The Lightbearers: Signify transforming Sports in Rural India with the spark of Light through Khel Jyoti Programme

In a country such as India, the grassroots is often the most neglected part. Although the nation has been progressing in sports gradually, still a larger section of the country is in dire straits and needs immediate attention.

Sports unite a nation, and it surely does so in India. The tricolour and the people representing it converge the billion who cheer with their hearts out. The array of sports has diffused across the length and breadth of the country as we now witness pan-Indian sports mavericks.

But behind the success story, there is still a huge darkness which needs to be attended. Signify has been doing its bit by providing a ray of Light to the remotest parts of the nation. MyKhel had a talk recently with Signify and their Khel Jyoti programme, which has been installing and arranging lights in playgrounds around the humble corners of the country.

MyKhel had a chat with Nikhil Gupta, Head of Marketing, Strategy, Govt. Affairs & CSR of Signify, who depicted how Signify, earlier known as Phillips, trying to play a part in brightening the dreams of many aspiring athletes.

"Khel Jyoti program is the key initiative in sports. We've been trying to light up playgrounds at a grassroots level across the country. Think of partnering with other organizations that are actually promoting spots in India and making light available so that aspiring sports persons can practice, can develop themselves. So I think that's the part that we believe that we can play from a CSR perspective," Gupta says.

"We've worked with Inspire Institute in Karnataka. That's one of the places where most of our Olympians train. You're very, very privileged to be part of this effort with the inspired Institute, incidentally, Neeraj Chopra, Bajaj Punia many of our stars Olympians have actually come out from the Inspired Institute," he says.

Khel Jyoti, which is part of a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programme of Signify, has helped out many underprivileged places in the country, and they have installed the facilities across the corners. But their most recent assignment has been in Assam, based on Volleyball.

Former India volleyball captain Abhijit Bhattacharya has been a centre figure which has drastically changed the dynamics of the sport in Assam, and thanks to Khel Jyoti, the kids are playing and practising in full fledge even after sunset.

"The Brahmaputra Volleyball League, which sets up grassroots volleyball courts across Assam. We worked with them to light up 120 Volleyball courts. And now it's so amazing to see that the programme caters to about 2000 villages from where youth and children are now training in volleyball, playing volleyball at a competitive level amongst each other," Gupta says.

Courtesy of the programme, a year-long tournament in Volleyball has started to run smoothly in Assam. Due to its position in the Eastern parts, the Sun sets very early. Hence the Khel Jyoti programme has further paid dividends.

Signify has also been the main producer of lights across various cricket stadiums in India including the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai and the HPCA Stadium in Dharamshala.

As time progresses, their objective remains to invest more in grassroots and Gupta acknowledges the importance of youth development and vows to continue play their part in the development of sports.