Mapping Traditional Games & Sports of Relevant Tribes of 3 Tribal Dominated States of India

Abstract

Traditional games and sports, especially of the tribals, have become very relevant in the current context. The tribal traditional games and sports have been rooted in their cultural, aesthetic and work traditions and thus fit to the UNESCO framework of Intangible Cultural Heritage. In the tribal context, games and sports are in many ways related to their life style, environment, culture, resources and exposure to outer world. The mapping of traditional games and sports of tribals was taken up with the objective to develop inventories and document the tribal games and sports in a cross cultural setting in Jharkhand, Odisha and Chhatisgarh. The study also aimed to build a database of tribal sportspersons who have participated in State, National and International level sports events over the past years and map out geographical areas and pockets of importance from point of view of promotion of tribal sports talents in the study states. A purposive and convenient sampling method was followed and based on secondary information on the distribution of ethnic tribal communities in Odisha, Jharkhand and Chhatisgarh, the study clusters were decided. The study covered total 30 districts from the TSP areas of the three States that included 9 districts of Jharkhand, 10 districts of Odisha and 11 districts of Chhatisgarh. The study highlighted that the tribal sportspersons have been showing affinities to certain sports disciplines like hockey, football, archery, kho-kho, athletics, weightlifting, power lifting, etc. Revamping the infrastructure in such sports disciplines and putting adequate trainers and coaches in place would ensure progress of tribal sports talent.Skill development at early stage and continuous skill development after induction remains as a grey area in all the states. Tribal populations in the range of 90-96% have been residing in rural areas hence infrastructure development in rural areas needs to be expedited. It was found that none of the three states has a sports policy being implemented. While Jharkhand has got its sports policy prepared since 2007, Chhattisgarh has prepared the draft policy in 2016, and Odisha is not having a sports policy. The requirement of sports policy is warranted in order to utilize the opportunities in the sports sector to the optimum level and also to facilitate progress towards goal. Sports policy can also be instrumental in leveraging resources.The study also recommended that a special prioritization and categorization of the sports disciplines need to be developed especially keeping in view the interest and aspirations of the tribal sports talents so as to create conditions for self initiated participation of tribal sportspersons.Local sports meets intending scouting of sports talents should be professionally organized so as to ensure not a single sports talent was left behind from the talent test. The study, emphasized the need for a joint and coordinated approach by including public and private sector, in pooling their resources to promote sports in the country.