Contributions of Late Shrimant Madhav Rao Scindia In the Development of Sports In Gwalior

Gwalior's history is traced back to a legend in 8th century AD when a chieftain known as Suraj Sen was cured by a hermit-saint Gwalipa, who was a suffering deadly disease. In gratitude, he founded this city by Gwalipa's name. Gwalior became, over the centuries, the cradle of great dynasties, and with each the city gained a new dimension from the warrior kings, poets, musicians and saints who contributed to making it renowned throughout the country. The scenic splendor must have inspired the legendary music maestro- Tansen - to conjure up his compositions. The city is also the setting for the memorials of freedom fighters such as Tatya Tope and the Rani of Jhansi. Today the old settings stand side by side with the trappings of modernity. The name Scindia is a British corruption of the relatively common Maratha name Shinde. The family traces its origins to the Maharashtra village of Kanerkheda, 16 miles east of Satara, where the Shindes once were village headmen, or „Patils‟, drawn from the cultivator Koombee caste. The early Scindias joined the Maratha army raised by Shivaji in the sixteenth century, served under Shivaji‟s son Sambhaji and continued to fight in the Peshwa army. Mahadji Scindia continued to fight in the same battle that wound go on to claim the life of his sixteen year old nephew jankoji, the son of Jayappa, on January 6; 1761. So complete was the Maratha rout that Mahadji - now the only living descendant of Ranojirao – also seriously injured his right leg and would have been killed had he not been identified by a water carrier called Rane Khan. Having recognized Mahadji, Khan carried him away from Panipat all the way to the Deccan in his bullock cart. Mahadji spent several months recuperating and then raised an army along Western lines; an army that wound eventually has 16 battalions of regular infantry, 500 cannons and a cavalry of one lakh horses The Marathas who first rose to power in the reign of Shah Jahan were welded into a nation by Shivaji and at one time it appeared as if they were on their way to found a new Empire. Shivaji‟s death however practically removed the keystone from the arch of Maratha supremacy and the rule of his extensive but unconsolidated dominions passed in to the hands of his Brahmin ministers the Peshwa and later on to their vassals, this change in the balance of political power was Mahadji Scindia‟s opportunity and he seized it gallantly, though it is necessary to go back further than Mahadji‟s days to generation to trace the actual beginnings of the Gwalior line.

To investigate the contributions and achievements of Late Shrimant Madhav Rao Scindia towards the promotion of sports in Gwalior city, a case study designed was used. For the collecting the information regarding the contribution of Late Shrimant Madhav Rao Scindia for promotion of sports in Gwalior city the following sources were used: 1. Books and news paper 2. Jaivilas Palace Scindia Museum 3. Captain Roop Singh Stadium 4. Laxmibai National Institute of Physical Education 5. Jiwaji University 7. Madhya Pradesh Cricket Association 8. Minister of Human Resource Development 9. Sports Authority of India

Madhav Rao Scindia was born to Rajmata Vijay Raje Scindia, the last ruler of Gwalior in British dominated India. He was born on 10 March 1945, in Samudra Mahal, Bombay, India. Maharaja Jivaji Rao Scindia was so happy on his birth that he asked the doctors of Gwalior to start a medical college and hospital for Gwalior public. He donated building for this purpose and it is now known as GRMC, Gwalior. His father late Shrimant Jivaji Rao Scindia and mother Vijaya Raje Scindia was a prominent Indian political personality. She ranked among the highest royal figures of the land. In later life, she become politician of considerable influence and was elected repeatedly to both houses of the Indian parliament for 8 times. Late Shrimant Madhav Rao Scindia‟s eldest sister Smt. Usha Raje married to Nepal‟s most distinguished families and she is based there. His other sister Shipment Mrs. Vasundhara Raje Scindia got married to Maharaja of Dholpur Rajasthan and she is the current chief minister of Rajasthan and her son Dushyant is currently the Member of Parliament from the Jhalawar constituency in Rajasthan. Shrimant Mrs. Yashodhara Raje Scindia born in London, on 19 June 1954 and is an Indian politician, and is at present she is minister of commerce and youth affairs and sports of M.P. she is a very dynamic minister in M.P. she had changed the sports policy of M.P. and it is due to her vision that M.P. is doing very good in sports. Late Shrimant Madhav Rao Scindia was married to Madhavi Raje Scindia of Nepal and had two children Chitrangada Raje Scindia who is married to erstwhile royal family of Kashmir, and jyotiraditya Madhavrao scindia the current member of parliament from the congress party of the Guna constituency in Madhya Pradesh, who is married to Priyadarshini Raje, the daughter of the royal family of Gaekwad Maratha of Broada Gujarat. They have two children. He had a son Aaryaman Scindia and daughter Ananya Scandia. Late Shrimant Madhavrao Scindia was killed in a plane crash on the outskirts of Mainpuri district of Uttar Pradesh on 30th September 2001. His sudden demise death had been felt all the masses in India and particularly in Gwalior Chambal region because after his death, there is no progress in this area.

Educational Background Late Shrimant Madhav Rao received his primary education at Shishu Mandir, Gwalior and school Education at the Cambridge and Scindia School fort in Gwalior, an institute founded by the royal Scindia family. He completed his B.A. in politics and philosophy at Winchester school and post graduate degree of (M.A.) in economics from new college, Oxford University before returning to India to take up politics as a

Political Career Late Shrimant Madhav Rao Scindia was 26 years of age when he contested and won the first Lok Sabha election of his life from Guna M.P. In the year 1971, Madhav Rao Scindia contested the election from the Guna constituency and went on to win a seat in the lower house of the parliament. From the 1971, began his consecutive eighth terms in India‟s parliament, during the span of which late Shrimant Madhav Rao Scindia did not lose even a single election. His first election was as an independent Candidate of the Jan Sangh, a party that had been patronized by a royal Scandia family for a very long time. It was in 1977 that late Shrimant Madhavrao Scindia becomes a part of the congress party, in spite of the resistance put forward by his family. Shrimant Madhav Rao Scindia always took care to avoid clashes with his mother who was still with the Jan Sangh, party and for this purpose he always contested elections from Guna rather than Gwalior. Madhav Rao Scindia was made congress‟ candidate from Gwalior in the year 1984 to help congress to win against Bharatiya Janata Party, which had Atal Behari Vajpayee as its candidate. The 1984 election made it clear that Shrimant Madhav Rao scindia was still loved and respected in Gwalior after he won by a huge margin, compelling him to contest further elections from Gwalior in subsequent years. His win in the 1984 election gave Shrimant Madhav Rao Scindia the first state of ministry. Late Shrimant Madhavrao Scindia was elected as the railways minister in the government of Rajiv Gandhi and he was instrumental in bringing about much needed changes in different segments of the Indian railways. The modernization and computerization of the Indian railways started during Shrimant Madhav Rao Scindia‟s term as the railway minister. He also brought Shatabdi train concept in India for the first

Late Shrimant Madhav Rao Scindia had contributed significantly in the development and promotion of sports in Gwalior. He in the capacity of HRD minister sanctioned thirty two lacks for making a gymnasium at Jiwaji University Gwalior within eight days of submission of proposal. This Gymnasium is now named after him as Shrimant Madhav Rao Scindia gymnasium at Jiwaji University Gwalior. His second greatest contribution was to elevate LNCPE as college to Deemed University status in the field of physical education in the country. This was the greatest thing one could do as a chair person since it was not a part of agenda of S.A.I. annual meeting to make LNCPE a deemed university. This was agenda item was proposed by Shrimant that there is need to elevated there course to a level of deemed university. The third greatest contribution of late Shrimant Madhav Rao Scindia Ji was that he sanctioned an Astroturf to hockey railway stadium in the year 1987when there were only three Astroturf in the country. This was sanctioned by him as Minister of railways to Gwalior. It is due to this ground that Hasrat Qurashi played for India as 2001. In Indian hockey team which won world championship Shivender Chaudhary also got training and he represented India in Olympic as player of Gwalior who also had practice hockey on this ground. The fourth biggest contribution of late Shrimant Madhav Rao Scindia was to organize eleven international cricket matches at Captain Roop Singh stadium in Gwalior over a period of 22ndyear. Late Shrimant Madhavrao Scindia also contributed to develop Captain Roop Singh stadium to a level of international level by laying flood light and increasing the seating capacity to 45000/- spectators gallery. The stadium has hosted eleven one day international (ODI) matches out of the 10 matches played so far, the first one was played between India and West Indies on 25 January 1988. The ground has flood lights and has also hosted day night encounters. One match of the 1996 cricket world cup was also played on this ground, between India and West Indies. This ground is famous for hosting the ODI between India and South Africa in which Sachin Tendulkar scored a double century. In this ground in 1999 India played against New Zealand in which Sourav Ganguly scored 153 runs and not out, He hit sixes all over the park.

CONCLUSIONS

1. It may be also concluded that the greatest contribution of late Shrimant Madhav Rao Scindia ji was that he sanctioned an Astroturf to hockey railway stadium in the year 1986 when there were only three Astroturf in the country. 2. It may be concluded that Late Shrimant Madhav Rao Scindia in the capacity of HRD minister sanctioned thirty two lacks for making a gymnasium at Jiwaji University Gwalior which is one of the best Gymnasium in the country. 3. It may be also concluded that late Shrimant Madhav Rao Scindia contribution was to elevate LNCPE as college to Deemed University status in the field of physical education in the country it is the 1st central university in the country in the field of physical education. 4. It may be further concluded that the biggest contribution of late Shrimant Madhav Rao Scindia was to organize eleven international cricket matches at Roop Singh stadium in Gwalior over a period of 22nd year. Late Shrimant Madhav Rao Scindia also contributed to develop Roop Singh stadium by laying flood light and increasing the seating capacity to 45000 spectator‟s gallery. The stadium hosted 11 one day international (ODI) matches. 5. It may be further concluded that late Shrimant Madhav Rao Scindia also contributed to establishment of various educational institutions in Gwalior namely institute of tourism and travel management Atal Bihari Vajpayee institute of technology and management, Zonal institute of training of KVS teachers, institute of Hotel Management, Gwalior, Regional center of KVS and many KVS school in Gwalior Chambal division. All these above institute are having sports facilities for students. 6. It may be further concluded that Shrimant Madhav Rao Scindia contribution that Jiwaji University sports department is being recognized by UGC and NAAC as one of the best and of international standard in India. 7. It may be further concluded that the Madhav Rao Scindia served as the president of the board of control for cricket in India (BCCI) from 1990 to 1993 as the only leader from

1. Gwalior.nic.in/aboutus.html 2. Vir Sanghvi and Nimata Bhandare “Madhavrao Scindeia: A Life”, Vol Ist ,Ed 2009