Sportstar Focus Bihar Conclave: Bihar’s ‘Chanakya Neeti’ in sports policy and the road to 2028 Los Angeles Olympics

Sportstar Focus Bihar Conclave: Bihar’s ‘Chanakya Neeti’ in sports policy and the road to 2028 Los Angeles Olympics

Bihar is adopting ‘Chanakya Neeti’ in its sports policy, Director General & CEO, Bihar State Sports Authority, Raveendran Sankaran, said during Sportstar Focus Bihar Conclave here on Friday.

Talking about the 23 sporting disciplines that would be accommodated at the Rajgir Sports Complex, Raveendran said that the Bihar government would focus on sports in which other States weren’t already at a very advanced stage.

“We have identified certain sports where, within the country, the competition is less, and the medal-winning capacity is more. We adopted Rugby Sevens, Sepak Takraw, fencing, cycling. Today, we are the champion of champions in Rugby Sevens in all categories,” Raveendran said during the panel discussion titled ‘Accelerating sport development in Bihar.’

Highlighting Bihar’s success in these disciplines, Raveendran said that five girls and as many boys from the State have represented India at the Asian Rugby Championship. Two boys from the State have also represented India at the Sepak Takraw World Cup, while fencer Akash Kumar participated at the Asian Games.

Raveendran also delved on the game-swapping strategy adopted by the State, where athletes who couldn’t excel in their disciplines were made to swap sports.

“We converted volleyball players into Sepak Takraw players. Athletes in fourth and fifth positions, and wrestlers who didn’t win medals, they were converted into rugby players.”

Under the leadership of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, the Bihar government has provided athletes with substantial financial assistance and launched an extensive talent scouting programme named ‘Mashal’.

“Three levels of sports scholarship policy the State government has launched. The number one is Prerna – at the grassroots level. We are giving Rs. 3 lakh to each sportsperson between the ages of 12 and 18. We are going to sponsor about 500 sportspersons a year. At the next level, we are going to give scholarships to 200 sportspersons between the ages of 12 and 24. Third category is ‘Udaan’ – the highest level. This includes the sportspersons that have reached the international level and won medals. We are providing Rs. 20 lakh per annum to 20 such sportspersons a year. This will encourage them, provide them with the ability to purchase equipment, invest in diet and cover travelling expenses,” B. Rajender, Additional Chief Secretary, Department of Sports, Government of Bihar, said.

Explaining the extent of the talent scouting programme, Raveendran said, “Recently, our Honourable Chief Minister has launched a massive talent scouting programme. We have named it ‘Mashal’. Through this, in 30 to 40 thousand middle schools and high schools, we are conducting talent scouting programmes. This will cover almost 60 lakh students. We are doing it scientifically and in the top-priority games of Bihar State. As of now, in one month, we have collected almost 19,27,456 data. This programme will run for another month, so once we have all this data, we will be able to analyse which student will be capable for which game and we will start nurturing them. Those athletes will be brought under the Prerna scholarship scheme. This is how we are broad basing the sports development programme.”

Rajender also spoke about the Bihar government’s sports recruitment policy ‘Medal Lao Naukri Pao’ and its evolution.

“This started in 2009. In the beginning, very few athletes were recruited. But now, in 2023, we refined the policy and modified the criteria. Last year, we appointed 71 sportspersons in different categories. Since inception, 358 athletes have benefitted.”

The Bihar government has also invested extensively in sports infrastructure and Raveendran laid out the roadmap with regards to the Rajgir Sports Complex, situated in the city which hosted the Women’s Asian Champions Trophy hockey tournament last year.

“We are going to cater to 23 sports disciplines – both indoor and outdoor games. After the Asian Champions Trophy, we started coaching camps in hockey for our athletes. Before this, hockey players in Eklavya residential schools didn’t have a turf, but now they do. We shifted all our 100 hockey players to Rajgir Sports Academy, and they are getting trained for the first time on a turf. Shorty, they will be mentored by an Olympian. Hockey India has come forward in helping us develop hockey in Bihar. We have started camps for wrestling, weightlifting, athletics, taekwondo, fencing, swimming. Now, slowly, we have started conducting camps in Rajgir Sports Academy. In the future, we will establish a sports science facility there. We will develop Rajgir Sports Academy as a high-performance centre for various sports disciplines. Asian Fencing Federation has approached us to come up with an Asian Fencing Academy here. If that happens, the best of Asia’s fencers will be coming to Bihar and that will develop my fencers.”

However, Raveendran cautioned against investing in big infrastructure and said that the Bihar government was more in favour of constructing temporary structures.

“We are not in favour of erecting white elephants. We are planning to create only the field of play as per the requirement of the game. In every panchayat and bloc, we will develop the field of play according to the sport. My boys and girls get more space to play,” he added.

Raveendran also said that the State government was actively addressing issues such as age fraud, doping and sexual harassment in sport.

“Three cases came to our knowledge and the girls gave it [complaint] in writing. We lodged cases against the three coaches and sent them behind bars.”

Though Bihar hasn’t yet medalled for India at the Olympic Games, Raveendran said that the wait would end by 2032 or 2036.

“Our mission was to send at least one athlete from Bihar to the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. But, in 2024 itself, we had athletes from Bihar – Shreyasi Singh (shooting) and Paralympian Shailesh Kumar. We have achieved the 2028 target in 2024. In 2028, we will want to increase our count. In 2032 or 2036, Bihar’s children will get a medal for India.”