A bank of a different kind has been opened in the Miao sub-division in Changlang district of Arunachal Pradesh. It’s not the regular bank, dealing with money transaction, that we are familiar with. It’s a sports equipment bank. And it has been opened to promote sports among the youth of the area. Anyone can take any sports equipment on loan from the bank, and the best part is, no charges are levied, it is absolutely free.
Whether it’s a tennis racquet or a cricket bat or a football, one can just pick it up from the bank, use it to play, and then return it.
This thoughtful initiative is the brainchild of IAS officer Sunny K. Singh, who is the Additional District Commissioner (ADC) of Changlang. And because of his thoughtfulness, many youths who otherwise cannot afford sports equipment are getting a chance to play their favourite games by loaning them from the bank. This bank was formally launched on this year’s Republic Day at the old library in the ADC office.
Indian Masterminds interacted with the 2018-batch IAS officer of AGMUT cadre, Mr. Sunny K. Singh, to get more details about his sports-special initiative.
SPORTS EQUIPMENT BANK
Mr. Singh said that he had observed that many youths of Miao sub-division, mainly those who come from the economically weaker sections, were finding it difficult to pursue and play sports of their choice despite the urge and eagerness to play. This free sports equipment bank is an initiative to support these talented youths to fulfil their dreams of playing their chosen sports.
“We have many such poor talented kids who want to play but cannot afford the equipment. A good sports kit is very expensive. A cricket kit starts from around Rs. 3,000 while a tennis racket starts from Rs. 1,000 to Rs. 2,000. So, we created a fund with community contribution and bought sports equipment and created a Sports Equipment Bank in Miao sub-division. We have also revamped the infrastructure of sports. For example, if there was a ground, we installed lights in it.”
KEEPING DRUGS AT BAY
The officer said that one of the main reasons for promoting sports in the area was to counter the looming menace of drugs.To divert the youth’s interest in drugs towards sports, the administration decided to promote sports and introduce interesting games. One of the games is parkour.
“Some of our kids have just brought gold and silver medals from the International Nepal Parkour Games. We sponsored their entire trip. And the sponsorship was from the community fund itself.”
Besides parkour, skating parks have been built to attract young people towards skating. In this way, the youth of the area were introduced to different types of sports and games,but what was lacking was proper sports equipment.And the youth were not in a position to buy the equipment themselves. So, the officer thought up the idea of setting up a sports equipment bank.
Anyone can borrow equipment such as cricket kit, badminton racquets, TT paddles, football, volleyball, nets, skating board, chessboard, carrom board, etc, from the bank and return them back after finishing the game.
RIGHT TO PLAY
The bank was opened with the objective that “we will support the right to play the sport of his or her choice. If anyone is poor and does not have enough money to buy sports stuff, then it should not be that he or she should desist from playing. I firmly believe that with the right to education, there should be a right to play, too, because both are incomplete without each other,” Mr. Singh said.
BANK OPERATION
The sports bank will be operated somewhat like a regular bank. A passbook will be issued,and there will be two types of passbooks. One would be issued to groups and the other to individuals. With the former, a group can take a sports kit on loan for 7 days to 1 month. With the individual passbook, one can get a kit issued for any kind of individual game only.
“If any kit is damaged or someone loses it, there will be no fine,we will only freeze his/her passbook for one month. We have started this plan in our sub-division, but we plan to gradually take it to the panchayat level. By withdrawing some funds from the grants that come from MNREGA or the 15th Finance Commission, we will spend on more sports equipment banks,” Mr. Singh informed.
DONATIONS WELCOME
Anyone can donate money or sports kit to this bank. Indian Army’s unit at Miao sub-division donated kits worth Rs. 15,000 to the bank. General public can also donate to this bank or bear the cost of talented children’s sports needs. They can sponsor any child for some sports. “It is not just an initiative of giving equipment to a needy child, but it is also about giving a platform to a talented child to go and compete at the national or international level,” the officer said in conclusion.
