Development through Sports: A Sociological Study of two States in India

Abstract

Over the past decade, UN agencies, international sport federations, international and national non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and national governments have been using sport as a tool for development. The crucial rationale that can be attributed to this belief is documented from studies that under appropriate conditions physical health benefits of sport such as prevention of diseases, lessening of likelihood of unhealthy practices (such as illegal drug use and unsafe sex), potential to positively influence social integration and inclusion of people with disabilities, women and girls, enhancement of self-worth and the likes contribute to the social fabric of our society. The level of development of a Nation which was initially considered only in economic terms limiting itself to dependence on industrial, agricultural and/or service sectors, is witnessing a paradigm shift. The idea that well-being of a country only on the pretext of economic growth was challenged by the United Nation’s Declaration on the Right of Development (1986):