There is hardly any understanding of sport among people in India: Sports Minister Rijiju
New Delhi: Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju on Saturday rued that people in India, including some of his colleagues in Parliament, have limited understanding of sports and emphasised on the need to create a sports culture in the country.
Rijijiu was amazed that his colleagues felt that people like Jyoti Kumari, Kambala jockey Srinivas Gowda and Rameshwar Gurjar -- who became social media sensation -- were Olympic prospects.
Jyoti Kumari had cycled down from Gurugram to Bihar, carrying her ailing father amid the COVID-19 pandemic and Karnataka's Gowda was claimed to have run 100m in about 11 seconds.
"Knowledge in Indian society about sports is very minimum. I don't want to degrade my own colleagues but even in Parliament there is no knowledge," Rijiju said during the online launch of High Performance leadership programme organised by ELMS Sports Foundation and Abhinav Bindra Foundation.
"Everybody knows about cricket, the English people have put that in our mind. They play the game and we had to beat them. But other than that, there is no knowledge, all just want gold medal."
In May, the 15-year-old Kumari hit national headlines after she cycled down 1200 km from Gurugram to her native place in Bihar in eight days with her father. She was offered a trial by the Cycling Federation of India, which she turned down.
Talking about Kumari, Rijiju said: "There was this young girl who under very difficult circumstances during this COVID-19 pandemic carried her father on a cycle from Gurgaon to Bihar. It was a tragic thing but imagine some of my colleagues said she will bring gold medal for India in cycling.
"See how lack of knowledge makes people think like this, without knowing what are the formats of cycling and what standards you have to reach to win gold medal in Olympics, just pouring of information will not do."
Earlier, Gowda and Madhya Pradesh's Gurjar also became social media sensations for their running exploits in the slushy and dusty fields and were eventually called for trials.
Gowda was believed to have completed 100m sprints in about 11 seconds and was dubbed by some in social media as the next Usain Bolt, the Jamaican multiple Olympic gold medallist sprinter.
"There was also a case in Karnataka, a bullock cart running competitions where there was somebody called Srinivas. For a better traction so that people don't feel we are not aware of the situation, our SAI people had invited him," Rijiju said.
"... I was told he was not fit for a world class sprinter but that is not important. People started saying that we have got a man who is faster than Olympic champion Usain Bolt. We have to identify talent but look at the lack of knowledge, people don't know."
He also stressed on the lack of sports culture in the country, saying there is a need to change the entire sporting atmosphere to ensure that India win more gold medals at the Olympics.
"What was bothering me all these years is why we are not able to create a sports culture in India. Abhinav Bindra got the gold at Beijing. In Moscow, our Indian men's hockey team won a gold medal. It generates celebration but there is no collective effort to have more such momentous occasions," he said.
"India definitely has a sporting tradition but unfortunately we don't have a sports culture. It has been so many years since Bindra got the gold. Fortunately, since 1996 Olympics we have not drawn a blank in medal tally but it is not a good sight for a country of India's size."
"We have to change the entire atmosphere in the country to ensure that such moments come more often. We can't afford to have just one or two icons, to be celebrating one or two medals."
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Los Angeles county wildfires could be costliest in US history, early estimates say
Los Angeles, Jan 11: The wildfires that erupted this week across Los Angeles County are still raging, but already are projected to be among the costliest natural disasters in US history.
The devastating blazes have killed at least 11 people and incinerated more than 12,000 structures since Tuesday, laying waste to entire neighbourhoods once home to multimillion-dollar properties.
While it's still too early for an accurate tally of the financial toll, the losses so far likely make the wildfires the costliest ever in the US, according to various estimates.
A preliminary estimate by AccuWeather put the damage and economic losses so far between USD 135 billion and USD 150 billion. By comparison, AccuWeather estimated the damage and economic losses caused by Hurricane Helene, which tore across six southeastern states last fall, at USD 225 billion to USD 250 billion.
“This will be the costliest wildfire in California modern history and also very likely the costliest wildfire in US modern history, because of the fires occurring in the densely populated areas around Los Angeles with some of the highest-valued real estate in the country,” said Jonathan Porter, the private firm's chief meteorologist.
AccuWeather factors in a multitude of variables in its estimates, including damage to homes, businesses, infrastructure and vehicles, as well as immediate and long-term health care costs, lost wages and supply chain interruptions.
The insurance broker Aon PLC also said Friday that the LA County wildfires will likely end up being the costliest in US history, although it did not issue an estimate. Aon ranks a wildfire known as the Camp Fire in Paradise, California, in 2018 as the costliest in US history up to now at USD 12.5 billion, adjusted for inflation. The Camp Fire killed 85 people and destroyed about 11,000 homes.
The LA County wildfires, which were fuelled by hurricane-force Santa Ana winds and an extreme drought, remained largely uncontained Saturday. That means the final tally of losses from the blazes is likely to increase, perhaps substantially.
“To put this into perspective, the total damage and economic loss from this wildfire disaster could reach nearly 4 per cent of the annual GDP of the state of California,” AccuWeather's Porter said.
In a report Friday, Moody's also concluded that the wildfires would prove to be the costliest in US history, specifically because they have ripped through densely populated areas with higher-end properties.
While the state is no stranger to major wildfires, they have generally been concentrated in inland areas that are not densely populated. That's led to less destruction per acre, and in damage to less expensive homes, Moody's noted.
That's far from the case this time, with one of the largest conflagrations destroying thousands of properties across the Pacific Palisades and Malibu, home to many Hollywood stars and executives with multimillion-dollar properties. Already, numerous celebrities have lost homes to the fires.
“The scale and intensity of the blazes, combined with their geographic footprint, suggest a staggering price tag, both in terms of the human cost and the economic toll,” Moody's analysts wrote. The report did not include a preliminary cost estimate of the wildfire damage.
It could be several months before a concrete tally of the financial losses from the wildfires will be possible.
“We're in the very early stages of this disaster,” Porter said.
