Rajya Sabha passes anti-doping Bill

Sports and Youth Affairs Minister Anurag Thakur said the law will regulate anti-doping activities in sports, specifically highlighting that it will “accomplish building institutional capabilities in anti-doping and enabling the hosting of major sporting events”.

“(It will enable)… protecting rights of all sportspersons, ensuring time-bound justice to athletes, enhancing co-operation among agencies in fighting doping in sports, reinforcing India’s commitment to international obligation for clean sports, independent mechanism for anti-doping adjudication,” Thakur said.

He said that the law will result in the establishment of more dope testing labs. This will help create job opportunities, both directly and indirectly, and create opportunities for academic research, science, and manufacturing relating to anti-doping, the minister said.

During the debate, nominated member and legendary athlete P T Usha, delivering her maiden speech, expressed her concern over doping-related activities being reported at grassroots levels.

“We are yet to open our eyes to the abuse of doping in our country which was earlier confined only to the senior national levels but it has now reached the juniors, college and school levels, which is a serious concern that needs to be addressed. When talented sport individuals are abusing performance-enhancing drugs, they are not only sacrificing their career and life for short-term benefits but they are also spoiling the talents of upcoming sports individuals who work very hard to improve their performance levels,” Usha said.

She said the new law can control doping activities to a certain extent. However, more “effective measures” need to be undertaken to curb these practices, she said.

“To control this alarming situation, with the special interest of our Sports Minister, the Lok Sabha passed the Anti-Doping Bill last week. While this phenomenon can be controlled to some extent through legislation, yet still more effective measures are imperative and need to be taken,” Usha said.

“We should create awareness about the abuse of performance-enhancing drugs in sports among athletes, coaches and parents, and there should be no delay in taking timely action and appropriate ban against those who test positive for doping,” she said.

She also emphasised that the activities of the National Anti-Doping Agency “should be accelerated and should be given the freedom to operate without any other obstacles”.

“The National Anti-Doping Agency and the National Dope-Testing Laboratory in New Delhi should get the necessary financial freedom and all competitions must be brought under the watchful eye of NADA. Not only for the competition but during the preparatory time also, they should be tested,” Usha said.