Secretary department of Public enterprises urges PSUs to actively participate in sports

A meeting of senior officers of large numbers of PSUs, like SAIL, GRSE , ONGC, Petronet Lng, NLC Limited, NHPL, Bank of Maharashtra, Punjab & Maharashtra Cooperative Bank and many others was held at SCOPE Conference Room at 4.00 pm on 20th May, 2013 under the chairmanship of Shri. O P Rawat , IAS Secretary Department of Public Sector Enterprises. At the outset, he mentioned that all employees of PSUs should be encouraged to participate in games & sports.

Mr. A.K Pandya IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports and Chairman Organizing Committee Corporate Games welcomed Mr. O.P Rawat & all the senior officers of PSUs including Mr. S A Khan GM (HR) SCOPE.

Mr. Pandya highlighted that in 12th five year plan, Government of India has put their focus on good health and physical fitness. He added that no doubt PSUs participate in their own departmental sports tournaments but generally only elite sports persons and employees below the age of 30-35 years participate in departmental tournaments. He recommended that for general fitness of broad section of the employees of PSUs, Corporate Games is an ideal platform to participate and compete to inculcate habit of life long fitness. Participation in sports tournaments would give benefits both to participants and the organisation.

Mr. OP Bhatia, Games Director & CEO Corporate Games, while thanking Mr.O.P Rawat and all other senior officers of PSUs, made a detailed presentation on the history of Corporate Games, mentioning that they are already more than 25 years old and 53 cities of 25 countries annually hold multi-disciplinary sports events in which large number of employees of private & public sector organisations actively compete. Benefits accruing to individuals are many but the most important is that it creates culture of lifelong fitness, building team spirit and will to win. Similarly, far too many benefits accrue to the Corporates such as social interaction among different Corporates through the medium of sports, improving brand image, enhancing loyalty towards organisation, reducing absenteeism, reducing attrition.

He urged PSUs to decide early to participate in 3rd Corporate Games scheduled from 21st-24th November 2013 at Delhi. By deciding early to participate will encourage the employees to initiate action to keep them physically fit by running or jogging regularly and playing on weekends, and thus encourage habit of lifelong fitness. It was shared that the Corporate Games offer rich and varied opportunities for sponsors, suppliers and supporters of every type, size and interest. From building brand awareness to CSR initiatives, the Corporate Games enables companies to increase sales and recognition through brand promotion.

It was emphasised that large number of employees of public and private sector are under stress and suffer from lifestyle diseases, especially in the age bracket of 35-55 years of age due to sedentary lifestyle and non-participation in games and sports. A research on health status of India was shared which showed 80% of the executives working in different sectors show signs of risk factors of lifestyle diseases.

While summing up, Shri O.P Rawat reiterated the old saying that “healthy mind resides in Healthy body”. He urged all PSUs to ensure participation of all employees in local tournaments and in annual multi-sports festivals such as Corporate Games. He further added that participation in sports world reduce absenteeism and also reduce expenditure of the company on treating their employees.

Finally, there was an open discussion in which most of those present said that their companies would participate.

Cdr. Harish from GRSE Kolkata said that they would like to send two teams for football and wholeheartedly participate in games.

Mr. A.K Balyan, CEO Petronet Lng. Limited encouraged all to participate in competitions like Corporate Games where non-elite sports persons can compete in their respective age-groups.

Col Brahma Sharma, Former Director SAI, Director Ceremonies Corporate Games, mentioned the Corporate Games would help improve health of Public Sector employees and create friendship and fraternity and team building.