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India Today
a day ago
- Sport
- India Today
Not just hockey: Inside Odisha's ambitious dream of turning into a sporting powerhouse
By hosting the prestigious World Athletics Continental Tour, Odisha has signalled that it is ready for bigger things. Long celebrated as the powerhouse of Indian hockey hosting, the state is now turning its sights to athletics, with a clear ambition to establish itself as the next multi-sport August 10, as athletes from 17 countries competed in sprints, jumps and throws at Bhubaneswar's Kalinga Stadium, Odisha once again proved that it could not only host world-class events, but do so with polish, professionalism, and a strong sense of why does it matter? It matters because the world is one family. Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam. As India nurtures its Olympic dream for 2036, the pressing question is: who is ready to carry the weight? While Ahmedabad is projected as the frontrunner, the country may also explore a multi-city model — an approach recently endorsed by the International Olympic Committee. What India needs now is a coordinated national effort — and that is where Odisha comes a long time, India has struggled to live up to the ancient philosophy of collective progress. States have fought over water, forest rights, and resources, often forgetting that we are part of a larger whole. But Odisha, once one of the poorest regions in the country, is charting a new course. From hockey to athletics and beyond, the state is showing what it means to invest in sport not just as infrastructure, but as culture. Courtesy: Odisha Government RISE OF A SPORTING CULTUREThe seeds of this sporting revolution were sown in 2017, when Odisha pulled off a remarkable feat: hosting the Asian Athletics Championships at just 90 days' notice. That one event flipped the script and gave Odisha the belief that they could be a part of something Odisha hosted the Asian Athletics event, they had such short notice. At the time, the state did not even have enough rooms to accommodate the athletes and staff, so Odisha had to call upon the universities to help them out. They knew that they did not have the infrastructure to host the event, but they saw that as an opportunity, and did not back rise in sporting stature is a unique story in itself. Some might call it coincidence, some might call it design, but the truth is a simple one: that Odisha has tried to grab the opportunity whenever one presents for example, hockey. When the sport was at its lowest ebb in terms of popularity, investment, and infrastructure, Odisha took the bold steps of not only sponsoring the Indian national team but also hosting two FIH Hockey World Cups. The Kalinga Stadium and the new Birsa Munda Hockey Stadium in Rourkela were made and are now regarded as two of the best venues in the eyebrows were raised at that time. One state whose priorities should be poverty reduction, why are they getting into these things? Little did people understand at that point of time, that sport is an economy in itself. If you are promoting sport, it is not at the cost of your economic developmental goals. Sports also contribute to the economy,' a department official told India ODISHA'S BOLD VISIONOdisha's latest push into athletics is a continuation of that vision. Under the leadership of newly elected Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi, the ambition is clear: Odisha wants to become India's sporting backbone in the run-up to the 2036 Olympics.'Frankly it takes political will to first have a vision and then to pull off a big project,' Majhi told India has recently announced a massive undertaking. A Rs 4,124 crore investment that has never been heard of before in the Indian BJP government under Majhi has declared an ambitious scheme for construction of the stadiums at block are 314 blocks in Odisha. Each block will have one stadium, which will consist of one football ground, one athletic track of 400 meters, two badminton courts, and one indoor a holistic complex. We have finalised lands, we have finalised the procurement processes, and the construction process will start in the next three or four months. It is a five-year scheme,' Majhi said. Odisha is aiming to become India's sporting backbone in the run-up to Olympics 2036 (Courtesy: Kingshuk Kusari/India Today) This project, once it reaches the public, is expected to earn laurels from athletes, who for long have asked for block-level interventions in the sporting landscape of like Manasi Joshi, former world No. 1 in para badminton, have vouched for these facilities that help the masses get access to sport with Odisha government right now understands that it is addressing the three pillars while building a sporting culture:Infrastructure. Coaching. infrastructure is already there, and it is expanding. Kalinga Stadium is perhaps the only sporting complex in India which has an indoor stadium, a practice arena, a main stadium, and a sports science centre, side by the infrastructure sorted, Odisha's next focus is on finding coaches, both local and international, to help out the new crop of players. And that part is expected to feed multiple competitions that Odisha is hosting, at a state, national and international ODISHA SPORTS MODELOdisha's expansion as a sporting ecosystem has not happened overnight. It was done with meticulous planning. Once Odisha decided to shift in this direction, it took a two-pronged multiple officials were sent across the world to find out how the best stadiums were being run, and what it took to build venues like that. The feedback helped them build incredible infrastructure with the help of private entities like Reliance, Tata and ArcelorMittal Nippon Steel India, who have picked up one discipline each and are in charge of building that the Sports Science Centre at the Kalinga Stadium for example. Run jointly by the Abhinav Bindra Foundation and the state government, the facility gives world-class recovery options including cryotherapy, dream pods and an anti-gravity treadmill to help athletes make a comeback from is open for all athletes from the country, but they have to take permission from the state government to avail the facilities. The Sports Science Centre at the Kalinga Stadium offers world-class recovery facilities for athletes (Courtesy: Kingshuk Kusari/India Today) The second one was slightly unrelated. Over the course of the last 5 years, Odisha started to heavily invest in tourism to bring up the number of top hotels in the was the logic, you ask?'When you bring in top players from other countries, where will they stay? You need to bring up facilities to accommodate them, something we learnt from the 2017 Asian Athletics Championships,' Sachin Jadhav, the Sports Secretary of Odisha at the end of the day, generates massive indirect development. Jadhav, who is the former director of tourism of the state, says that any one-star hotel sees an investment of about Rs 1 crore. A five-star room generates direct employment of 3 people, and an indirect employment of 10, and that is how sports works. The Sports Science Centre at the Kalinga Stadium is run jointly by the Abhinav Bindra Foundation and Odisha state government (Courtesy: Kingshuk Kusari/India Today) The Rs 4000 crore investment is only an extension of that idea.'Any investment must have a multiplier effect,' said the Odisha CM. 'We've ensured that our spend on sports builds not just athletes, but tourism, jobs, and local identity. From logistics to lighting, from school engagement to crowd management, everything was planned with precision.'RETURN OF INVESTMENTOdisha expects to gain a massive socio-economic dividend from the investment. CM Majhi and the Sports Secretary both state that Rs 4000 crore over a period of 5 years is a small part of the annual budget of the state, which runs in the range of Rs 3 lakh them, the percentage is not daunting at all, in fact, it is quite takes the example of a high-performance centre in Puri, which specialises in Kho Kho players.'In our Puri HPC, the total investment was Rs 52 crore. We built the infrastructure there, and it is maintained by a private entity.''Now our Kho Kho kids have beaten Maharashtra in the nationals. This has brought a wave of enthusiasm in other districts. So now many more kids want to get into the game.'He states that once the kids win a tournament, they get cash prizes, the kind of money their families have never seen before. Further, the kids are given education, which combines with the sporting excellence and gives them an edge in securing government jobs through sports quota, helping them take care of their families.'It is a holistic development. Whoever gets into these sports hostels, they are almost assured of some form of financial security. I believe that this model will be followed in the country sooner or later,' Jadhav government sees these moments as critical for shaping long-term sporting culture. Exposure, aspiration, and access are being built simultaneously — a rare combination in Indian BIGGER PICTURE: WHY ODISHA MATTERSIndia's Olympic ambitions are bold, but they need a solid foundation. As things stand, the country would benefit from multiple cities stepping up to share the responsibility of hosting the Games. If states like Odisha take responsibility for key verticals — like athletics or hockey — and continue building infrastructure, India may just be able to present a decentralised model of Olympic readiness. After all, only in 2020, the Olympics body approved the idea of hosting the Games across cities.'There are 28 states and 8 union territories. If five or six of us take leadership on different sports, India can prepare for the Olympics in a way no one has imagined,' CM Majhi said. 'Odisha is ready to shoulder that responsibility. We've done it before. We will do it again.'In that sense, Odisha isn't just preparing itself. It's preparing hosting international events to lighting up Sunday nights with fireworks, Odisha is rewriting the rulebook on how a state can shape national sports policy. Whether it's hockey, athletics, or grassroots engagement, the state's approach is bold, structured, and deeply a country where sport is often treated as an afterthought, Odisha is treating it like a calling. And as India prepares to knock on the doors of the International Olympic Committee, the rest of the country would do well to watch and learn.- Ends
Hindustan Times
07-08-2025
- Business
- Hindustan Times
‘What if Indians boycott American firms': AAP MP's firm open letter to Donald Trump over 50% tariffs
AAP Rajya Sabha MP and chancellor of Lovely Professional University, Ashok Kumar Mittal, wrote an open letter to US President Donald Trump on Thursday over the imposition of a 50 per cent tariff on India. He cautioned that if Indians were to form a strategic restriction of American business, then there would be a far more "severe" impact on Washington. The LPU chancellor warned Trump that if Indians chose to form a strategic restriction of American business, then the impact would be far more severe on the US. (ANI) Posting his open letter on X, Mittal asked, "What if 146 crore Indians boycott American companies operating in India?" The Rajya Sabha MP termed Trump's move to raise India's tariff to 50 per cent due to the country's Russian oil purchase as "deeply disappointing". He also referred to the US President's "dead economy" remark and said that this very economy is the "4th largest in the world, soon to be third, and remains the fastest growing among major nations". Mittal highlighted that American companies generate more than $80 billion annually from the Indian market across various sectors, including tech, education, finance, and IP. He noted that the US digital economy runs on code, much of which, he added, "is written in India". "It is also telling that your close ally, the European Union, recorded over €67.5 billion in trade with Russia last year, including record LNG imports, even as it calls for others to scale back. What is more surprising is that the United States continues to quietly import uranium, palladium, as well as chemicals from Russia. Should a nation pressurise India against trade with Russia when it itself relies on the Kremlin for its domestic interests?" Mittal added. The AAP leader recalled that the Swadeshi Movement was launched in India on August 7, 1905, describing it as a powerful assertion of economic self-reliance against foreign control. "If 146 crore Indians were to channel that spirit today and initiate a strategic restriction of US businesses, the impact would be far more severe for the United States than for India," he added. Mittal said that while India has stood by the US so far because of its 'Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam' spirit, the future now lies in the hands of those who understand that diplomacy and cooperation are the way forward, not reciprocal tariffs. "Mr President, let us choose dialogue over discord, coordination over coercion. Let us shape the future - through respect, resolve, and renewed commitment to a rules-based global order," Mittal concluded his letter to Trump. Several opposition leaders, including Congress leader Shashi Tharoor, have expressed discontent over the tariffs imposed on India by Trump. US President Donald Trump had initially announced a tariff of 25 per cent on India and an unspecified penalty for the country's purchases from Russia. On Wednesday, the White House announced that Trump was imposing an additional 25 per cent levy on Indian goods due to New Delhi's trade with Russia, taking the total tariffs to 50 per cent. India termed the US President's move to raise the tariffs as "unfair, unjustified and unreasonable". The ministry of external affairs said that India will take all the actions necessary to protect its national interests.
Mint
04-08-2025
- Business
- Mint
India-US trade deal: 4 implications for Indian stock market from Trump's 25% tariff salvo
India, driven by the principle of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam—'The world is one family'—aims to strike mutually beneficial agreements, including with the United States. Rooted in ancient Indian philosophy and often referenced by PM Modi, the phrase reflects India's commitment to global unity and shared responsibility. However, this ethos is being tested by the ongoing tariff dispute with the U.S., particularly concerning agricultural access. As noted in our July 11 article in The Mint titled 'What Tariff?! The $100 Billion Question,' the core issue lies in protecting India's vulnerable small-scale farmers. Unlike U.S. agribusinesses, Indian farmers lack subsidies and scale, and over 60% of the population still depends on agriculture. Opening the market to heavily subsidised U.S. products could be economically damaging. Cultural factors also play a role—many U.S. dairy products contain animal fats, which conflict with dietary norms in largely vegetarian India. Simply put, caving on these fronts would be economic and cultural 'hara-kiri.' The newly imposed 25% U.S. tariffs on Indian exports (starting August 1) are projected to trim India's GDP growth from 6.5% to around 6.25%—a 2.5% to 3% drag. While this will impact sectors like textiles, pharma, electronics, agri-products, and machinery, the broader effect is limited. Only 2% of Corporate India's earnings are at risk, as 85% of the economy remains domestically driven. India is actively pursuing alternate trade avenues, including deals with the UK and EU, to offset potential export losses to the U.S. India's longstanding defense relationship with Russia—still its top arms supplier—remains a sticking point for Washington, which would prefer India buy American weapons. Yet India continues to follow a multi-aligned strategy rooted in sovereign interest. U.S. Tariff Details: 25% tariffs affect ~$87B of Indian goods exports (approx. 20% of total exports and 2.5% of GDP), particularly in key manufacturing and agri sectors. Offsetting Factors: INR depreciation could help mitigate the impact by boosting competitiveness. Global Effects: Higher tariffs and a narrowing U.S. trade deficit may slow global growth, adding deflationary pressure unless surplus countries like China and Germany raise domestic demand. Capital Flows: Higher tariffs may trigger FII outflows, adding volatility amid already weak domestic demand. Policy Watch: The RBI may need to consider monetary easing to counterbalance the external drag. Sectoral Impact: Pharma, auto ancillaries, cables, and industrials face direct pressure; SMID caps and domestic cyclicals could be hit harder due to capital flight. Potential Bright Spot: IT may benefit from sustained INR weakness, aided by low valuations—but sentiment remains key. India remains firm in defending its economic and cultural interests, even as it seeks equitable trade partnerships. In the near term, markets are likely to remain volatile. A cautious investment stance is advised. (The author is CIO-Equities, LGT Wealth) Disclaimer: This story is for educational purposes only. The views and recommendations made above are those of individual analysts or broking companies, and not of Mint. We advise investors to check with certified experts before making any investment decisions.
NDTV
03-08-2025
- Science
- NDTV
"Oneness": Shubhanshu Shukla's "Borderless" View Of Earth From Space
New Delhi: When Indian astronaut Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla looked out of the International Space Station (ISS) for the first time, he saw something that no textbook, simulator, or training module could have prepared him for. The Earth, vast and radiant, floated beneath him-without borders, without divisions. "It seems that the whole Earth is our home," he said, reflecting on the profound shift in perspective that space travel had gifted him. "You don't see any border, any boundary line. Humanity has always been and is living here. I feel a sense of oneness". This sense of planetary unity, deeply rooted in India's ancient philosophy of 'Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam' -- the world is one family -- became a central theme of Mr Shukla's reflections. "The motto of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam in our culture, you can understand it very easily when you look at the Earth from the outside," he said. "It was not what I had in mind, but the one thing that stood out for me was the oneness of the planet, which we call home". Mr Shukla's journey aboard the Axiom-4 mission, also known as Mission Akash Ganga, marked India's return to human spaceflight after four decades. He became the first Indian to visit the ISS and only the second Indian astronaut after Wing Commander Rakesh Sharma's 1984 Indo-Soviet mission. But this time, India wasn't hitching a ride -- it was participating on a commercial mission. "After 41 years, an Indian returned to space. But this time, it wasn't a solitary leap. It was the beginning of what I like to call India's second orbit," Mr Shukla told NDTV. The mission, brokered by Axiom Space in collaboration with NASA and SpaceX, cost India nearly $70 million. Yet Mr Shukla was unequivocal about its value. "This mission has been very successful and will be very beneficial for our human space mission," he said, referring to India's upcoming indigenous human spaceflight program, Gaganyaan. In his first public interaction after returning from the 20-day mission, Mr Shukla described the experience as transformative. "The mission itself exceeded every one of my expectations. But nothing, literally nothing, could have prepared me for what came after," he said. "The love, the messages, and the support from every corner of Bharat... it filled me with something which I did not expect. A new kind of purpose". Mr Shukla's conversation with Prime Minister Narendra Modi from space was a defining moment. With the Indian flag fluttering behind him, he told the Prime Minister, "I travel to space with the dreams of a billion hearts with me. I want them to live this journey with me because I feel that it is equally theirs as it is mine. Because I feel that this is truly the journey of an entire nation". Mr Shukla's reflections also touched on the physical and psychological adaptations required for space travel. "Understanding how your body reacts to the microgravity and the environment of space added on to the completeness of the entire training," he said. His readiness for future missions was evident. "There is a properly incubated rehabilitation and recuperation programme," he explained. "And step by step, you gain your strength and your balance. I feel perfectly normal. It feels as if I am ready to go on the space mission again". As India prepares for Gaganyaan, Mr Shukla's experience is expected to shape astronaut training, mission protocols, and public engagement. "No States, No Countries -- Only Humanity" are Mr Shukla's reflections from space, echoing India's universal value "Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam".
Time of India
31-07-2025
- Time of India
Young biker from state rides all the way to North Pole
MUMBAI: A young motorcyclist from Maharashtra has achieved an extraordinary feat by riding all the way from Maharashtra to Nordkapp, the closest accessible point to the geographic North Pole. Yogesh Alekari, originally from Sangli and now residing in Mumbai, completed this remarkable journey under his Instagram handle @roaming_wheeels. Upon reaching Nordkapp in the Arctic Circle, he displayed a portrait of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, describing it as a moment of immense pride. His expedition, which commenced on May 1 with former Rajya Sabha MP Vinay Sahasrabuddhe's send-off, carries the message of "Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam". Working in collaboration with Mumbai RTO, and with additional transport commissioner Bharat Kalaskar, Yogesh has been promoting road safety awareness internationally. You Can Also Check: Mumbai AQI | Weather in Mumbai | Bank Holidays in Mumbai | Public Holidays in Mumbai Starting from India, his route included Nepal, Tibet's Everest Base Camp at 17,700 ft, and Lhasa. He continued through the Gobi Desert to Kazakhstan, visiting the Indian Embassy, before exploring Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan. Despite a 25-day delay in Tashkent due to the Russia-Ukraine situation, he persevered, entering Russia via Kazakhstan. To cope with extreme desert temperatures in Central Asia, he adopted night-time travel. After traversing Russia and Saint Petersburg, he entered Finland, navigating its forest-covered landscape and summer mosquito challenges. After covering 18,500 kilometres across 10 countries in 85 days, he reached Nordkapp, Norway. Near his destination, he faced a mechanical issue when his motorcycle chain broke, requiring a costly repair of Rs 25,000. His accommodation often consisted of camping in remote areas. He documents these experiences on Instagram, sharing authentic moments from his journey. He experienced the Midnight Sun phenomenon in Norway, where summer days are endless. Yogesh is now heading towards London and Scotland, with plans to reach Cape Town, South Africa. It is learnt that he has received substantial support from Indians abroad, particularly for his road safety initiative.
