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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.

Manufacturing Menace

Updated: Nov 12, 2024

Manufacturing Menace

Every two in five workers employed in the formal manufacturing sector were on contract in Financial Year 2023, thus showing an increasing trend of contract-based employment in the country’s labour force. According to the additional Annual Survey of Industries (ASI) data released by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI), in 2023, a total of 14.61 million workers were employed by 2,53,000 factories across India. Of them, 5.95 million workers (40.7 per cent) were on contract the highest ever as compared to only 40.2 per cent in the preceding financial year. These workers are distinct from regular employees who have permanent or long-term employment status with social security benefits. Most of the contract labourers are underpaid and are being exploited in various ways. No government or political party has shown any interest to intervene in this grim issue.


Contract workers are employed by an industrial establishment through contractual agreements for a specified period or task. In the pre-Covid year, the share of contract workers stood at 38.4 per cent — only 5.02 million of the total 13.05 million workers were employed through contractors. Besides, data also showed that among the remaining directly employed workers in these factories, the share of women stagnated at 18.42 per cent.


But the government policies and the various amendments in to the Labour Law has made things more difficult for the working class. Centre as well as all the state governments including Maharashtra are taking advantage of the new laws. Employer friendly legislations are allowing the loot of the labourers.


As per the new labour laws notified on September 29, the Industrial Relations (IR) Code, 2020, companies can now convert permanent jobs into fixed-term contracts. The new guidelines have also permitted companies to hire contract workers directly through a fixed-term contract, which initially required companies to hire contract workers through a contractor. As mentioned above, according to the new labour law code of 2020, companies can omit the process of hiring fixed-term contract workers through a contractor. This will cut the middle man process, which was seen as an expensive and cumbersome process. According to industry experts, by eliminating the dependence of companies on contractors to hire fixed-term contract workers, permanent jobs in the market will be looked down upon. Under this enactment, contract workers will not only receive equal compensations as received by their permanent counterparts but also companies will hold the authority to hand out contractual jobs to their existing permanent workforce.


The amendments made by the government in the Act are favourable for employers. Employees are the most affected part of the economy, especially after the coronavirus outbreak. Most of the workers and labourers are at the receiving end. As no option is left before them, helpless employees have been pushed in a lurch.

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