Open House Discussion on Sports and Human Rights held on 1st November 2022 at India’s National Human Rights Commission
Dr. Padmini Chennapragada , Founder-Director of Adapted Sports India
Foundation (ASIF), stated that Federations-Ministry-Athlete Triad, which is
interplay of all three critical stakeholders, makes the sports industry. She stated that
the government needs to look beyond the compliance of financial norms by the
National Sports Foundations (NSFs) and to concentrate more on advancement of
human rights values by NSFs. She stated that on examinations of the audit report of
8 to 9 NSFs taken up the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) on initiative of the
Government, she realized that there is a need to create awareness about the fair use
of funds allocated to NSFs. She suggested to establish an independent Division or a
Cell, either in the NHRC or in the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, to deal
exclusively with human rights issues in the sports sector. She highlighted the
importance of safe sport. She also suggested to review the actions taken so far in
compliance of sports related international covenants and declarations such as Berlin
Declarations or the Kazan Action Plan. Link to the Meeting Minutes.
Meeting of the Core Group on Rights of Persons with Disabilities held on 26th July, 2022 on Agenda titled “Discussion on Draft National Policy on Rights of Persons with Disabilities, 2021 at India’s National Human Rights Commission
Dr. Padmini Chennapragada, Ph.D. in Adapted Physical Education and Master of Science (M.S.), Hyderabad emphasised on the chapter 8 of the draft National Policy, i.e., Sports, Culture and Recreation and shared the following points on the same.
i. A large percentage of the population engaging in sports belongs to the rural and semi urban areas. So the information related to sports mentioned in the chapter 8 of the policy, needs to be broken down in such a format that is in a simple language and can help PWDs in rural area for guidance.
ii. It is not mentioned in the policy that which nodal Ministry will restructure the courses as mentioned in the Section 30 of RPD Act or Chapter 8 of the policy. Therefore, there is a need to recognize the nodal agency and provide that information in the policy document.
iii. There is a need to list the safeguards for engagement of women with disabilities, children with disabilities etc. in sports.
iv. Instead of elaborate written text the citizens can benefit from flow charts or pictorial information. Therefore, the same may be included in the policy document to make it easily understandable by the readers. Link to Meeting minutes.