Press Briefing Wednesday, 13th January 2010

Shri Manish Tewari addressed the media today.


Shri Manish Tewari conveyed good wishes to the newspersons Happy Lohri and Makar Sankranti.

Shri Tewari said it was a matter of satisfaction that the needless and unfortunate controversy related to the game of hockey in the country has been resolved and the players would return for practice sessions from Thursday. It was unfortunate as India was hosting this year the hockey World Cup and Commonwealth Games.

The game of hockey is intertwined with the Indians for several generations. From 1928 to 1956, India won six times Gold Medal at the Olympics. In 1964 and 1980, India again repeated this success story. In 1975, India won the World Cup held at Kuala Lumpur and it was a memorable moment for the country.

The Ministry of Sports must take up this issue with utmost urgency and seriousness. And the Sports Federations must talk to the players and ensure that they are not pushed to a corner to resort to strikes. Tomorrow, if India wins a gold medal at the forthcoming tournaments, it would be due to the efforts of the players alone. It is the utmost responsibility of the Sports Ministry and the Sports Federations to give due regard and priority to the players.

To a question, he said that it was true that several stadiums are under renovation for the Commonwealth Games in Delhi. However, this does not mean that the camps are not being organized for the players. The camps have been held at many places for the players including at NIS Patiala and Bengaluru. As far as the astro-turf goes, he said that there are five astro-turfs in his constituency itself and the players have been practicing on these turfs.

He also urged the Sports Ministry to play a pro-active role to resolve the issues of sportsmen in different fields, including boxing, and monitor the different Federations that are voluntary in nature.

To a question, Shri Tewari categorically stated that there is absolutely no intent to bring any Constitutional functionary and none less a person than the Speaker of the Lok Sabha into any sort of any disrepute. How those documents became public, what was the thinking that went into the formulation of those documents, if at all these were correct, is a matter of inquiry and we are in the process of making those inquiries. However, he said, the list released by the Bihar Pradesh Congress Committee did not contain the kinds of categorization which has been alluded to in various media reports.

To a question on price rise, he said it is a serious issue and the concern has been expressed by the Congress Party at the highest level, including by the Congress President. However, we need to bear in mind that we have gone through an unprecedented drought situation for the last couple of months. There has been a situation where there has been shortfall in food production, especially production of rice. Unfortunately, sugar has a cyclic circle. Notwithstanding all that, whatever fiscal or monetary measures those need to be taken, the government has been taking those measures. The government has made it clear as the Agriculture minister has stated that they are committed to bringing down food prices.

Besides the Central Government, he said the State Governments also have a big role to play in checking the prices of essential commodities as the use of Essential Commodities Act against the hoarders is in the hands of the State governments. He urged the State governments to take measures to check the prices of essential commodities.
 

Tom Vadakkan
Secretary, AICC