Sachin Tendulkar’s blueprint to make India a sporting superpower

Tendulkar has proposed an approach of three 'I' – ‘Invest, Insure, Immortalise’.

Sachin Tendulkar | PTI

In order to make India a rich sporting nation, cricket icon Sachin Tendulkar has urged his fellow countrymen to develop a ‘sporting culture’ to achieve some relevant goals. The Master Blaster was supposed to deliver this message in the Rajya Sabha on Thursday (December 21). However, he was continuously disrupted by the members of upper house despite repeated appeals from speaker M. Venkaiah Naidu. Subsequently, the batting maestro released a video on Friday to make himself heard.

Tendulkar stressed on building a sporting culture in the country, otherwise a young, unfit, unhealthy India will be recipe for disaster. He put forward his roadmap to accomplish those goals through three 'I' - Invest, Insure and Immortalise.

"We must invest our own time and effort and ensure our wellness and each one of us must to start adopting one active sport and play regularly," Tendulkar said in the 15-minute long video.

Tendulkar, who was nominated as the Rajya Sabha member back in 2012, also requested the ministries of Human Resource Development and Sports to work towards transforming the school structure so that ‘sports should be at par with other subjects at school.’

"Our citizens and school children should have access to more sports infrastructure. Open spaces and playgrounds should be retained and along with smart cities, we should look at building smart sport cities," he added.

Highlighting the financial struggles of several renowned sportsmen of India, Tendulkar requested the benefits of Central Government Health Scheme be extended to whom he termed as the national heroes.

“I appeal to the Hon’ble Minister of Health & Family Welfare J.P. Naddaji to kindly consider my request on this issue which is in line with the recommendations put forth by the [All India Council of Sports],” Sachin said.

Tendulkar has also appealed to relevant officials to tweak the Right to Free and Compulsory Education Bill to include the ‘Right to Play.’

“I always loved playing sports and cricket was my life. My father Prof. Ramesh Tendulkar was a poet and a writer. He always supported me and encouraged me to be what I wanted to be in life. The greatest gift I got from him was the freedom to play – the right to play, and I will always be grateful to him,” concluded Sachin.

Watch the video here:

 

 
 

By Salman Anjum - 23 Dec, 2017

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