Devangshu Datta: The liaisoning sport

Every four years, we hear loud wails about the desperate Indian sports scenario (DISS). Two weeks or so after the national anthems (of other countries) stop playing at the stadia, all is forgotten. Then the next Olympics comes around and the same deficiencies show up again.

For argument's sake assume that enough people are sufficiently outraged for a sufficient length of time to actually want to do something about DISS. They would find it incredibly difficult because of how sports is organised.

Every sport is run by an autonomous, democratically elected body and you may think that all you have to do is become members of that body in sufficient numbers to vote out the incompetents running it.

However, "democratically elected" covers a lot of ground. Becoming a member of a sports federation isn't just a matter of queuing up and paying membership fees. There are vetting systems and criteria in place to block the membership of undesirables, (who may want to change the way the body functions).

Again, for argument's sake, assume you and your like-minded friends find ways to sneakily circumvent those vetting systems and become members in large numbers. You will then discover that the election isn't quite as straightforward as ticking off a name on a ballot paper and stuffing that into a box.

The famous Arrow's Impossibility Theorem states, more or less, that it is impossible to devise an election system that will always accurately reflect the choices of the electorate. In other words, most election processes can be gamed. Indian sports bodies have devised ingenious ways to prove Arrow's Theorem. There's a thesis to be written here in terms of gerrymandering and manipulation of social choices.

Most bodies, for instance, use proxies which means voters need not tick off preferences in person. Many mysterious members who never land up for meetings hand over proxies in large numbers to the more influential committee members.

Many bodies use two-tiered systems. State associations hold elections (by some complex process) and then, the duly-elected representatives of state bodies elect the central committee. In such cases, a state with say, 11 state association members may have as many votes as another state with 5,000 members.

It is also common for corporate affiliates to have great influence since affiliates hand out money, or jobs, or both. Historically, for example, the Services, Railways, Air India, etc., have been sports patrons with such influence. An increasing number of private companies also wield such influence nowadays.

All this is quite legal. Sports bodies are governed by the Societies Registration Act, 1860, which gives broad latitude in terms of defining membership criteria, and electoral process. It must also be understood that the purpose of an Indian sports body is not to foster sporting excellence. If that happens, it is incidental.

The real purpose of an Indian sports body is to liaison with the Ministry of Sports and Youth Affairs (MSYA) and derive as much by way of benefits from that liaison as possible. Medals are useful only in insofar as medals make it easier to chisel benefits out of MSYA. The benefits can include financial help, land, equipment, air tickets, the right to use the "India" brand name to attract sponsors, etc. Sports administrators are laudably focussed on "liaison" and tend to be pretty good at it.

The improvement of sports administration would have to start by rewriting the relevant laws to allow the dissatisfaction of fans and sportspersons to be reflected in the electoral processes of sports bodies. That, in turn, would involve landing a majority in Parliament. Good luck to you if you can do that!

The smart thing to do is to seek out unoccupied niches. For example, there are recognised Winter Olympics sports where no Indian participation exists. Set up a sports body (or bodies) that cover one or more of such disciplines. Then you too could liaison with the MSYA and, if you look around, you just might find the odd winter sportsperson.
Twitter: @devangshudatta