The beauty of sports is that it transcends all social and economic barriers. No wonder that a cricketer from what the western world would call an ‘nondescript’ town called Ranchi is now the highest-earning sportsperson in the country and among the top 10 earners in the world.

The man we are talking about, of course, is Indian cricket captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni. If one looks closely there is a Dhoni to be found in every nook and crony of this country. At least, that’s what Stairs believes.

Stairs came into being in 1997, as a beacon of hope and encouragement to the underprivileged youth who were suffering due to poverty, ignorance and low self esteem and were wasting their lives and talents for lack of proper guidance and education. STAIRS was instituted to address the needs of such youth and involving them in the development process.

In 2005, STAIRS was formally registered to build capacities of under privileged through grooming them in Sports. STAIRS is an autonomous not-for-profit, Non-Governmental, Non- Religious & Non-Political organization working across various urban and rural areas of India. An effort for responsible development of the underprivileged youth (classes) designed to give them a constructive platform and increasing Sustainable Livelihood Options with Participatory Approach.

Among the many initiatives under Stairs is Uflex Khelo Dilli, which is a philanthropic endeavor jointly undertaken by Stairs with the help of Uflex Ltd. — India’s largest flexible packaging company in Delhi.

The program aims to provide free of cost – space, infrastructure and sports equipment to the less fortunate children of our society, to play.?More than 5000 children across Delhi are regularly playing at Uflex Stairs centres. “I want to see India as one of the major forces in the Olympics in a decade’s time.

We have champions like Sushil Kumar and Vijendra Singh in our midst but the Stairs initiative can go on to provide many more Sushils and Vijendras,” Stairs founder and Secretary General Siddhartha Upadhyay said.

The program has now caught the eye of the authorities with Delhi Police being the first to help out by providing three sports grounds in East Delhi for sporting ventures.

“Delhi Police will hand over three grounds — Maharana Pratap Park in Krishna Nagar, park in front of Police Station Vivek Vihar and mini-football ground Yamuna Sports Complex — for sporting purposes like football, volleyball and badminton,” additional deputy commissioner of Delhi Police (east district) DK Gupta communicated to Stairs recently.

The Delhi Police support is just an acknowledgement of growing popularity of the Khelo Dilli venture which was launched just a couple of years back. Stairs is making giant strides but it has miles to travel!