Sudhanshu Kaushik
Haryana Human Rights Commission
New Delhi & Haryana, India
The Rio Olympics, which ended a few weeks ago, came with their fair share of controversy and scandals. One included exposing the plight of athletes who belong to lower castes in India. Working with the Haryana Human Rights Commission (HHRC), I witnessed this firsthand, as the northern state of Haryana produces the majority of athletes who compete in sporting events like the Olympics.
I’ve heard a lot about India’s failure to win medals in the Olympics. India has a population of around 1.3 billion, compared to US’s 330 million, but India won a total of 2 medals this year, whereas the US had 121 medals. India has won 26 medals since the country first competed in 1900, compared to 2,400 won by the USA. I hear at times that it’s because India is a nation that obsessed with cricket, but there’s something that’s being ignored: the condition of its athletes.
I say these because, through my internship at HHRC, I discovered that caste, social class, and gender affects athletes’ conditions. Some would consider Haryana one of the most patriarchal and conservative places in India. The state also practices the caste system and is known for having the highest female abortion rates, a disappointing female-to-male sex ratio, and a plethora of honor killings due to caste. I learned that some people who have faced hatred because of it are now trying to change that perception.
I met with Mahavir Singh Phogat, father and coach to the first Indian female wrestlers to compete in the Olympics. He was ostracized by his extended family, friends, and villagers for coaching his daughters. They told him that his daughters’ lower caste would not allow them to compete or become wrestlers, and that being women, the best they could do was get married and become someone’s wife.
It turns out that his daughters, Geeta and Babita, won medals at many international tournaments. This year, three Indian female wrestlers qualified for the Olympics, all of them coached by Phogat. For the past decade, Phogat, without the support of the government and with his own money, has operated the only wrestling gym in Haryana that trains women.
I also met Dattu Bhokanal, India’s first athlete to qualify in the Olympics as a rower. This was a surprising feat, considering that he comes from an area of India that’s been suffering from a drought for the past few years. Bhokanal also had a water phobia until three years ago, when he first learned how to row. Despite overcoming these challenges, Bhokanal faces other more important ones. The government of India has not been able to provide proper funding for his travels, training, or living accommodations. His dad has died, his mother is severely sick, and he has at least four family members to support while training. He has no source of income besides the small plot of land he plows on the weekends after coming from training camps eight hours away.
The reason that India doesn’t win medals isn’t because we have a lack of talent. It’s because the state fails its athletes, who more often than not come from impoverished backgrounds, belong to lower castes, and have with many responsibilities. If you want to stop hearing stories in the mainstream media about how India fails to win medals, and stop hearing about the plight of athletes like Bhokanal, please raise your voice and concern by emailing India’s minister of sports, Jitendra Singh, at minister.yas@nic.in.