'Create mechanism to monitor sex determination of athletes'

A BJD member in Lok Sabha today asked the government to devise a mechanism to monitor the dividing line between male and female players in the wake of the sex determination issue coming to fore in the case of sprinter Dutee Chand.
Raising the issue, Bhartruhari Mahtab said the recent judgement highlight of the Court of Arbitration of Sports (CAS), which suspended a regulation of International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) for female track and field sports for two years, has opened up the issue of sex-based discrimination for a debate.
"How will government monitor the dividing line between male and female competitors giving due respect to the judgment on sex-based discrimination? This is an issue, and I hope that the government will come out with adequate precautions so that such discrimination does not happen in future," he said.

Mahtab also praised the government for helping Chand fight her case at the international appellate tribunal.
The Odisha sprinter was dropped from the Commonwealth Games contingent at the last minute after the Athletic Federation of India stated that hyperandrogenism, a medical condition characterised by excessive levels of androgens in the body, made her ineligible to compete as a female athlete.
Last month, the CAS in Lausanne partially upheld her appeal against the IAAF Regulation on hyperandrogenism which had led to her being banned from taking part in competitions.

Raising another issue, AIADMK MP V Sathyabama suggested setting up of separate rooms for lactating mothers at railway stations and bus terminals across the country so that they can feed child without compromising on their privacy.

"Besides, the union government may also think of keeping important medicines, toys, drinking water in the alloted space," she added.
Ramesh Pokhriyal (BJP) said tourism had been badly hit in Uttarakhand due to the natural calamity in 2013. People are yet to come out of the calamity and financial distress, he said.
Amid financial distress banks were putting pressure on borrowers to repay loans, he said, adding that the government should devise a loan waiver package for such borrowers to help them.