Several Indian athletes have brought pride to our nation by winning matches and medals at several international platforms. But sadly, the journeys of some of these sportspersons have often been plagued with poverty- from lacking proper resources to being forced to sell tea for a living.
As per a report in The New Indian Express, Ranchi’s Bimla Munda who is a national karate champion is now forced to sell ‘handia’ or rice beer in order to earn a living. She has previously won dozens of medals for the state, including a silver in the 34th National Games. But now she even lacks the proper space to safely store them, which has resulted in some of the medals getting discolored and even broken.
National Karate Champion Bimla Munda, who has won several medals for Jharkhand, has been forced to sell ‘handia’ (rice bear) to earn a living for herself and to take care of her aging parents.@Mukesh_TNIE @gsvasu_TNIE @JharkhandCMO @MundaArjun https://t.co/JTmTzFXY7B
— The New Indian Express (@NewIndianXpress) October 19, 2020
The 26-year old player explained her ordeal, “Due to poor financial conditions of my family, I was forced to start this business during lockdown to earn a living for my family and bear the expenses to continue my karate practice. In this game, one has to pay the fees from their own pockets and bear traveling costs for every tournament, which requires a lot of money.”
Her mother used to work as a daily-wage laborer but eventually couldn’t continue with it due to old age and poor health. Yet, battling all odds, Bimla started learning karate at the tender age of 5, and even became an Accounts graduate. She is currently living with her parents and maternal grandmother, HT reports.
National medalist karate player in Ranchi sells rice beer for survival
(report by @sanjoy_dey25)https://t.co/gXcRYHDReR pic.twitter.com/O8zAaMpoIp
— Hindustan Times (@htTweets) October 18, 2020
“I bagged a silver medal in the 34th National Games organized in Jharkhand in 2011. I also bagged two gold medals during Akshay Kumar International Karate Championship in 2014,” she added. “We were hopeful after the previous government announced direct recruitment of sportspersons who fetched medals. But it got diminished as time passed on as not efforts were made in this regard by this government.”
Munda proclaimed that she won’t seek any financial help from the state government, but wants it to speed up the recruitment process under which 33 out of 264 sportspersons were directly selected for government jobs in 2019.
Some people on Twitter took cognizance of the situation and offered help:
Please share some details we can arrange some funds for her.
— Ex-Secular Kumar (@Exsecularkumar) October 18, 2020
Pls call me tomorrow
— Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga (@TajinderBagga) October 18, 2020
Fully agree !would like to have her@bank account number
— Dr Reena Joshi (@DrReenaJoshi2) October 18, 2020
Taking note of a tweet by a local journalist on Sunday, Jharkhand’s Chief Minister Hemant Soren reportedly took note of a journalist’s tweet on the issue, and further directed Ranchi’s Deputy Commissioner through his Twitter handle to “provide immediate relief to sister Bimla Munda with the coordination of Sports Secretary”.
.@DC_Ranchi अविलंब संज्ञान लें एवं खेल सचिव से समन्वय स्थापित कर बहन विमला को हर तरह की मदद पहुँचाते हुए सूचित करें।
साथ ही राज्यवासियों को बताना चाहूँगा की हमारी आगामी खेल नीति के क्रियान्वित होने पर खिलाड़ियों का भविष्य संवरेगा। https://t.co/1zLRrFKRjr
— Hemant Soren (घर में रहें – सुरक्षित रहें) (@HemantSorenJMM) October 18, 2020
We hope that she gets full support from the state. What do you think? Tell us!