New Delhi: India’s aspirations as a global sporting power are being held back by outdated and fragile administrative systems, according to a comprehensive report submitted by an Abhinav Bindra led Task Force to Sports Minister Mansukh Mandaviya. The 170 page document presents a candid assessment of existing shortcomings and offers a structured blueprint to reset sports governance in the country. The government has indicated that all recommendations will be taken forward.
The report highlights deep rooted systemic failures across key institutions, including the Sports Authority of India, National Sports Federations and state sports departments. It finds these bodies to be understaffed, poorly coordinated and heavily dependent on generalist officials or short term contractual employees who lack sector specific expertise. This has led to inconsistent decision making, weak institutional memory and limited long term planning.
Special focus has been placed on the functioning of SAI and state departments, described as critical yet constrained pillars of the sports ecosystem. The absence of a dedicated sports administration service has resulted in fragmented governance, overlapping responsibilities and blurred accountability between agencies and federations.
At the core of the Task Force’s recommendations is the need for professionalisation. The report argues that India lacks a trained cadre of sports administrators equipped with modern governance, ethical oversight, digital capability and operational expertise. Existing training mechanisms are seen as outdated and fragmented, prompting a call to shift from personality driven leadership to competency based governance.
The report also flags gaps in athlete representation. While new legislation mandates the inclusion of athletes in federation leadership, most former players lack formal training in administration or policy. The Task Force proposes structured dual career pathways to prepare athletes for governance roles, drawing on successful international examples.
Governance weaknesses within sports federations are another concern. Excessive concentration of power, lack of transparency and the absence of full time professional executives are seen as barriers to accountability and high performance delivery.
The flagship proposal is the creation of a National Council for Sports Education and Capacity Building, an autonomous statutory body to regulate and certify sports administration nationwide. Complemented by digitisation, civil services training and global partnerships, the reforms aim to build systems that match India’s sporting talent.
The report concludes that India’s next sporting breakthrough will depend not only on athletes, but on building world class governance structures to support them.
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