Sports as a Fundamental Right : Opinion

In the recent wake of events when a final year law student, Kanishka Pandey filed a petition before the Hon’ble Supreme Court to include Sports as a fundamental right under Article 21A of the Indian Constitution i.e basically in the wider ambit of Education, it is time to see if it fits in there. Not forgetting the fact that “Right to Play” already exists with right to freedom as one of the fundamental rights.

There is no denial to the fact that, Sports goes a long way in shaping our lives. Be it developing quality skills of leadership, dedication, hardwork, taking risks or just simple principles of respecting fellow sportsmen, being confident or making decisions. Broader point that we must note is how effectively is this “Right to Play” currently utilized in this 21st century. Not long before cricketing legend and Rajya Sabha member Sachin Tendulkar who wants the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education bill to be amended to include the Right to Play raised this issue in the Parliament. Back in 2017 too, Delhi Commission for Protection of Child Rights (DCPCR) came up to the rescue of children in Delhi who were robbed of this Right because of lessening Public parks and empty spaces. This Commission published a book titled, ‘Right of Children to Play in Parks’ included policy on children’s parks, which lays emphasis on proper upkeep of these places including greenery and providing recreational facilities for children. The same has also been circulated to Residents’ Welfare Associations across the Capital to ensure that the suggestions mentioned are followed.

Mounting of similar issues suggest that this Right is not efficiently used of, also there has been very minimum support from the government in seeing it implemented otherwise. It is not that they are ignorant, they already have accurate data of schools, just that their evaluation of the same is very inefficient. It is the duty of our Government and other stakeholders in society to come together and make the Right to Play a reality.
Governments should encourage sports by creating enabling conditions, by improving public health and education infrastructure right at the basic level.

Supreme Court’s notice to recognize sports as a fundamental right under Article 21A looks like the emerging ray of light, it can only get better and children can hope that their “Right to Play” will not just remain a Right on paper.

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