Out of Billion Plus Population, How Many Play?

It requires a rare courage for an individual to change the lives of others, especially when the beneficiaries belong to the marginalized section of the society. Meet Siddhartha Upadhyay, the founder and Secretary General of STAIRS (Society for Transformation, Inclusion and Recognition through Sports) who for over a decade has been relentlessly helping young children and professional sports persons across urban and rural India to discover their untapped potential, enabling them to gain a foothold in the social mainstream and the confidence to compete and excel. The New Delhi-headquartered sports NGO recently bagged the coveted ‘Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puruskar 2016’ award from President Pranab Mukherjee in recognition of its contribution towards the ‘Identification and Nurturing of Budding and Young Talent’ in India. Acknowledging its efforts, the Ministry of Sports and Youth Affairs has included STAIRS in the steering committee for development of football in the country. Ramesh Kumar Raja had a conversation with Upadhyay about his journey to make it big in sports charity and the policies that guide sporting spirit in India.

- Ramesh Kumar Raja

Your struggle to promote sports among the children of disadvantaged section of society finally paid off with Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puruskar 2016 in your kitty. How do you look at this achievement?

I and my team believe that awards and recognition are the by-products of what we do. We cannot measure our success on the basis of them. Hence, I would not say that the Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puruskar marks a ‘paying off’ of our efforts. The efforts pay off when we see that the objective of all our programs is being met. For instance, about a decade ago, we had a vision of creating sporting opportunities for at least one lakh kids across the country. We struggled in creating that environment, paving way for the needed opportunities, and building a sporting culture at the grassroots. Today, STAIRS takes pride in claiming that at this point there are nearly three lakh children (three times of our expected number) who are the direct beneficiaries of our interventions – that is the actual achievement for the team. Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Award is a great milestone for us and recognition at that level has undoubtedly added more to our confidence.

STAIRS is now a name to reckon with. What’s your plan going forward?

The obvious answer to this question will be that we want to ‘sustain’ as well as ‘scale up’. The plan is quite simple: a) reach out to as many more children possible in as many nooks and corners of the country; b) enable each one of them to exercise their ‘right to play’; c) ensure that the deserving one gets a chance to showcase their talent on higher and larger platforms; and d) ensure that each child associated with us has a better prospect from the socio-economic point of view and ultimately becomes a worthy citizen of the country.