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By:

Bhalchandra Chorghade

11 August 2025 at 1:54:18 pm

Applause for Cricket, Silence for Badminton

Mumbai: When Lakshya Sen walked off the court after the final of the All England Badminton Championships, he carried with him the disappointment of another near miss. The Indian shuttler went down in straight games to Lin Chun-Yi, who created history by becoming the first player from Chinese Taipei to lift the prestigious title. But the story of Lakshya Sen’s defeat is not merely about badminton final. It is also about the contrasting way India celebrates its sporting heroes. Had the same...

Applause for Cricket, Silence for Badminton

Mumbai: When Lakshya Sen walked off the court after the final of the All England Badminton Championships, he carried with him the disappointment of another near miss. The Indian shuttler went down in straight games to Lin Chun-Yi, who created history by becoming the first player from Chinese Taipei to lift the prestigious title. But the story of Lakshya Sen’s defeat is not merely about badminton final. It is also about the contrasting way India celebrates its sporting heroes. Had the same narrative unfolded on a cricket field, the reaction would have been dramatically different. In cricket, even defeat often becomes a story of heroism. A hard-fought loss by the Indian team can dominate television debates, fill newspaper columns and trend across social media for days. A player who narrowly misses a milestone is still hailed for his fighting spirit. The nation rallies around its cricketers not only in victory but also in defeat. The narrative quickly shifts from the result to the effort -- the resilience shown, the fight put up, the promise of future triumph. This emotional investment is one of the reasons cricket enjoys unparalleled popularity in India. It has built a culture where players become household names and their performances, good or bad, become part of the national conversation. Badminton Fights Contrast that with what happens in sports like badminton. Reaching the final of the All England Championships is a monumental achievement. The tournament is widely considered badminton’s equivalent of Wimbledon in prestige and tradition. Only the very best players manage to reach its final stages, and doing it twice speaks volumes about Lakshya Sen’s ability and consistency. Yet the reaction in India remained largely subdued. There were congratulatory posts, some headlines acknowledging the effort and brief discussions among badminton enthusiasts. But the level of national engagement never quite matched the magnitude of the achievement. In a cricketing context, reaching such a stage would have triggered days of celebration and analysis. In badminton, it often becomes just another sports update. Long Wait India’s wait for an All England champion continues. The last Indian to win the title was Pullela Gopichand in 2001. Before him, Prakash Padukone had scripted history in 1980. These victories remain among the most significant milestones in Indian badminton. And yet, unlike cricketing triumphs that are frequently revisited and celebrated, such achievements rarely stay in the mainstream sporting conversation for long. Lakshya Sen’s journey to the final should ideally have been viewed as a continuation of that legacy, a reminder that India still possesses the talent to challenge the world’s best in badminton. Instead, it risks fading quickly from public memory. Visibility Gap The difference ultimately comes down to visibility and cultural investment. Cricket in India is not merely a sport; it is an ecosystem built over decades through media attention, sponsorship, and mass emotional attachment. Individual sports, on the other hand, often rely on momentary bursts of recognition, usually during Olympic years or when a medal is won. But consistent performers like Lakshya Sen rarely receive the sustained spotlight that their achievements deserve. This disparity can also influence the next generation. Young athletes are naturally drawn to sports where success brings recognition, financial stability and national fame. When one sport monopolises the spotlight, others struggle to build similar appeal. Beyond Result Lakshya Sen may have finished runner-up again, but his performance at the All England Championship is a reminder that India continues to produce world-class athletes in disciplines beyond cricket. The real issue is not that cricket receives immense attention -- it deserves the admiration it gets. The concern is that athletes from other sports often do not receive comparable appreciation for achievements that are equally significant in their own arenas. If India aspires to become a truly global sporting nation, its applause must grow broader. Sporting pride cannot remain confined to one field. Because somewhere on a badminton court, an athlete like Lakshya Sen is fighting just as hard for the country’s colours as any cricketer on a packed stadium pitch. The only difference is how loudly the nation chooses to cheer.

'Inconvenient data brushed aside': Congress slams Centre over World Bank's extreme poverty data

  • PTI
  • Jun 10, 2025
  • 2 min read

NEW DELHI: The Modi government is celebrating a drop in extreme poverty to 5.3% but this is based on a poverty line of USD 3 per day which is certainly not enough to live with dignity, the Congress said on Tuesday and accused the Centre of brushing aside "inconvenient data."


The opposition party's assertion came after the World Bank said India's extreme poverty rate declined sharply to 5.3 percent over a decade from 27.1 percent in 2011-12. The World Bank revised upwards its threshold poverty line to USD 3 per day.


Congress' media and publicity department head Pawan Khera said, "The Modi government is celebrating a drop in extreme poverty to 5.3%. But this is based on a poverty line of USD 3 (Rs 250) per day - just enough to avoid starvation, but certainly not enough to live with dignity."


The 2022-23 Consumption Expenditure Survey, conducted after an 11-year gap, came with a revised methodology – making direct comparisons with the UPA-era data appear favourable, but statistically invalid, Khera said.


"The 2017-18 survey was buried, likely to hide the fallout of demonetisation and GST. COVID-era poverty? Ignored," he said.


Meanwhile, the Modi government evaded Parliament on defining an official poverty line and ignored over 15 questions related to it, Khera claimed.

"Their claim of lifting over 25 crore people out of poverty is based on a manipulated index. CMIE data shows 621 million Indians (44%) still live in poverty. On the Global Hunger Index, India ranks 105th, with 18.7% child wasting and 35.5% stunting," Khera said.


He pointed out that on the World Happiness Report, India sits at 118th, and on the Human Development Index, India loses over 30% of its score due to inequality.


"All this is inconvenient data. So, it is brushed aside. In the end, the poor are left to endure inflation, unemployment, a steady collapse of public services and declining quality of life while the ruling party's crony capitalist friends loot thousands of crores with absolute impunity," Khera said.


"This is the story of two India: One that suffers, and the other that cashes in," he added.


The World Bank, in a report, said given India's inflation rate between 2017 and 2021, a revised extreme poverty line of USD 3 would constitute a 15 percent higher threshold than USD 2.15 expressed in 2021 prices and result in a 5.3 percent poverty rate in 2022-23.


As against 34 crore people below poverty line (USD 3/per day) in 2011-12, the numbers have come down to 7.5 crore in 2022-23 in absolute numbers.


The World Bank has announced a major revision to global poverty estimates, raising the International Poverty Line (IPL) from USD 2.15/day (2017 PPP) to USD 3/day (2021 PPP), according to a factsheet issued by the Press Information Bureau (PIB) on the report.


"While the change led to a global increase in the count of extreme poverty by 125 million, India emerged as a statistical outlier in a positive direction. Using more refined data and updated survey methods, India not only withstood the raised threshold but also demonstrated a massive reduction in poverty," the PIB said in its factsheet details issued on Saturday.

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