Just 5% of India sports literate: Researcher who filed PIL in SC for sports as fundamental right

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Published: business-standard | Date :  September 26, 2019

Just over five per cent of India’s 1.25 billion population is “sports literate”, says Kanishka Pandey, the researcher who last year filed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) in the Supreme Court seeking to make sports a fundamental right.

Pandey is now heading what is claimed to be the first Sports Research Centre, which has been set up by the Institute of Management Technology (IMT) in Ghaziabad.

“Merely 5.56 per cent of the Indian Population is ‘Sports Literate’. To put in numbers, merely about 57 lakh people out of 125 crore people are engaged in sports, directly and indirectly,” Pandey asserted.

“Compare this with other countries like the United States, Sports or Physical Literacy is around 20 percent and in China more than one crore people play badminton alone.

“Countries have copied something which was ours and have excelled whereas we have ignored it and got left behind,” the 27-year-old said.

Pandey had petitioned the apex court in August 2018 and while admitting his plea, the Supreme Court had sought a response from the union government.

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