India’s diverse geography, with mountains, beaches, forests, and rivers, offers immense potential for adventure sports. Activities such as paragliding, rock climbing, river rafting, and mountaineering are now an integral part of the country’s vibrant tourism industry. There is no dearth of opportunities for adventure sports in India.
Adventure sports have gained recognition in India through the competitive achievements of athletes. Several of these are women, who have excelled in mountaineering, rock climbing, surfing, paragliding, and skydiving. They have defied financial and societal obstacles to succeed Notable examples include Gowri Varanashi and Chetna Sahoo for mountaineering, Rinzing Doma Bhutia for paragliding, Ishita Malviya for surfing and Shital Mahajan Rane for skydiving.
Ace Indian mountaineer Chetna Sahoo is an example of an adventure athlete who kept up her drive and passion despite obstacles and climbed Mount Everest at the relatively late age of 50 years. Because mountaineering is an expensive sport, she initially raised money by taking children’s tuition.
“There is a lot of improvement compared to when I started, Schools have started to put mountaineering in their curriculum. Mountaineering helps in building character and testing physical limits. Sports should be as much about health and fitness as it is about winning,” says Sahoo. While she is happy to see the new recognition given to sportspersons across disciplines, she hopes the Government also conducts special events for adventure sports athletes as it will boost their morale.
Amongst India’s most well-known adventure sports athletes is Skydiver Shital Mahajan Rane. In 2011 she was awarded the Padma Shri, India’s fourth highest civilian award. She has 8 world records and 26 national records and has successfully jumped at the North Pole, South Pole, and Mount Everest and skydived from seven continents.
The 42-year-old has big dreams for her sport and against all odds is pursuing her career in India, despite her family being based in Finland.
“Despite 93 countries participating in skydiving, there is very little awareness about it in India, which is still viewed as a fun activity shown in movies. I hope going forward much like the Khelo India games have been organised for mainstream sports, the Government does the same for adventure sports. The day skydiving becomes popular in India, the country will rule the world”, says Mahajan Rane.
That will take some work. Currently, India’s policies for Adventure Sports fall under multiple ministries like the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, the Ministry of External Affairs, the Ministry of Civil Aviation and the Ministry of Tourism.
The Indian Mountaineering Foundation (IMF) is recognised as the apex national body for mountaineering and allied sports. IMF supports, promotes and regulates national and international climbing and mountaineering in India and is affiliated to the UIAA (International Mountaineering and Climbing Federation). The IMF also regulates the Olympic sport of Sport Climbing[1]. The Airsports Federation of India which comes under the Ministry of Civil Aviation, is in charge of sports such as skydiving, air-racing, paragliding and aeromodelling[2] while the National Institute of Water Sports comes under the Ministry of Tourism[3].
In a reply given in Parliament in August 2018, the then Minister of State for Youth Affairs and Sports, Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore said “The Government of India, in order to promote adventure activities regularly provides financial assistance to organizations such as Indian Mountaineering Foundation(IMF), National Adventure Foundation (NAF), Sea Explorer’s Institute under the National Programme for Youth and Adolescent Programme (NPYAD) Scheme to conduct adventure activities including training, awareness camps, seminars, workshops, film/slide shows, exhibitions etc.” [4]
True, but not much has expanded in the last six years. Avinash Deoskar, Adventure Promoter and consultant who has also worked at a policy level, sincerely believes the government is working proactively to change the perception of adventure sports which lack competitiveness. He says the government is focused on restructuring old laws and increasing coordination between ministries. India can take a leaf out of the sports books of countries like Brazil and New Zealand which have clear and separate policies for adventure tourism while closer to home, Vietnam has set up a Centre of Excellence for Extreme Sports, and Indian tour operators are promoting it as an adventure sports destination.
Barring a handful of sports such as surfing and sports climbing, adventure sports do not figure in major competitions like the Olympics and Asian Games. Even in Olympic sports like surfing and sport climbing, participation within India is limited. A three-member contingent represented India in sports climbing in the 2018 Asian Games while a seven-member contingent participated in the 2023 Asian Games.
The private sector has begun stepping up. Several corporates such as JSW, Reliance Foundation and IndusInd Bank have promoted sports where India has won Olympic and Paralympic medals in shooting, wrestling and boxing. Others like Red Bull do promote adventure sports sporadically. Tata Steel is one that singularly supports adventure sports in India. The company established the Tata Steel Adventure Foundation founded by Bachendri Pal, the first Indian woman to climb Mount Everest in 1984[5].[6]
In 2022, Tata Steel Adventure Foundation, in collaboration with the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, organised a unique, first-of-its-kind initiative “Fit@50+ Women’s Trans Himalayan Expedition” where an 11-member team comprising women in their 50s and 60s led by Bachendri Pal trekked for 140 days over 35 mountain passes and 4,841 kms starting from Pangsau Pass on the India-Myanmar border, concluding at the Drass sector in Ladakh[7], [8]
Tata Steel has now begun promoting sports climbing which features in the Olympics and Asian Games, which includes creation of training centres, a residential academy and grassroots development programs to nurture excellence.[9]
To embed adventure sports into India, the sports ministry under Union Minister Mansukh Mandaviya and Minister of State Raksha Khadse can change policies which will create an competitive environment by hosting national competitions, reconcile adventure sports under a single ministry, encourage companies to support the field proactively, and sow the seeds of adventure sports into children when young, starting in school. Who knows, an Indian woman could bring home an Olympic medal in Surfing or Sport Climbing in the near future and set an example for generations to follow.
Shakya Mitra is a Sports Industry professional, Confederation of Sports and Recreation Industry.
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References:
[1] Origin and Objective, Welcome to Indian Mountaineering Foundation, official website of Indian Mountaineering Foundation https://www.indmount.org/IMF/welcome
[2] National Air Sports Guidelines 2023, Ministry of Civil Aviation, Government of India https://www.civilaviation.gov.in/sites/default/files/2024-07/NAS%20Guidelines%202023%2007th%20August%202023.pdf
[3] Welcome to NIWS, Official Website of National Institute of Watersports, Ministry of Tourism, Government of India https://niws.nic.in/
[4] Promotion of Mountaineering and Adventure Sports, Press Information Bureau, Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, August 6 2018 https://pib.gov.in/Pressreleaseshare.aspx?PRID=1541790
[5] About Tata Steel Adventure Foundation, Official website of Tata Steel Adventure Foundation https://www.tsafindia.org/about-us/
[6] Ibid
[7] Fit@50+ Women’s Trans Himalayan Expedition concludes, sets new benchmark, Official Website of Tata Steel https://www.tatasteel.com/newsroom/press-releases/india/2022/fit-50plus-women-s-trans-himalayan-expedition-concludes-sets-new-benchmark/
[8] Ibid
[9] Sports is a Way of Life, Tata Steel Official Website https://www.tatasteel.com/corporate/our-organisation/sports/