Of blank cartridges and hockey scholarships

It's a telling comment on the state of Indian sports.

A hockey academy, set up by star players Dhanraj Pillay and Ashish Balal, is scouting for used electronic printer cartridges to raise funds for its prospective students.

The cartridges will be sold for Rs 25 each to an Amsterdam-based recycler. Pillay and Balal hope to collect 5,000 cartridges per month and the Rs 125,000 they will get in return will be used to provide scholarships to the first batch of 25 students expected to join the academy next month.

"Indian companies think only cricket can be promoted. We plan to approach about 2,000 companies and hope that at least five percent will come forward to promote hockey," Balal told IANS.

The Amsterdam firm, Letscorp Europe, purchases used printer cartridges from around the world, recycles them and resells them. Printer cartridges are not biodegradable and are thus considered a hazard to the environment. An estimated 275 million cartridges are thrown away around the world globally.

Letscorp Europe also funds the Special Olympics for the physically challenged and runs several programmes for the underprivileged, including one for victims of child abuse.

"The response to our proposal has been positive. We plan to formally launch the program on October 1," said Balal.

About 120 companies in Bombay, apart from a number of others in this IT capital of India, have promised to back the proposal.

"We are planning to keep two or three big boxes at select spots so that companies can dump their used cartridges," added Balal.

- Indo-Asian News Service