Of course, the government in Jammu and Kashmir deserves kudos for rendering yeoman's service in bringing vibrancy into sports culture as there is sea change in the field with UT showing brilliance e in almost all the games for which the training modules and the required edifice is available at various sports facilities across the region.
The inauguration of the fourth chapter of snow sports event Khelo India Games at the world-famous ski resort, Gulmarg is testimony to the fact that in the last few years, government has focused on promoting sports in the Union Territory and the young talent has responded very positively by availing the facilities with open arms and making a mark in the national sports arena and even in the international circles as medals have started pouring in like never before.
The efforts of the Government to promote robust sports culture in cities and villages of the Union Territory is currently the talk of the town because the UT residents are overwhelmed seeing the thrust being given to create state-of-art infrastructure and allied facilities for giving impetus to the sports sector.
Historically, the region despite having top class talent failed to make a mark in the sports field due to conventional bottlenecks like corruption in creation of infrastructure, blue-eyed blocking the genuine talent, no proper incentives, siphoning of funds, and discrimination and prejudice in selections for coveted tournaments and even awards besides other things which were principally unacceptable. Though, LG Manoj Sinha's administration has taken good care of many of the aforesaid aspects but as in other fields, there are still remnants of many wrongdoings plaguing the sports in J&K, making it imperative for the higher ups in the government to ensure a failsafe mechanism to eradicate all the wrong practices to ensure that only pure talent gets chance to represent the UT at relevant levels.
In this matter, one thing which the helmsman should take good care of is the cases of conflict of interest as people selecting the players and the awardees for excellence in sports should be asked to give undertakings that none of the players under scrutiny are their relatives, friends, etc. There is a dire need to keep a scientific check on such cases so that no entity is allowed to make a compromise on his or her judgment, decisions, or actions giving a dent to the impartiality required in the matter.
The need of the hour is that the government should take conflicts of interest so seriously that they are regulated with no chance of any exception. It is even advisable that a professional neutral agency be hired or roped in by the government to conduct audit of such cases in the past and for stopping delinquency in future as well.
Knowing details of how many government coaches have their children in the same sports, members of sports federations having their family members or relatives in the same game and are given edge over players with no connections, and finding similar links of people getting awards in different sports categories although is akin to boiling ocean but if the incumbent government somehow will accomplish this, it is likely that many skeletons will come tumbling out of J&K's sports sector's cupboard. This is a significant step required to ensure that best talent gets justice and a chance to represent the UT, which in turn would surely help J&K to embark on a journey where the region will make a mark like many other states known for their outstanding sportspersons and achievements at various levels.
