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Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during his recent interaction with the World Cup-winning Indian women’s cricket team, had a request. He told the girls to go back to the schools they had studied in and spend some time with the students. An unusual request, one may think. But the prime minister knows exactly where the ‘kundalini’ of sporting power lies. A nation’s sporting excellence rises from its grassroots, from little sparks of inspiration and opportunity which fire up young talent to run like a hound, leap like an impala, swim like a shark, and arch like a cat. India has been quietly taking determined strides in sports, so much so that it is perhaps PM Modi’s most underrated contribution in the last 11 years. His government has prioritised sports as a tool to empower the youth, forge national unity, and spur economic growth. It has integrated sports with the PM’s vision of Viksit Bharat (developed India) by 2047 as well as the National Education Policy. It has also pushed public-private partnership in sports. Grassroots talent scouting has taken off, so has support for star athletes, infrastructure, and promoting fitness as a lifestyle. Funds have flowed into schemes like Khelo India, Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS), Fit India Movement, National Sports University, and Khelo Bharat. NDA’s average annual allocation on sports, Rs 2,800 crore, is two-and-a-half times that of the UPA average of Rs 1,100 crore. In a country with a nearly 65 per cent youth population, the government has raised the sports budget by 130.9 per cent, from Rs 1,643 crore in 2014–15 to Rs 3,794 crore in 2025–26. And it has directly started translating into results. India has posted record international performances, like its best-ever Olympic medal tally of seven medals at Tokyo 2020 and a historic 107 medals at the 2023 Asian Games in Hangzhou, China. Women’s sports have got a massive lift. Girls get 50 per cent of Khelo India Scholarships and have been bagging half of the international medals. More than one lakh schools now run mandatory sports for girls under Fit India. An unexpected area of success has been in sports for the disabled. India won a historic 111 medals at the 2023 Asian Para Games in China with 29 gold, 31 silver, and 51 bronze medals. It finished fifth overall, another best-ever performance. This confidence has made India bid for the 2036 Olympic Games, with Ahmedabad as the potential host city. The Indian Olympic Association has submitted a Letter of Intent to the International Olympic Committee. The bid is reportedly in the ‘continuous dialogue’ phase. Officials privately say it is a done deal. The Modi government’s push for sports has created more than 1,000 jobs for Khelo India medallists. The sports industry has grown by Rs 15,000 crore, according to 2023 figures, and is expected to touch Rs 1 lakh crore by 2030. Under Khelo India, over 11,000 youth clubs have been equipped, more than 30,000 coaches trained, and over 1,000 Khelo India Centres (KIC) built or renovated. The scheme covers 200 million youngsters aged between 10 and 18. Stars like Neeraj Chopra, Mirabai Chanu, PV Sindhu all trained under TOPS. Maharashtra’s Aditi Hegde in swimming, Jammu and Kashmir’s Mohsin Ali, Sajad Hussain, and Muhammad Hussain in kayaking and canoeing are among Khelo India success stories. Fit India has gone to over one lakh schools and colleges and held quarterly events in over 200 parliamentary constituencies. International Yoga Day participation has jumped 20 per cent since its launch in June 2015. Sporting glory unites a nation, fitness runs its core human engine. The keen politician in Modi understands the value of this. Which is why the most powerful man in the country requests women sports stars to simply take time out, be at the grassroots. That is enough to make millions of more girls dream of becoming champions. Abhijit Majumder is the author of the book, ‘India’s New Right’. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect News18’s views.
