New National Framework For Tackling The Menace Of Doping In India: An Overview

Doping means the act of giving a person or animal drugs in order to make them perform better or worse in competition. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) established WADA as a foundation for battling doping in sports. Olympic Athletes can be tested anytime or anywhere. Urine or blood samples are collected by trained and accredited doping control personnel to test for the presence of anti-doping substances. According to the WADA’s December 2019 Anti-Doping Testing Statistics Report, India topped the list for the first time, with 225 positive instances out of 4,004 samples. Athletics was one of the worst defaulters. In this background, recently, in Loksabha, the National Anti-Doping Bill of 2021 was introduced. It aims to outlaw doping in sports and establishes a new National Anti-Doping Agency. Various studies results show that doping was done for the best result, as well as for the money and for the limelight. Doping, especially at the grassroots level, a lack of understanding of athletes’ and mentors’ accounts is a major concern. Numerous reasons that favour doping in India, the lack of a strong governance framework, as well as political influence, are important contributors to the country’s incapacity to deal with the problem. Therefore the government of India proposes to bring The National Anti-doping Act, 2021 replacing the earlier authorities and establishing new supporting machinery as well as authorities.