Malappuram:
The monthly salary of Jose Jacob, a winner of the country’s highest award for coaches, the Dronacharya Award, is a mere Rs 23,000! Even now working on a contract basis is this Malayali who is the most acclaimed rowing coach in the country.
Jose, a native of Athirampuzha, Kottayam, is the rowing-kayaking coach at the Sports Authority of India (SAI) Centre in Jagatpur in Odisha. He’s been serving here for the past 14 years. Even after winning the Dronacharya Award, time is not ripe for pay hike leave alone permanent posting, seems to be the attitude of the SAI.
The neglect towards Jose who was honoured by the nation should be contrasted with the fact that other coaches working on contract with SAI receives up to Rs 50,000 in monthly salary. Jose who made Odisha a rowing force to reckon with at the national level, has also moulded many international stars. Still, Jose’s salary rose to at least this much only last year. Before that it was Rs 15,000. On the heels of the Dronacharya Award came some consolation in the form of the Odisha government’s award for Best Coach worth Rs 1 lakh.
The Dronacharya Award also paved the way for the State government retracting on its stance of not awarding those who are not from Odisha. The government also doubled the cash prize from Rs 50,000 to Rs 1 lakh.
Jose is the sole trainer for 30 rowing stars at the Jagatpur Centre. Jose, who became the chief coach of the Indian women’s team and was selected as the Best Coach by the Indian Rowing Federation many times, landed in Odisha due to lack of opportunities in Kerala. He lives in a rented house near the Sai Centre with his wife and two children.
House rent alone costs him Rs 5,000. He has also to find expenses for the two children’s education from his income. The SAI stance is that there are 700 coaches working on contract basis all over the country and it is not feasible to give permanent posting to just one of them.
source: http://www.english.manoramaonline.com / OnManorama / Sports> Other Sports / by Baiju Paul / Monday – September 22nd, 2014