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21 August 2024 at 3:50:16 pm

Women’s Dividend

India left the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games with a solid tally of 85 medals and fourth place in the continental table. That was 22 fewer medals than at Hangzhou in 2023, and the gold tally fell from 28 to 21. But judging our performance merely by the size of the haul misses the more interesting story. The country’s most striking gains came from its women, who won 11 of India’s 21 gold medals, more than half the country’s golds. Their contribution was not confined to the predictable territories of...

Women’s Dividend

India left the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games with a solid tally of 85 medals and fourth place in the continental table. That was 22 fewer medals than at Hangzhou in 2023, and the gold tally fell from 28 to 21. But judging our performance merely by the size of the haul misses the more interesting story. The country’s most striking gains came from its women, who won 11 of India’s 21 gold medals, more than half the country’s golds. Their contribution was not confined to the predictable territories of cricket and hockey. They won in archery, shooting, boxing, athletics, wrestling, sailing, squash and combat sports. That is a significant cultural shift as women’s sport in India has often been treated as a collection of exceptional individuals like a Mary Kom here, a P.V. Sindhu there, with each succeeding despite a system rather than because of it. This Asian Games points to a deeper transformation given the variety of the breakthroughs. Kumkum Mohod became the first Indian woman to win an individual Asian Games gold in recurve archery, while India’s women ended South Korea’s 28-year domination of the team event. Neeru Dhanda’s trap gold ended a 48-year wait. Lovlina Borgohain returned to the top in boxing, while the women’s 4x400m relay supplied India’s only athletics gold. A country cannot build a durable sporting system by relying on a handful of male stars or on cricket’s enormous commercial machine. It needs more athletes competing in more disciplines, with women increasingly forming the second half of that ecosystem. There is another revealing feature. Indian women were prominent in events requiring individual skill, precision and endurance where success depends heavily on sustained coaching, equipment and competition rather than sheer physicality. That makes their progress a useful test of whether India is developing sporting institutions rather than simply producing prodigies. At the same time, the Asian Games also exposes unfinished business. India collected 27 silver medals, some of whom were evidence of genuine progress while others were reminders that reaching the final step remains difficult. There is no denying that competition itself is getting stronger, making personal bests no guarantee of gold. Nor should women’s success become an excuse to overlook the wider weaknesses. India’s athletics return was modest despite a large contingent, while several established disciplines underperformed. The fall from 107 medals at Hangzhou to 85 is therefore not a triumph disguised as disappointment. In that sense, it is a warning that depth remains uneven. But the women offer a strong reason for optimism. Their performance suggests that Indian sport is slowly moving from the solo heroine to a repeatable system that produces several successful athletes. The real achievement of Aichi-Nagoya is that India is finally beginning to produce enough women capable of winning medals.

Bad Roads, Ugly Politics

Suyash Padate
Nov 1, 2024
2 min read

The pathetic state of roads in Mumbai city as well as its suburbs has made daily commute a dangerous affair. The residents are miffed with the BMC over its lackadaisical attitude. Mumbaikars tweet photos, post videos to grab attention, but everything is in vain. Who cares for the common people. Backbreaking journeys have become part and parcel of life. Political leaders are busy mud-slinging.


This year the monsoon took a break after almost four and half months. During this time some of the roads virtually became non commutable. It may be recalled that the Chief Minister Eknath Shinde first announced to make Mumbai roads pothole free.


Its almost two years now the BMC has concretised only 9 percent of roads it planned to concretise. This decision was taken when it came to light that due to the properties of bitumen in asphalt roads, potholes are a regular occurrence due to contact with water during monsoons.


Hence, to solve the problem of potholes, the corporation has adopted a policy of cement concreting of 6-meter-wide roads in phases. The decision was taken but the dilly-dallying affair made things more difficult.


Mumbai’s traffic does put a lot of strain on roads which is not the case in the other developed countries. Second most important aspect is concretisation of roads is done partly and in phases.


The worst problem which is faced is repeated digging for cables and drainage, which weakens the roads. Above all corruption in BMC makes matters worse as a result everything comes to grinding halt.


According to experts, repairing potholes is a reaction with symptomatic treatment. By and large we are dispensing superficial treatment without addressing the root cause. The long-term solution will be to have roads with no potholes but what we need is the means and technology to achieve this. But for this political will is necessary which we lack on every step.


Mumbaikar’s are convience that corruption in the municipal corporation is the main reason. Contractors have had a monopoly over the last 20 years and this is the reason why reputed companies never come ahead for these projects.


As a result, in the name of attendance and repair, the BMC does shoddy work. Crores are spent but the end result is nothing. The BMC is not paying attention to the crust. If the crust is weak, potholes will see an increase. Without any thought or technical know-how, potholes are filled with cold mix.


This is the reason why the city and suburbs continue to have craters on the roads.


Craters, a serious threat to the safety and security of people. Mumbaikars fade up from their repeated visits to orthopedic surgeons.


They are in a mood to teach a proper lesson to those who were at the helm of the affairs.

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