Jharkhand: National-Level Archery Player’s Tea-Stall Smashed in Anti-Encroachment Drive

It was after a Facebook post that NewsClick called up Deepti Kumari, a national level archery player from Jharkhand, who had flagged that her tea stall was in line for demolition by the authorities and had called for help.

When NewsClick called her, she said the tea stall had already been demolished and promised to get back later.

The national medal winning archery player returned the call late at night. This is what she had to say.

Nazma Khan: Do you think it would have been better if they had removed your tea stall from here and allowed you to set it up at some other place?

Deepti Kumari: Leave alone another place, it would have been fine if they had given me a chance to clear things up properly. I was not at the shop, as I had gone out for some work. My younger brother was there. He was told  that "since 10 days, we are asking you to clear up, can you guys hear”? (Deepti Kumari claimed that this was a lie as they had received no notice about any encroachment drive and their stall)

When I rushed back, I begged the people who were carrying out the demolition. “Sir, I am a player, my financial condition is not good,” I pleaded with them. They gave us two hours to clear up after which they came back and started breaking up things.

NK: Were you able to save some belongings?

DK: I could take some stuff out, but a lot was left.

Deepti Kumari has played at the national level and has also won many medals from school-level to national-level that adorn the wall of her house. “I don’t even know how many medals I have in total ", she said.

The Background

The archery player is a resident of Lohardaga and came to Ranchi about eight months ago, took a rented house and started her own tea-stall. Deepti Kumari said she started this tea stall after borrowing money from friends and acquaintances. She spent about Rs 70-80,000 on the stall.

She told NewsClick that there was no earning for three months, but then gradually her tea stall picked up and she could save about Rs 500-1,000 a day.

All this came to an end on February 5, after an encroachment removal drive was undertaken by the Ranchi Municipal Corporation and all roadside stalls were removed. Her tea stall was also destroyed.

She alleged that the way the action was carried out was “very wrong”, as she was not given time to remove her belongings properly. She claimed that she suffered a loss of Rs 25,000-30,000. 

Narrating her woes further, Deepti Kumari said:  "We live in a rented house in Ranchi, we cannot keep the rest of stuff from our tea stall there, we have to take it back to Lohardaga. And that would cost Rs 10,000-15,000.”

This is, therefore, a big loss for Deepti Kumari, whose family is already under debt. When asked what she will do now, she said sorrowfully in three short words: “Will go back".

Why Was a National Player Selling Tea?

Deepti  Kumari said in 2012, she had gone to Kolkata for the trial of an international competition to be held in the US, but there her bow (with which she does archery) broke and she had to return home.

Not being included in that trial, shattered her dream of participating in the international game.

After this, her mother took a loan of Rs 7 lakh from the Mahila Samiti, out of which she bought Deepti a new bow worth Rs 4.5 lakh. Meanwhile her mother's health deteriorated, and they had to spend some of the money on getting her treated for kidney problems. With the rest of the money, she bought some arrows for practice.

Deepti Kumari is the second among seven siblings. Her father is a farmer. To help the family, he opened a provision store in Lohardaga, but it did not work. Meanwhile, the pressure to repay the loan started mounting. They were able to repay some of it but Rs 7 lakh is a huge amount. Deepti said they have repaid about Rs 2.5 lakh but raising the rest of the amount is an uphill task.

From Lohardaga to Ranchi

Deepti said she kept running around for help, trying to get a job through the sports quota, but when things didn't work out, she moved from Lohardaga to Ranchi, and with the help of some relatives and friends, opened a tea stall at Argora. She then took a house on rent in Ranchi.

She said the initial three months were very difficult, but then things started looking up and she was hopeful that the loan would be repaid soon. But, all hopes dashed on February 5, when the Municipal Corporation broke all the stalls on the roadside, which they felt were a ‘blot’ on the beauty of the city. The struggle of people fighting for survival seemed to have been overlooked.

Tough Road Ahead

Deepti said she was fond of archery since she was about 7 years old. Her interest grew with time, and she won several medals at the school level, state level and then at the national level, in the junior and sub-junior categories of archery.

Initially, Deepti played only with a bamboo bow. From 2006 to 2008, she participated in many junior and sub-junior level competitions, staying in Kharsawan, Jharkhand.

She said  15-16 girls used to live together, had to go to the river to bathe, and sometimes food was not available for them, yet “everyone had passion for the sport.”

No Practice Since 8 Months

Deepti said she wanted to play for the country even further, although she has not played at the senior level till now. But she could not practice the sport for the past eight months, as she was trying to repay the family debt by earning some money from the tea stall.

She said that she used to teach archery to poor children like her in Lohardaga, but when she decided to come to Ranchi, she introduced all those children to someone who could teach them archery further. But now she is away from her bow, and at present is trying to solve her problems.

Reaction to Demolition

NewsClick’s attempts to get a reaction from Asha Lakda, the Mayor of Ranchi, did not yield any result. We tried to get in touch with Shashi Ranjan of the Ranchi Municipal Corporation, but in vain. When we called Manoj Kumar, secretary in the sports department, we were told that he is out of town, but we got his mobile number, but that went unanswered. We then tried sports minister Hafeezul Hasan, and were politely told by someone on the other side to call up an hour later. When we called after an hour, we were told that the minister is in a meeting. When we told him about the issues, he promised to call back. We are still waiting.

A plethora of Schemes on Website

After getting no response from the concerned officers to the minister, we checked the Jharkhand sports department website. The ‘scheme’ section of the website was filled with words such as ‘sports welfare, sports fund, stipend, sports kit and equipment’ etc. Seeing all that, we called Deepti Kumari and asked her if she had checked it out and was any help forthcoming. She replied in the negative.

Every other day, there are news stories in Jharkhand about sportspersons selling vegetables and or rice beer. Why is it so? In fact, the children in Jharkhand have the urge to special affinity toward archery and hockey. But what is the reason behind the lack of government help to the sportspersons in the state? 

To understand the situation, NewsClick had an informal conversation with a former Sports Authority of India official, who told us that in Jharkhand, in every village, children can be seen playing archery and hockey.

He said when children decide to devote themselves to these sports but are unable to move forward, they seek government help, but there are several complicated technical grounds for getting government help. He cited the example of the criteria of seeing which game is recognised by the Olympics association and which game is recognised by the government, before offering any help.

Which brings us to the conclusion that there is dire need to raise awareness about various schemes and technicalities involving government help to many poor children, whose talent and passion for these sports seem unseen and going to waste.

(Translated from Hindi)