The
Vice President of India, Shri M. Venkaiah Naidu has said that Sport empowers
individuals, transform communities and inspire populations for positive change.
He was addressing the gathering at the launch of the National Sports Talent
Search Portal, an initiative of the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, here
today. The Minister of State for Youth Affairs and Sports (I/C), Water
Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation, Shri Vijay Goel and other
dignitaries were present on the occasion.
The
Vice President said that sports play an important role in improving physical
and mental health, and fostering active citizenship and social inclusion. He
further said that it also inculcates leadership skills, team spirit and enables
a person to develop a sense of equanimity during a win or a loss. There is
evidence that sport and play enhance child development, learning and encourage
better academic performance, he added.
The
Vice President said that we need to create good infrastructure for sports in
all states and nurture sporting talent from an early age. He further said that
across the length and breadth of the country we need more training academies
and coaching centres to turn our young men and women into sports stars and role
models for succeeding generations. The platform of National Sports Talent
Search Portal will be a game changer and enable the Ministry of Youth Affairs
and Sports and Sports Authority of India select the best, he added.
Following
is the text of Vice President’s address:
“I
am happy to inaugurate National Sports Talent Search Portal, an initiative of
the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports. This kind of initiative will not only
help in identifying the best talent, but will also provide a level playing
field to all the applicants and create a competitive environment.
Sport is an integral
part of nation-building process, as it plays an important role in terms of
individual development, community development, social inclusiveness and economic
development. One of the most important factors that enable a nation to become a
sporting power is the identification and development of right talent. As
one-seventh of humanity, there is no dearth of talent in our country,
especially with more than 450 million youth. In fact, we are overflowing with
talent, but in order to harness it we have to put in place a robust system to
spot and nurture talent, and develop world champions.
The platform of
National Sports Talent Search Portal will be a game changer and enable the
Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports and Sports Authority of India select the
best. I would like to congratulate Shri Vijay Goel for
this major initiative, which will go a long way in attracting the best
available sporting talent in the country. This platform will be fast,
transparent and provide a mechanism for fair selection. Only meritorious and
talented young sportspersons will be selected.
The portal is also available
as a Mobile App, which can be downloaded on the smartphones. It gives me lot of
satisfaction to know that the talent search portal and App have been developed
by IRIS, a highly reputed software and data analytics company, under corporate
social responsibility (CSR) support. I congratulate IRIS and the team which
developed this valuable platform in close consultation with Sports Authority of
India.
Sport empowers
individuals, transform communities and inspire populations for positive change.
It has become a tool of transformation, weaning villagers away from addiction,
breaking caste barriers within the community, bringing women out of the home
and empowering them, and reviving spirit and pride in individuals and the
village as a whole.
The games foster
friendships, unity and a healthy vibrant community. This simple but powerfully
uplifting intervention renews the joy and spirit of community kinship. For
women, the blossoming of their self-confidence and spirit of initiative in this
space is the bedrock for societal change tomorrow.
Sport plays an
important role in improving physical and mental health, and fostering active
citizenship and social inclusion. It also inculcates leadership skills, team
spirit and enables a person to develop a sense of equanimity during a win or a
loss.
Sport is a good
entry-point for the promotion of life skills-based education and healthy
lifestyles, including the values of physical fitness, proper nutrition and how
to make choices that positively impact health. There is evidence that sport and
play enhance child development, learning and encourage better academic
performance. Sport is a powerful social tool, bringing together people from
different ethnic, cultural, religious, linguistic and socio-economic
backgrounds.
Sports should be an
integral part of our everyday life. Some people think that sports is important
only for physical well-being, I feel sports is important for overall
development of an individual. We are a large and diverse nation. Sports can be
a great means of national integration. From sports, we learn sportsman spirit
and that acts as a lubricant in our social life. More than winning, sports
helps you learn to deal with defeats. Sports helps you become a fighter.
Sport increases
self-esteem among adolescent girls and provides opportunities for the
advancement of girls in the face of gender-related barriers. Sport can be used
to promote a safe and protective environment for children and to teach young
people how to solve conflict in a non-violent manner. Sport activities can be
low-cost and utilize locally-available resources. Sports help children develop
physical skills, get exercise, learn to play as a member of a team, learn to
play fair, and improve self-esteem.
Healthy people make a
healthy nation. If everybody is active and healthy, they can lead a happy life
besides being more productive economically. The importance of health in our
country is acknowledged over the ages through the saying ‘Aarogyame Maha
Bhagyam’ which translates to ‘Health is Wealth’. That being the case, things
are different today. Our country is fast emerging as the ‘diabetic capital’ of
the world. It is because of modern life styles, food habits and declining
physical activity. This is a serious socio-economic challenge for our country.
Our country has always
been rich in culture and tradition, and games have been an important part of
Indian culture from times in memorial. Gradually the time changed and so did
our sports.
Traditional Games were
not just games; they were designed in such a way that one can develop lot of
skills like logical thinking, building strategy, concentration, basic
mathematics, aiming, and lot more. During the era of the Rig - Veda, Ramayana
and Mahabharata, men of a certain stature were expected to be well - versed in
chariot - racing, archery, military stratagems, swimming, wrestling, horse
riding and hunting. While the present-day archers are struggling to hit
fixed targets, ages ago, Arjuna hit the ‘rotating Fish that is MatsyaYantra’ to
defeat his fellow contenders and win over Draupadi.
We have come a long way
from ancient times and have a huge population of young people whose talent
needs to be harnessed. Barring cricket and hockey earlier as team sports, our
success in sports events is sporadic and more on account of individual effort
and excellence, rather than any State patronage and encouragement. That
must change. Be it Sania Mirza, P.V.Sindhu, Saina Nehwal, P. T. Usha,
Milkha Singh or Abhinav Bhindra, all of them did themselves and the nation
proud through perseverance and tenacity.
As I said, we need to
create good infrastructure for sports in all states and nurture sporting talent
from an early age. Across the length and breadth of the country we need more
training academies and coaching centres to turn our young men and women into
sports stars and role models for succeeding generations.
It is my dream, a dream
I share with millions of my countrymen, to see India emerge as a major sporting
nation in the world. India stands poised on the curve of a major leap in all
fields and I am certain that this is true of sports as well, of a time when
India will figure prominently in the list of medal-winning nations in Olympics
and other sports competitions.
Jai hind.”
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KSD/BK