INCLUSIVITY IN INDIAN SPORTS POLICIES: PARTICIPATION OF WOMEN, TRIBALS, AND MARGINALIZED COMMUNITIES

Abstract

The concept of inclusivity in sports has gained prominence as a significant aspect of social development and equity in the policy of the population. This paper discusses the degree to which Indian sports policies were inclusive to women, tribal groups and other marginalized groups of people and how they have been effective in improving the participation outcomes. The current study deconstructs national sports policy texts and other available empirical and conceptual research using a descriptive and analytical research study which is built on secondary sources. Results indicate that the gap in relation to policy intent and implementation is also very large with the patterns of participation still being skewed against gender, tribal and also socio-economic lines. Although there were slight gains in the womens participation, tribal and marginalized groups were still characterized by a low participation rate since most of them lacked infrastructural facilities, lacked access to economical means of participation and could not access them because of socio cultural barrier. The research arrives at the conclusion that Indian sports policies in the reviewed period were mostly imaginary as well as not focused on delivery mechanisms, decentralized and did not have powerful mechanisms of monitoring. The contribution of the paper to the literature is the synthesis of the evidence on sports inclusivity in India and the need to develop equity-oriented data-driven policy frameworks to allow sports to serve as a powerful tool of social inclusion.