B,” explains former SAI director general Gopal Krishna.

Not enough

From a meagre Rs 43 crore in 1991-92 to a ‘hefty’ Rs 1,000 crore two decades later,the Indian sports budget has improved considerably. Despite this substantial hike,though,India’s inability to succeed in Olympic disciplines at the world level stems from the fact that it receives very little support from the government.

Legend has it that after the 1968 Mexico Olympics,when the contingent was returning to India,the connecting flight from London was delayed by a day. The government funding back then varied from sport-to-sport and was more event-specific. Gill,who was the Chef de Mission back then,expressed his inability to arrange one night’s accommodation citing lack of funds,and the team was stranded at the London airport.

Such was their plight that,led by athlete Praveen Kumar (famous for playing the role of ‘Bheem’ in BR Chopra’s Mahabharata),they hauled up their considerable luggage themselves and walked a couple of hours to the nearest gurudwara where they sought shelter. The government was quick to distance itself from the incident. “The daily allowance for the contingent at that time was $2 per day. How can you survive with such a meagre budget?” Gill fumes,even today.

There have been many such instances since,underlying the step-motherly treatment sports continues to receive from the government. Deb,an IAS officer,has a simple reasoning for this. “According to our constitution,sports is a state subject and not a responsibility of the centre. The government,over the years,has been sticking to this. For them,sports and culture was important,but not a priority,” Deb says. “But they have realised that states haven’t been doing much and took it upon themselves to fund the National Sports Federations and create national teams.”

An investment

It would be fair to say that the successful performance of our athletes at the Delhi Games changed the outlook of the government and increased the funding manifold. But compare that to the rest of the world,and the difference is obvious.

In the run up to the Athens Olympics,a story comprising astounding numbers became a rage in China. After the 2000 Sydney Olympics,the budget for the China Sports Bureau was raised from $ 439 million to $ 732 million per year. During the four years of preparation for the Athens Olympics,China spent $ 3 billion. The investment earned them 32 gold medals,making the cost for each gold medal nearly $ 102 million – that was roughly India’s annual sports budget during that entire period. China’s biggest rival,the United States of America,too spends close to $170 million across all sports annually. For that matter,even a country like Greece – that is reeling under economic pressure – has a sports budget for federations bigger than India’s. After originally allocating $ 19 million,the Greek government was forced to shell out $ 14 million more to improve the conditions of its federations and sportspersons.

The Allotted

Category A

Sport 13-14 12-13

Archery 9.85 5.63

Athletics 11.55 6

Badminton 12.16 6.95

Boxing 18.62 11.9

Hockey 10.5 11.77

Judo 3.5 1.92

Shooting 20 11

Taekwondo 3.5 1.25

Weightlifting 7 5

Wrestling 13 10

sss

Category B

Gymnastics 2.27 0

Golf 1.05 0.79

Kabaddi 2.66 2

Rowing 3.89 2.89

Sailing 3.24 2.44

Squash 1.78 1.34

Swimming 1.37 1.70

Tennis 3.41 2.56

Wushu 1.67 1.25

sss

Category C

Basketball 2.76 2.77

Baize sports 0.94 0.94

Chess 1 1

Cycling 3.5 3.5

Deaf Sports 0.68 0.41

Equestrian 0.27 0.27

Football 3.09 5.39

Handball 0.61 0.61

Kayaking/Canoeing 1.02 1.62

Paralympics 1.83 3.38

Sepak takraw 0.5 0.69

Special Olympics 2.75 2.75

Table Tennis 3.40 3.40

Volleyball 3.72 3.72

Total 157 117.84

12-13: Old budget

13-14: New budget

sss

Sports & Youth affairs budget

Year Budget

2013-2014 1219

2012-2013 1005.60

2011-2012 1,121

2010-2011 3,565

2009-2010 3,073

2008-2009 1,112

sss

Budget For Sports Authority Of India

Year Budget

2013-14 326

2012-2013 302

2011-2012 288

2010-2011 324

2009-2010 176

2008-2009 181

*All amounts in Rs crore