A one-time grant worth Rs 25,000 along with a plaque, to replace lifelong pension for sportspersons, was launched in 2002. This appears to be the most rational step ever adopted by the Assam government.

Sports pension is, after all, merely an honour and not obligatory under any pension law or bylaw. That is why formation of sports pensioners? associations or similar organisations is irrational, often a mere publicity stunt.

Nowhere in the country do even former Olympians enjoy the privilege of any kind of sports pension.

The Indian Football Association (IFA) had to organise exhibition matches to assist Olympic footballer Kanayan and former international Chandreswar Prasad when they needed money for treatment. The IFA contributed Rs 50,000 to each of the footballers.

Again, the country?s first Fifa referee, Pratul Chakrabarty, died in penury.

There are many Ranji players in various states who have bagged more than 300 wickets or scored between 5,000 and 6,000 runs with the bat in first class cricket.

Rajinder Goyal of Haryana, for instance, scalped 640 wickets in his career. But they do not get any kind of financial grants from the government.

But the picture is completely different in Assam. It is only in Assam that former cricketers, who did not pick up even 50 wickets or score more than 500 runs in their entire careers, or footballers who spent their time sitting in the reserve benches at the Santosh Trophy national meet, are regularly paid sports pensions.

Even club footballers, club officials, referees and umpires here are entitled to the lifelong pension scheme.

There are sports pensioners in Assam who are well-known medical practitioners, highly-placed company executives and retired employees of the Union and state governments.

Even a muti-millionaire businessman, who happens to be a former footballer, has been drawing pension regularly for quite a long period.

What contribution did these so-called sports personalities make to their fields? Are they really in need of money?

Most of the pensioners have so far drawn over Rs 1 lakh per head. More than Rs 20 lakh is spent annually on sports pensions.

lThe writer is a sports columnist and former footballer