Policy Pulse #10: India's gambit for sporting glory
In Focus: A renaissance of Indian athletics?
This week, we peek behind the curtain to explore why India has seen better outcomes, off-late, at major sports competitions.
As a country known for few sporting passions beyond cricket, India has, in just the last few years, seen a steady trickle of new sporting stars. This new breed of athletes - featuring the likes of Neeraj Chopra, Mirabai Chanu and Avinash Sable - has burst into prominence from obscurity, earning fame for performing awesome feats at the international arena. Remarkably, this wave of excellence ranges across sports and disciplines. India’s 61 medals at the 2022 Commonwealth Games, for instance, came despite strongholds such as archery and shooting being excluded from this edition of the competition.
These feats are not one-off events, unlike those of some of their storied predecessors. Rather, India is making focused, deliberate attempts to emerge as a sporting nation. Sports, in India, has seen increasing investment over the last few years from both, the private and public sectors. In just the last year, for instance, the Indian government has increased its budgetary allocation to sport by INR 300 crore. At the same time, leading corporate conglomerates, including Reliance, Tata and the Adani Group, have started their own initiatives to promote and develop Indian sport.
Until recently, India was practically absent at the Olympic games. Before Leander Paes’ Olympic bronze in 1996, for instance, India had not seen an individual Olympic medal in 44 years. The country hadn’t won an individual gold medal at the Olympics until 2008, when Abhinav Bindra shot his way to the prestigious prize. In September 2014, in order to boost India’s Olympics prospects, the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports put in place the Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS). The program, which currently features 373 elite athletes as its beneficiaries, gives athletes access to world-class coaches and training facilities, financial support, services of support staff and other benefits. After the program failed to make a significant dent in the 2016 Olympics, it was boosted further, with greater funding and the constitution of a TOPS Secretariat to ensure a better showing in coming tournaments. The gambit paid off. The seven Olympic medals India won in 2021 were the best tally the country had ever seen.
This push for elite athletic excellence is complemented by programs such as the Khelo India program, instituted in 2018, which intends to build a sporting culture from the grassroots. Khelo India seeks to create sporting infrastructure across the country, while hosting tournaments at school, college and university levels. Additionally, 1000 athletes every year are given a scholarship under the program, along with other support in their athletic journey. The scheme currently operates 523 centres for identifying talent, 247 academies for training sportspeople and 29 centres of excellence for more intensive training.
Slowly, but surely, these efforts are bearing fruit, with 2021 being a watershed year for this transition. As India showed great promise at the Tokyo Olympics, the year also saw India’s sport industry cross INR 9,500 crore in advertising, sponsorship and other media spends. While cricket took a lion’s share, unprecedentedly, ‘emerging sports’ received 13% of brand endorsements, marking a yearly growth of 87%. As Indian athletics starts to shine, the money, it appears, will follow.
“Koi kasar nahi chhodenge”, Neeraj Chopra reportedly texted his coach, just before he won India’s first Olympic gold in athletics. One hopes India will reciprocate this sentiment.
For more details, check out this explainer on the TOPS program, or this editorial on how India is making a mark in the sporting world. This story highlights changes in sports spends in 2021.
Top Stories of the Week
Amendments introduced to Competition Law
The Competition (Amendment) Bill, 2022, which seeks to revamp the functioning of India’s antitrust laws, has been introduced in the the Lok Sabha. Some of the Bill’s key features include:
Prohibition of hub-and-spoke cartels: The Competition Act, 2002 hitherto prohibited cartels by those that were at the same level of a value chain. The bill proposes to add ‘hub-and-spoke cartels’, or cartels coordinated by entities at a different level of the value chain, to this list.
Supplier-side substitutes: The definition of ‘relevant product market’, a metric to judge the competitive pressures acting on an enterprise, has been widened to include supplier-side substitutes, to account for suppliers that could easily switch to creating a competing product if there is an incentive to do so.
Settlement and Commitment provisions: The Bill introduces provisions for enterprises to enter into settlements or commitments with the CCI, in lieu of inquiry proceedings against them being closed.
Merger approval procedures: The Bill introduces a deal value threshold of INR 2,000 crore, and any M&A activity above this threshold shall be scrutinised by the CCI. The Bill also reduces the time period for scrutiny of a combination to 150 days from the extant 210 days.
The Lok Sabha has not, however, passed the bill in the recently concluded session of the Parliament.
Central Universities (Amendment) Bill
Parliament passed the Central Universities (Amendment) Bill, 2022 which aims at expanding the horizon of the university beyond the railways to cover the whole of the transport sector to support growth and modernization in the field. The Bill amends the Central Universities Act, 2009, which provides for the establishment of Central universities in various states. The key features of the bill include:
GatiShakti Vishwavidyalaya: to convert the National rail and Transportation Institute, Vadodara (deemed University) to the GatiShakti Vishwavidyalaya
Scope of education: GatiShakti Vishwavidyalaya to take measures to provide quality teaching, research, and skill development in disciplines related to transportation, technology, and management
Appointment of a new Vice-chancellor: The existing VC of the National Rail and Transportation Institute will hold office for (i) six months from when the Act is notified, or (ii) until a new VC for the Gati Shakti Vishwavidyalaya is appointed, whichever is earlier.
Monkeypox Updates
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This Week in Policy
Macroeconomics and Taxation
In a bid to tame inflation, RBI hikes repo rate by 50 basis points to 5.40%.
RBI Surveys: Positive sentiments abound for manufacturing, services, infrastructure and loan demand; capacity utilisation high. Inflation expectations moderate by 80 basis points, although consumer confidence continues to languish in the negative. Real GDP expected to grow by 7.1%.
Retail inflation moderates to 6.71% in July, compared to 7.01% in June.
Labour
NASSCOMM to train 700 marginalised youth with digital literacy and other industry-ready skills.
Government must frame a policy to give EWS benefits to the non-religious, holds the Kerala High Court.
Agriculture and FMCG
Shri Narendra Singh Tomar, the Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, laid the foundation stone of the Indo-Israel Center of Excellence for Vegetables in Chandauli (Uttar Pradesh)
Gujarat government has launched the Indian Farmers’ Fertilizer Cooperative Limited (IFFCO) Nano Urea Spraying Scheme statewide to promote the use of drones in the agricultural sector.
Healthcare
The COVID-19 Working Group of the National Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (NTAGI) has recommended allowing Biological E’s Corbevax as a precaution dose for adults fully vaccinated with either Covidshield or Covaxin.
The Health Ministry, in collaboration with the National Health Authority, may likely launch a multi-lingual portal on August 15 to facilitate one-stop-shop services to foreign patients and hospitals.
Foreign affairs
EAM Dr. S. Jaishankar visited Phnom Penh, Cambodia, to co-chair the annual ASEAN-India Foreign Ministers’ Meeting. The discussions ranged from smart agriculture to digital inclusivity, with an overall emphasis on elevating cooperation.
India stays committed to assist partners in helping them recover from economic crisis and conflict. EAM Dr. S. Jaishankar commits to continue assistance towards Sri Lanka and Ukraine.
Technology, Media and Telecommunications
Disney+ becomes the biggest streaming platform worldwide, with a total of 221 million subscribers, beating Netflix.
India’s top broadcasters are considering boycotting the ICC media rights auction due to alleged lack of transparency in the bidding process.
MeitY changes tack on data protection with focus on big tech regulation after scrapping draft data protection bill.
International trade and commerce
New Delhi delegation in Ottawa; talks on Early Progress Trade Agreement between India and Canada speed up.
Banks seek clarity from RBI on rupee-based payment settlements (particularly with Russia) out of fear of being hit by Western sanctions.
Banking, Finance and Insurance
RBI penalises eight cooperative banks based on deficiencies in regulatory compliance
SEBI forms Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPI) advisory committee to provide advise on measures to facilitate ease of doing business by FPIs, encourage FPI participation in the bond market, and advise on issues related to investments and operations of such investors in the Indian financial markets.
RBI issues new digital lending guidelines, imposing tighter rules to protect customers by forcing digital lenders to focus on their NBFC units and book building.
Manufacturing
Indian Army signed an MoU with the Drone Federation of India to promote research, development, testing, and manufacturing of drones.
Union Heavy Industries Minister has launched Automated Online Data Transfer to enable transparency, ease of doing business, and paperless delivery.
Retail and e-commerce
Ministry of Consumer Affairs shall host a meeting on August 17, to discuss the possibility of mandating a single charger for all devices.
Microsoft joins the ONDC network, intending to launch social e-commerce in India.
UP Government launches ODOPmart.com, a portal for doorstep delivery of ODOP products.
Logistics and warehousing
Chennai, Nagpur and Bengaluru to soon see multi-modal logistics parks under the the Bharatmala Yojna.
Sustainability
The government is working on a policy on floating solar power generation, offering higher incentives to companies willing to invest in expensive solar plants.
Assam looks to generate 2000 MW of solar power, inks MOU with NLC India for a 1000 MW plant
Miscellaneous
Karnataka looks to set up a state-level public policy think tank, the ‘State Institute for Transformation of Karnataka’ on the lines of the NITI Aayog.
Upcoming Events
Envisioning 2060: Opportunities and Risks for Emerging Markets
August 17 | Virtual
The Centre for Social and Economic Progress (CSEP) is hosting a flagship seminar on August 17th to mark the launch of Envisioning 2060: Opportunities and Risks for Emerging Markets - a book focusing on the evolution of the economic and social landscape of emerging market economies over the next 40 years. Montek Singh Ahluwalia, who contributed a chapter to the book, will also be present as a discussant. More Information | Registration Link
India and the World: Lecture by Tshering Tobgay
August 14 | Virtual
The Centre for Policy Research (CPR) is hosting Tshering Tobgay, former Prime Minister, Bhutan on August 14th for the fifth edition of India and the World - a lecture series bringing together distinguished speakers who have had a long and deep engagement with India to understand their perspectives on India’s global relationships and how the world understands and engages with India. The lecture will be chaired by Shyam Saran, Former Indian Foreign Secretary. More Information | Registration Link
Identifying Elements of Ethical and Regulatory Framework for 6G and Creating Opportunities for India and Australia
August 17 | Metropolitan Hotel, New Delhi (Virtual mode also available)
CUTS International’s Centre for Competition, Investment and Economic Regulation (CUTS C-CIER) is organising an international conference on “Identifying Elements of Ethical and Regulatory Framework for 6G and Creating Opportunities for India and Australia” on August 17th at the Metropolitan Hotel, New Delhi. The conference aims to actualise practical cooperation and collaboration between India and Australia on evolving 6G communication technology. More Information | Registration Link (Physical), (Virtual)
A Few Good Reads
Read this commentary by Paul Gazta and Jagdish Jadhav on the National Achievement Survey 2021, published in Economic and Political Weekly.
Soma Das highlights India’s need for a ‘right to repair’ policy to combat its mounting e-waste in the Print.
Ishan Anand and Anjana Thampi drill down on data regarding India’s self-employed workforce in this excellent Mint article.
Explore the links between advertising and India’s freedom struggle, in this article by Manisha Kapoor.
Check out Eric Gilliam’s terrific series on the history of early MIT, presenting it as a model for achieving the goals of ‘progress studies’.
Tweets of the Week
See how this Indian village turned from alcoholism to chess:
Trinh analyses India's labour market:
Prof. Akiko Iwasaki puts out a terrific thread on the immunological features of long COVID:
Key Notifications
Monsoon Session, 2022 of Parliament adjourned four days ahead of schedule with five bills passed by both houses.
Justice Uday Umesh Lalit appointed as 49th Chief Justice of India.
The government notified the following Additional Secretary appointments on August 10th, 2022.
TRAI extends last date for receiving comments on its Consultation Paper on ‘Renewal of Multi-System Operators (MSOs) Registration’.