Through The Power Of Sports Changing Lives - Isha Outreach

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Dr. Manohar Singh Gill
Union Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports
Government of India
Foreword
When looking at global demographic trends, the opportunities for India over the next several
decades are apparent. While most developed and emerging countries will be addressing
the challenges of aging populations, India will be blessed with a well-educated, vibrant,
dynamic, young and talented workforce. As the policy and decision-makers of today, we
face the challenge of ensuring that India’s leaders of tomorrow are poised to capitalise
on the demographic dividend, earning the mantle of global leadership, while inspiring the
country and the world to greater heights. Sports have a central role to play in this journey.
In spite of our best projections, we don’t know what the global economy will look like in a
couple of decades. We cannot be confident that the growth sectors of today, will be the
growth sectors of tomorrow. Our seven hundred million young people have to be ready for
whatever the future may bring. Having a quality, well-balanced education will certainly equip
them to face that challenge, but it is the content of their characters that will truly mark their
path to success.
Integrity, courage, confidence, participation, fair play, hard work, leadership, inclusion,
teamwork, grace in victory, sportsmanship in defeat, and learning from mistakes to face a
new dawn with optimism and enthusiasm; these are the values found in good leaders and
good citizens. They are also the best qualities exhibited by good sportspersons. Under the
leadership of a good coach or teacher, our children can learn these invaluable lessons on the
field of play, and apply them to their life off the field of play. That truly is the inspirational and
constructive power of sports.
Our Ministry’s flagship PYKKA scheme aims to take sports to the rural masses over the
next decade by providing the opportunity for all children and young people to play. Sports
are important to us all. I, therefore, urge parents to encourage their daughters and sons to
participate in sports. I ask our teachers to shape the character of their pupils through regular
physical education periods. I appeal to the youth of today, particularly our girls and young
women, to lift India to new heights through a commitment to excellence and integrity, both
on and off the field of play. In short, I invite all Indians to join hands with me to embrace the
philosophy of ‘sport for all’. As the stories in this book illustrate, it is for our own good, and
for the good of the country.