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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Justice Sanjiv Khanna appointed next CJI, oath on Nov 11
New Delhi, Oct 24: Justice Sanjiv Khanna was on Thursday appointed the 51st Chief Justice of India.
He will take oath on November 11, a day after incumbent Justice D Y Chandrachud demits office on attaining the age of 65.
Justice Chandrachud took over as the CJI on November 8, 2022.
Justice Khanna will have a tenure of a little over six months as CJI and would demit office on May 13, 2025.
"In exercise of the power conferred by the Constitution of India, Hon'ble President, after consultation with Hon'ble Chief Justice of India, is pleased to appoint Shri Justice Sanjiv Khanna, Judge of the Supreme Court of India as Chief Justice of India with effect from 11th November, 2024," Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal posted on X.
Justice Khanna was appointed an additional judge of the Delhi High Court in 2005 and was made a permanent judge in 2006. On January 18, 2019, he was elevated as a judge of the Supreme Court.
Born on May 14, 1960, he studied law at the Campus Law Centre of Delhi University.
Some of the notable judgments of Justice Khanna in the Supreme Court include upholding the use of electronic voting machines in elections, saying the devices were secure and eliminated booth capturing and bogus voting.
He was also part of the five-judge bench that declared the electoral bond scheme, meant for funding of political parties, as unconstitutional.
Justice Khanna was a part of the five-judge bench, which upheld the Centre's 2019 decision abrogating Article 370 of the Constitution which granted a special status to the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir.
Justice Khanna, who is the senior-most judge after the outgoing CJI, and the executive chairman of the National Legal Service Authority (NALSA), had granted interim bail to the then Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, an accused in the alleged Delhi excise policy scam cases, for campaigning in Lok Sabha elections.
He is the nephew of former apex court judge H R Khanna, who was part of the landmark verdict propounding the basic structure doctrine in Kesavananda Bharati case of 1973.
The retirement age of Supreme Court judges is 65 years, while high court judges demit office at the age of 62 years.
The Centre recently asked CJI Chandrachud to name his successor.
According to the memorandum of procedure (MoP) -- a set of documents guiding appointment, elevation and transfer of high court and Supreme Court judges -- the law minister writes to the CJI to name his or her successor.
Law Minister Meghwal had written to CJI Chandrachud asking him to name his successor.
The MoP says the senior-most judge of the apex court is considered fit to hold the office of the CJI and the views of the outgoing head of the judiciary have to be sought "at an appropriate time".
The MoP, however, does not specify the time limit for the initiation of the process of recommending the name of the successor CJI.
In exercise of the power conferred by the Constitution of India, Hon’ble President, after consultation with Hon’ble Chief Justice of India, is pleased to appoint Shri Justice Sanjiv Khanna, Judge of the Supreme Court of India as Chief Justice of India with effect from 11th…
— Arjun Ram Meghwal (@arjunrammeghwal) October 24, 2024
