What you reply when somebody ask about the national game of India? You will reply Hockey, but what about the situation when somebody tells you that India has no national game. You will be surprised to know this fact, you will search about India’s national game and even on net you will find Hockey as national game and start arguing with that person. You will say so because since our childhood we have been told that Hockey is India’s national game. Our text books and even in quiz competitions it is found that Hockey is India’s national game.
But now you have to update yourself that India has no national game or no game or sport has ‘National Game’ status in India. So from now on if someone asks about national game of India then you reply to that person like this: Sir India has no national game your question is wrong.
This news is not based upon any fanciful rumour but this is according to a reply of an RTI, the Sports Ministry has made it clear that it has not declared any sports as national game whereas the web portal of Government ‘www.india.gov.in’ has posted an article glorifying field hockey under the heading National Game.
It is the curiosity to know the national symbols drove Lucknow-based 10-year-old Aishwarya Parashar to file an RTI application to the Prime Minister’s Office seeking certified copies of orders related to declaration of National anthem, song, sport, animal, bird, flower and symbol.
Her queries were transferred to the Home Ministry which forwarded the query related to National Sport to the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports.
In a reply to this query, Sports Ministry Under Secretary Shiv Pratap Singh Tomar wrote in Hindi to Aishwarya that the Ministry has not declared any sport or game to be the National Game.
But the government portal under the head National symbol has given details of 14 such symbols which include – flag, bird, flower, tree, Anthem, River, Aquatic Animal, State Emblem, Calender, Animal, Song, Fruit, Game, Currency Symbol.
The portal says,”Indians of all demographics backgrounds across the world are proud of these National Symbols as they infuse a sense of pride and patriotism in every Indian’s heart.”
