Dissecting the "Best Kept Secrets" Under Odisha Government's New Deal with Hockey India

The Commonwealth Games are less than 20 days away and, as expected, emotions are running high. Probably the one team sport which is expected to see India do well in both the Men's and the Women's categories is Hockey. So, let us look at the most prominent event that happened in Indian Hockey so far involving the Odisha Government. In one of the most glamorous events of 2018, the Odisha government struck a five-year sponsorship deal with Hockey India earlier this year. The glittering event saw the presence of former hockey superstars like Viren Rasquinha, Dhanraj Pillay and Dilip Tirkey who hailed it as the dawn of a new era in the sport. The Chief Minister of Odisha, Naveen Patnaik, signed the deal, which estimated worth Rs 150 crore.

Also read: Odisha to double investment in sports in the next financial year As a part of the new deal, all the players received new government-sponsored jerseys with Odisha's name and tagline -- India's best-kept secrets -- donned on them. While there was a general sense of delight attached to this deal; if delved more profoundly, it can be found the deal doesn't do much good for the state. The recent deal is anything between three to four times of what Sahara was paying. Sahara's 2012-17 sponsorship deal was valued at Rs 42.50 crore for five years. There were several alternatives the Odisha government could have opted for the benefit of hockey in the state as well the country. To put things in perspective, the state government could have built astroturf in each of the state's 30 districts with the amount spent on the sponsorship, as Odisha is known as the cradle of Indian hockey. At present, only Bhubaneswar, Rourkela and Sundargarh have astroturfs. The government also spent vigorously on advertisements on all major newspapers in the state. Besides, there are other expenses that the government is bound to incur over the next five years in promoting itself on the pretext of promotion of the game. Besides, it is nothing new to us that Odisha is a state where poverty, malnutrition, farmer suicides and appalling health care services are endemic. Odisha's mileage was bolstered during the

Hockey World League (HWL) in December last year that which further gave the Odisha government an opportunity to leap to the next level sponsoring the Indian hockey team for the next five years. The League reignited an interest in the game among Odisha's people, besides resulting in significant improvements in the facilities available at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar, the venue of the tournament.

However, the Rs 150 crore deal with the Hockey India would barely serve the purpose for hockey or Odisha.

It would just feature the Naveen Patnaik-led government as the new face of hockey. The Odisha government hasn't even disclosed the amount spent on the 22nd Asian Athletics Championship in Bhubaneswar. This might just be another brownie point to keep people in Odisha in a celebratory mood. The officials concerned have struck a gold mine in sports promotion while the BJD government is only too happy to get its much-needed mileage ahead of the next elections. Alongside the Rs 150-crore deal, the peculiarity of this arrangement is almost like the bogie pulling the engine. Doesn't it look bizarre as members of our National Hockey Team wear uniform that bears the name of just a state? It sheerly disparages the whole concept of a national team where players join from different parts of the country. Today, there is no dearth of corporates in India, who take care of the sponsorship of the national teams in other sports. Was it never like Hockey India had exhausted all possible options to rope in a corporate sponsor before inviting a state government? It is high time that we delve deeper into these issues, before being carried away by the euphoria of the glitter.