Centre to Commission Study on 12th SAG to IIM-A: Sports Secretary

The Central Government is planning to commission a study on the South Asian Games, which will be conducted by IIM-A

India ended as the overall champions in the South Asian Games with a record 308 medals. (Photo: PTI)

The Central Government is planning to commission a study, which will be conducted by the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Ahmedabad on the recently concluded 12th South Asian Games held in Guwahati and Shillong.

India had ended the competition as the overall champions with a record 308 medals.

We are thinking of commissioning a case study on South Asian Games to be done by IIM-Ahmedabad so that they can point out if there were any defects and what improvement can be done on it. It was a very-very smooth rollout of the games and this format needs to be watched, it is a case study to be made.

Rajiv Yadav, Secretary, Department of Sports, Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports

Quoting examples of conflict between organising committee and government in the Commonwealth Games and Afro-Asian Games, the secretary said:

The format of giving total independence to the organising committee was wrong, with the government footing the bill but watching from the sideline, then sending it to auditors or to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for an enquiry.

Rajiv Yadav

“The format about independence of organising committee is not working because entire money is footed from the public exchequer, organising committee does not bring a diam,” added Yadav.

“Once you are taking public exchequer money you are responsible for it, so how can a federation or a committee not abide by conditions put on it once they have accepted the money.”

He said that given the history of Commonwealth Games and Afro-Asian Games, the government decided to change the format as such the organising committee was headed by the minister himself.