The travails of being a Dronacharya! Well, India’s chief national rowing coach Ismail Baig cannot be faulted if he is left wondering after nearly two decades of unstinted dedication to his job whether all the efforts in producing champions including Asian Games and the Asian championship gold medallists are worth taking.
For, the 51-year-old Ismail Baig, conferred with the prestigious Dronacharya Award in 2005 alongwith a cash incentive of Rs. 3 lakh, is actually jobless.
“Yes, it does hurt sometimes when I think about this aspect. For unless I am given the national camp when I am paid, I don’t get even a single rupee otherwise (which means on an average for six months in an year he will be ‘jobless’),” says the soft-spoken coach.
Yet, it is an amazing story that he alongwith his deputy E. Venkateshwar Rao (interestingly both ex-Servicemen survive on their pension) actually spend from their own pockets “to take care of the rowers who come from financially poor background.”
If there is no national camp, the rowers have to be on their own for regular training with no diet facility. And, if they were to be in the national camp, then they get all the nutritious diet.
All that is available free for the rowers and the coaches are the two sheds of Sports Authority of Telangana State and the boats thanks to the combined efforts of the Rowing Federation of India and the SATS.
Ironically, it is Baig, through his widely acknowledged efforts traversing a distance of 40 km on his bike every day, who has ensured that Hyderabad emerged as the hub of Indian rowing itself despite some other States having better facilities.
Even now they don’t crib and stay away from the rowers as they believe the young talent have joined the sport with great passion.
Yes, initially there was a move to see that Dronacharya Awardees get atleast a monthly pension of Rs. 10,000. But that was shelved because of change of guard in the Central Government.
Striking contrast
In striking contrast, it is revealed that Madhya Pradesh Government pays a hefty salary of Rs. 1.5 lakh for the rowing coach in the Bhopal Upper Lake (for water sports alone MP budgetary allocation is said to about Rs. 20 crore). And, as if in a measure to show their loyalty to Hyderabad, these two coaches have politely declined, so far, those tempting offers from the MP Government even though they are struggling here.
Importantly, these two coaches thanks to the tie-up with the Telangana Sports School have ensured that rowing has now become a more civilian-friendly sport than earlier when Armymen ruled the waters.
But, this scenario doesn’t actually deter Ismail and his deputy as they make it a point to be there at Lake every day to guide the rowers even when there is no national camp.
By all means, all is not well for this Dronacharya despite producing some stunning results over the years as chief national coach.
