Indians For Guns

Following story appeared in todays Hindustan times... More importent
Here is the link
http://www.hindustantimes.com/sports-ne ... 78805.aspx

I appeal readers write to the newspaper stating the harships faced by shooters. here is the mail id [email protected]

Grit shooter's lone ally in the battle against red tapism
Navneet Singh, Hindustan Times
New Delhi, December 07, 2011 Email to Author



Hariom Singh, one of the country's top rifle shooters, is spending sleepless nights. No, he isn't struggling for form, but is desperately trying to procure an import license that will help him import a weapon and prepare for the London Olympics. Since his application for importingy a gun is pending, Hariom is training at the national camp in Pune with an old weapon provided by his Army team.

Last chance, old gun
He will also compete with the same gun at the Asian Championship (at Qatar) in January, which could be his last chance to make the national team for the Olympics.

Despite his impressive profile - he shot 598/600 to win the Olympic quota place in the 50m prone event at the Munich World Championships last year, Hariom is running from pillar to post to get the necessary documents for importing a .22 rifle.

He had initiated the process in August but till now has been successful in only procuring an arms license and not the import license.

Inordinate delay
Baljit Singh Sethi, advisor to the National Rifle Association of India (NRAI), said the shooter should have got his license by now.

"If the details are furnished, it generally takes four weeks for the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) to issue the license," he said.

But Hariom is waiting to hear from the DGFT. "In an event like .22 rifle, testing the ammunition is of utmost importance. Without a personal weapon the advantage is lost," he said.

Not easy at all
Procuring the arms license wasn't easy as well. At one point, officials in Agra, his home town, informed Hariom that he couldn't get the arms license. Things started to move after he approached senior officials.

"I was surprised that nobody recognised my achievements," said the 25-year-old shooter, who is based in Mhow.

Time is running out but the soldier in Hariom has made stand his ground. "I am not giving up," he said.

Cheers
Biren

What a shame!

Country’s sportsperson have to go through this S***.

in my opinion all those officials should be sacked for delaying him required documents

What kind of 22 is he looking for ................

what get to me is the the NRAI does sod all for shooters in its membership. the least they could do is to write an encouraging letter to the issuing office. will they? sod, FCSB

As a National Champion, International Medalist, and having represented India for more than ten years, I can say that while what the NRAI does may be considered less than ideal by many, things have improved substantially when I took up competitive shooting in 1985.

A large part of that credit goes to those dedicated persons in the NRAI, and yes, I too had lots of problems at many times with them.

But the greatest credit goes to our shooters.

Please bear in mind that in a country of 1.45 billion people there are hardly 100,000 shooters. Yet we have broken, and equalled world records in all disciplines of shooting.

And that is because, unlike athletics or swimming or even cricket, we Indian people have a natural talent for shooting. That is why inspite of the fact that less than 0.01 percent of our population shoot, we top this event disproportionately.

skeetshot wrote:As a National Champion, International Medalist, and having represented India for more than ten years, I can say that while what the NRAI does may be considered less than ideal by many, things have improved substantially when I took up competitive shooting in 1985.

A large part of that credit goes to those dedicated persons in the NRAI, and yes, I too had lots of problems at many times with them.

But the greatest credit goes to our shooters.

Please bear in mind that in a country of 1.45 billion people there are hardly 100,000 shooters. Yet we have broken, and equalled world records in all disciplines of shooting.

And that is because, unlike athletics or swimming or even cricket, we Indian people have a natural talent for shooting. That is why inspite of the fact that less than 0.01 percent of our population shoot, we top this event disproportionately.

some relief reading your post.
regards

Please bear in mind that in a country of 1.45 billion people there are hardly 100,000 shooters. Yet we have broken, and equalled world records in all disciplines of shooting.

Kudos to you, sir, for your achievements and thank you for representing India.

On the other hand the statistics cited by you are a reflection on the ineptitude and indifference of the NRAI. Their supposed raison d'etre is stated on their website; "The National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) was formed on April 17, 1951, to develop the shooting sport in India and impart training to civilians for self-defense.". They certainly don't seem to try very hard to achieve either goal, especially the last one.