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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.

Water Crisis Looming Over

Fetching drinking water is a backbreaking daily routine for women in India. Even without enduring the scorching summer months or the freezing winters, they walk for miles every day, balancing pots and buckets for some water for daily chores is hectic and tiresome daily routine for millions of women in most of the parts of Maharashtra. According to a recent report by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and Unicef, 1.8 billion people worldwide collect drinking water from supplies located off premises, and in seven out of 10 households, women and girls are primarily responsible for water collection. This is particularly true in India where, experts say, the need to secure drinking water is holding women back and hindering economic growth. While nearly 50.2 percent of the households have access to tap water in the state, less than 32 percent of this water is treated, while only 42 percent of the rural population has access to drinking water within the household premises.


However, the situation in Maharashtra’s rural part is gloomy virtually every year. The state faces acute drinking water shortage due to poor monsoon and abandoned water conservation schemes. Water stock in dams starts reducing in the month of January and in some districts and the administration starts supplying water through tankers. This is not for a particular period but by and large the same picture is seen every year. The government announced various schemes. Some of them started and the inauguration took place with much pomp. After some time everything came to a grinding halt.


In 2018, the state launched a Project on Climate Resilient Agriculture (PoCRA) also known as Nanaji Deshmukh Krushi Sanjeevani Prakalp. It aimed to increase the adaptive capacity of marginalised farmers from 5,142 villages in 15 districts of the Marathwada region. The total cost of the project was estimated to be Rs 4,000 crore, 30 percent of which was to be borne by the state while the remaining by the World Bank. What happened to this scheme even officials in the department are unaware of. There have been other schemes and interventions from the state government such as the Integrated Watershed Development Program, Marathwada Water Grid Project, Gaalmukt Dharan and Gaalyukt Shivar among others. Schemes took off well, initial provisions for the fund were also made but after that nothing.


The schemes remained on paper and the government failed to provide any relief to farmers and rural inhabitants barring tanker supply during the summer.


According to the Groundwater Survey and Development Agency (GSDA), water levels have gone down to 3 metres from 1 metre in villages across 245 of 353 Maharashtra talukas between 2014 and 2019. Climate change is making the state more vulnerable. Maharashtra has experienced a seven-fold and six-fold increase in drought and flood events over the past 50 years, according to a Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW) report.

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