July 30, 2017 by admin

Lessons from Chitra case: Give jobs to needy sportspersons

EVERY day in the news we learn about the extreme poverty faced by sportspersons who are barely making two ends meet. It is depressing to see young sportspersons struggling to help out their parents to merely put food on the table. The latest in the list is the sad case of middle distance runner PU Chitra from Kerala, who won the 1500m gold at the Asian Championships in Odisha, outrunning athletes from Japan and China in a fine burst at the end. Chitra’s parents are daily-wagers who can only get their food on the day they get work — for the rest, they have to make do with the previous day’s crumbs.
Now look at some privileged sportspersons who not only get cushy jobs in the Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) but continue to milk them despite neither playing for them nor doing any productive work for their employers.
During our time, we were given employment by banks and PSU companies like SAIL, ONGC, Indian Oil, Indian Airlines, Air India, etc. If I had to go to England to play county cricket, I would be allowed leave without pay. These special leaves were not counted in my service, which in turn would stall my promotion. We certainly did not complain because we had a permanent job which gave us immense security and helped us to play for the country, despite there not being too much money to play for.
Look at the situation today. First, sportspersons get jobs and hardly ever play for their company — since certain disciplines have become full-time vocations, they are busy all the year round.
They are paid handsomely to do commercial activities including advertising in the course of their employment with the PSUs. Even after decategorisation, when they are neither playing for the country nor their employer, they are treated with kid gloves. They continue to draw huge salaries, all the while doing commercial activities on the side.
IPL plus jobs!
The same goes for the current players who draw salaries, do not attend office, and earn huge money in IPL/national duties without ever turning out for their employers. I understand that there are hundreds of such employees who are burning a big hole in the revenues of PSUs.
Things are tougher for struggling sportspersons — PSUs like ONGC, Air India etc keep young cricketers/sportspersons on contract on measly sums of Rs 6,000 per month. Because of a large number of redundant workforce in the name of old sportspersons, there are no new jobs for the youngsters. Just imagine — players who are playing in the IPL are earning crores every year but they are continuing to block job opportunities for the youngsters.
I will point out cases in several organisations, including perennially-in-the-red Air India and ONGC, to make my point. One is a behemoth with a Rs 32,000 crore debt. Yet it has a band of merrymakers who spend more time on social media than in their offices. In fact, one of them, who was placed as an officer without any qualifications, runs a durbar where senior bureaucrats and police officers are seen lining up for getting transfers and promotions facilitated.
A star cricketer’s mother keeps asking the department to release her son’s salary on the 30th every month to, purportedly, run the household, despite him earning crores from the IPL every year.
Conflict of interest
Sportspersons who become selectors and coaches of national and state teams are in the thick of action. Since they enjoy various perks from their employers, they tend to promote players from their own companies. This is a clear case of conflict of interest, which as per the Lodha Committee’s recommendations must be eschewed.
I am happy to learn that BCCI has now advised Virat Kohli and others to quit their jobs in PSUs. There is no rational explanation of the need for Kohli, Gautam Gambhir, Ajinkya Rahane, Ishant Sharma and Cheteshwar Pujara, etc to hold on to their PSU jobs, blocking jobs for needy sportspersons.
It is heartening to note that the directive for cricketers to quit their PSU jobs has come from the Committee of Administrators.
PSU jobs should be provided to youngsters like Chitra and several other women athletes who cannot pursue their careers because of financial constraints. Women athletes hardly get opportunities to go beyond village and district level because of several social constraints. Most PSUs have stopped their sports quota recruitments because of dwindling profits. And whatever jobs are available, they have been misappropriated by well-heeled sportsmen.
It is time to set the priorities right.
The writer is a former Indian cricket team captain