The BOSM English Press sat down with the members of the Sports Financial Committee (SFC)—Aryan Raju Mandapati, Nauman Athar Malik and Raaghav Paharia—to discuss the working of the committee.
The SFC is an operational and auditing body involved in all the electoral and financial matters of the Sports Union. Their responsibilities include overseeing payments, conducting elections, supervising conduct during the Sports Union elections, and managing finances of events such as InterBITS and the BITS Premier League. They also act as the advisory body for the CoSSAc, and the election commission for the Hostel Sports Representative and Sports Secretary Elections. The SFC holds budgeting meetings with participating clubs and departments and negotiates with them to allocate funds. They mentioned that in the past few years, the body had emphasised funding sporting events over the cultural aspects for BOSM. Aryan added that they had increased the prize money by 50% the previous year, and were working towards hitting similar numbers this year.
The SFC is looking into diversifying its sources of revenue. Aryan explained that there had been an observed trend of shifting the burden onto the General Body Members (GBM), giving examples of the prices of snaps and souvenirs. The SFC stated they had been trying for the past few years to charge the GBM only when justified, demonstrated by the decrease in the prices of the same. They also highlighted that the fest had been allocated a cut of 28.5% of the food stall revenue, which has been the highest for BOSM since the advent of COVID-19.
When asked about the challenges posed to the committee due to the deficit in the SU ledger, Nauman explained that BOSM was funded by the Sports Union ledger, which is a separate entity from that of the Students’ Union. He stated that the state of the Students’ Union ledger did not affect the fest, and that their ledger was positive and capable of financing BOSM. Additionally, the registration fees have not been increased since the previous year.
Talking about the changes they had implemented in their tenure, Raaghav said that they had been trying to increase the number of sporting events held during BOSM. Nauman added that they had adopted the motto of transparency in charging the GBM, as well as equality—giving clubs and departments equal opportunity to pitch for events regardless of previous experience. The committee has also introduced a system of determining the exact amount of food to be prepared by the SSMS for outstation participants, to prevent food wastage as well as financial loss.
The SFC has faced some challenges in terms of organising the Professional Shows. They commented that the events transpiring during APOGEE 2024 had left the administration disgruntled, which translated into issues for the SFC. Further, they stated that the tentative visit by the President of India created problems with setting fixed dates for BOSM, which made finalising agreements and tenders difficult.
Nauman stated that the workload of the SFC had been increasing over the past years, and would continue to do so in the future. He felt that the functioning of the unions on campus was not very structured, and that complicated processes needed to be handled sensitively. Raaghav added that they would also like the members of the committee to establish a more efficient workflow. Nauman delivered a message to all bodies across campus, stating that for the betterment of the fest, people who come into power should not raise the stakes by an ‘unjustified’ margin and should work beyond the ‘bare minimum’. He expressed that he expected that their juniors too should hold the spirit of doing ‘more than the bare minimum’.