THE IPL-GATE – from the eyes of a Commoner

For any cricket lover, the last 10 days have been full of mixed emotions to say the least. I still remember a panicking Swathi (my wife) calling me at noon to inform me that the RR Trio had been caught spot fixing. And since then it has been a parade of arrests including the mighty ‘Guru’. There has been media frenzy with 24/7 channels airing the same news over and over, and as Milind Rege rightly put it on one of the TV shows I participated in as a caller, “the common man will now tend to see all cricket with jaundiced eyes”. On the other hand unnoticeably England and New Zealand have been indulging in some good old test cricket which has been long forgotten in this country called India and Rahul Dravid has been carrying the torch of Integrity and Class, albeit all alone.

We have had experts from all fields, talking about IPL saga from legal, criminal, economical, moral, ethical, sporting and governance points of view. So what does a common man (or woman) think of all these. Because end of it all it is us, the cricket fan, who pays for the entire circus directly and indirectly.

Though I do not represent the entire creed of common people, I think the cricket fan is at the least saddened. However this does not mean they may be driven off the game. Yes, there is outrage on the streets, there is anger in social media but the stadiums are still full. And if the TV reports are to be believed the TRPs of IPL have gone skywards since the scandal broke out. The reason behind this is the eternal hope of “everything will be alright soon” which even I exude. The common man though angry wants his heroes to come out of this clean. Though MSD skipped the pre-final conference to avoid tough questions and though there have already been murmurs about how he is in a precarious position, the real MSD fan (and cricket fan as well) hopes that he has nothing to do with the scandal and he comes out of it as the hero he always has been. Only time will tell.

Beyond the angst however, I want to also ask several questions. These are issues that not many media houses or experts are highlighting. However, these are pertinent questions in my humble opinion. The first issue that seems to have missed the limelight is the IPL after parties. It has been a well established fact by now that the bookies have been contacting these players in these parties. And if one observes the nature of these events it is clear that there is an unprecedented access to cricketers.

Not just in the olden days but even as late as 2007 and in cases of Test and One Day cricket even today, the cricketers have always been a lot which people had less than limited access to. When on 2-3 month tours the team used to stay in a hotel and partied together in almost zero outside access environment. The IPL after parties have completely changed the scenario. I am sure the bookies and the fixers were thankful to the person who came up with this idea. I strongly believe that the most efficient step towards curbing corruption in cricket will be to monitor who has access to players. If this means keeping the businessmen who own the teams out of the hotel, dressing rooms and dugouts, so be it.

The second question has been raised across platforms but only occasionally and that too without too much fervor. The large question of conflict of interest. I could not help laughing out loud when I read in one of the news feed that BCCI is going to question the CSK ownership on the Guru issue. Imagine it for a moment. Mr. N Srinivasan in his capacity as the President of BCCI and part of its disciplinary committee will write to Mr. N Srinivasan the owner of India Cements and thus the owner of Chennai Super Kings seeking explanation. And then may be go on and give a clean chit to himself as well. How kool is that?

Dig deeper and you will notice that this is not only limited to Mr. Srinivasan. Krish Srikkanth was the chairman of selectors and mentor of CSK. MSD is the captain of CSK and India (in that order I believe) and therefore a part of the selection committee and also the Vice President of India Cements. In fact even the great Rahul Dravid is a Vice President at India Cements and captains their corporate team. In fact a glance at India Cements team in the BCCI corporate trophy will introduce you to about half of the Chennai Super Kings side. Then the greats like Sunny Gavaskar and Ravi Shastri who was/is on the IPL Governing Council are paid commentators of BCCI for IPL. No wonder you do not hear factual commentary. This list is certainly longer than then entire length of this article. While I am not at all suggesting that all these people have been indulging in malafide practices, one cannot but overlook the scope that such an overlap brings.

To sum it up I think the common man also has a tendency to forget or forgive and sometimes both. Therefore there certainly no threat to the gate collections and to those consumer brands associated with cricket. All will be merry too soon for comfort. And finally, I am certain of one thing. Cricket has to come out this as a winner and I am pretty sure it will. Whether it does so by cleaning up or by shoving everything under the carpet remains to be seen. I am hopeful at best.

 

The Eighth Wonder of the World: Democracy in India

 

Kutta ko le gayi bilayi, simh charave gaayee re!

Saat ajubo se badhkar yeh prajatantra hai bhai re!

 – Baba Satya Narayan Mourya

(The cat has taken the dog away and the lion is grazing the cows! Really the Democracy is above the Seven Wonders of the World)

What is the need for someone like me to call Democracy in India a wonder? If you ponder over this heading for a minute or two before reading further, you might get 10 reasons of your own to believe so. I have made an observation which goes a little further than the so called “common man” might want to think sometimes. Imagine the following scenario:

Disclaimer: The following paragraphs feature an imaginary story and therefore bear no resemblance with any situation in real life.

This is a story of Mohammed D’Souza who belongs to a minority community in Warangal town of Andhra. Read in his words.

I am a first time voter and am very enthusiastic about being able to make a contribution to government formation this time around. I have always been a fan of the MIM which operates in Hyderabad, but cant vote for them as they do not have any base in Warangal. So I choose to vote for the TDP (Telugu Desam Party) for their development record, and also for the fact that TDP is not going with BJP (Bharatiya Janta Party) which is a communal party according to me which also has promised the separate state which I am against. My family has always been voting for congress but I choose the TDP. The common fact though is that both me and my family wants to avoid BJP, and it’s easy as well because BJP has practically no base in AP.

As the voting day nears I am in for a shock. TDP has tied up with TRS (Telangana Rashtra Samiti) who wants a separate state, not something that I wanted, and the Left which is believed to be anti development in more than one sense! I gave a lot of thought to the situation and still decided to stay with the TDP because of Mr. Naidu and his development plans.

As the list of candidates is out for Warangal, I am shell-shocked! The TDP is not contesting the Warangal seat at all!! As part of their alliance deal, the seat is left for a candidate of TRS, whom I never liked. Oh and what? Mr. Naidu is in town campaigning for that person. I listened to Mr. Naidu and thought; “Well, by voting for this TRS person I am anyhow going to benefit Mr. Naidu, so let me take his word and do it”.

Come the polling day and I voted for TRS!! Not my original plan though. I satisfied myself thinking that I voted for the Great Chandrababu Naidu! Five more phases to go in India and I was already thinking of Naidu as the CM. But there seems to be no end to surprises. TRS breaks away from the “Grand Alliance” and joins the NDA (National Democratic Front, led by the BJP) at the centre. Oh God! My vote suddenly has been transferred from Mr. Naidu to Mr. Advani. Surprise Surprise!! Mr. KCR convinces Mr. Naidu to support the NDA at the centre! So even the ideology has changed and I am now a supporter of “Communal Forces” that I never wanted to be!!! And yeah, with congress sweeping the polls both at the state and the centre, I have no moral right to expect them to work for me. Lord, the Great Indian Democracy!!!

End of Disclaimer.

I know this is imaginary, but it could happen one day in India. This was just an attempt to bring to your attention the impact of the alliance politics on a common man. The post below has the solution to this grave problem. Yeah you guessed it right, the solution is according to me and I may be wrong. Your comments are always welcome on it.

 

Two Party Federal Government: The Hope for India!

Impossible!

That was the first word I heard when I presented the idea of a two party presidential form of Democracy to a friend. But when I sit down and think of what is happening in the country with more that 100 parties with those many agendas and 4 coalitions at the centre and countless at the state level, chaos is the only word that comes to mind.

Horse Trading, Conditional Supports, Stalling of development, multiple ideologies working in different directions, money laundering and what not. A coalition government has been and seemed to have been involved in all this and much more. If a government gets elected on its manifesto and forms a coalition, there is no guarantee it will abide the same. Common Minimum Programs are more of vote bank politics and less of development agenda. Everyone should be happy! A good mantra if applied to a common man but a bad shastra if applied to political parties.

Prajatantra me neta janta ka sevak kahelata hai, janata ka man janata ko raja kahkar bahelata hai,

Par chunav ke baad yahan sab kuch ulta ho jata hai, sevak raja ka sab dhan lekar champat ho jata hai,

Sevak ke hai aish desh me raja bhookha soye re!

– Baba Satya Narayan Mourya

Compare this, when a company is formed, the promoters first appoint a CEO and then give him the responsibility to choose his team and give the results they want with accountability on his own shoulders. And this where the promoters choose a team of 100 managers and then ask them to choose their own CEO!! Do you think the managers discharge fair duties when they know that the CEO they chose is their own man? Will the promoter have the same faith in the CEO? Will the CEO be as accountable as in the first case? To my mind such a CEO will more be a union leader and less a Profit Maker.

The promoters are the People of our country, The CEO is the Prime Minister and the team is his cabinet. The system we follow is the second one. And what follows that is seen by this country for over 6 decades now. The prime ministers have been more accountable to their parties, allies, cabinets, corporates etc, and the least accountable to the people of India!

And the fun part is that the so called all powerful voter never gets to choose the CEO (Prime Minister). He merely chooses a manager of his area. Oh forget the idea of declaring the prime ministerial candidates well before the elections!! They change faster than a chameleon.

Now that I have a strong preface in place, let me count the advantages of the other side. The first big thing in a Presidential form of government is that I CHOOSE WHO LEADS THE COUNTRY DIRECTLY. The centre and the state all should go to the elections simultaneously and the party at the centre should also rule ALL THE STATES. This can happen only in a two party system.  Accountability will be the highest in this case with no centre leader blaming the opposing party in the state and vice versa. With only two options in place there will be no hung houses for ever! So goodbye Horse Trading and False promises and Common Minimum Programs. The voter should be allowed to choose from top to bottom that is the PM, the CM, MLA and MP in one single ballot.

Impossible!

Did you just say that? I know it is difficult, but there is nothing which is not possible. And the politicians of our country will not bring about this change because the ATM function is all but lost in this form of government. So the people have to do something about it. I am still trying to find a good way to do the same. Do you have any suggestion to make?

Let’s hope the following lines are never re-written by another poet who is hurt!

Kursi maayi jisne paayi seva ka dekar nara, jhute, chappal, gehun, topeyn, shakkar khayi aur chaara,

Nazar jamao vahin nazar me aajate ghotale hain, ghotalon ki jaanch me usse bhi bhari ghotalen hain,

– Baba Satya Narayan Mourya

 

The final stats from ICL and IPL

Monday, 2nd June 2008 (it was supposed to be 1^st June but the whole thing ended close to morning), saw the end of an amazingly well fought match between the Rajasthan Royals and the Chennai Superkings marking the end of Indian Premier League. The whole of India must have been glued to their TV sets to watch the epic end. Since then I have read hoards of articles and heard unending talk shows as to what IPL meant to India and its role in blossoming India’s future in cricket. Most of them forget one thing. There would not have been any IPL if the ICL was not born. I personally think IPL owes a lot, and more to Mr. Chandra.

 

There have been comparisons between the two leagues and the IPL has won hands down in all. Be it the TRP’s, or revenues for the teams, crowd support, star appeal or just the way the tournament has been conducted. The IPL has overtaken the ICL in all those departments. But if you are someone who likes to know how cricket is benefited overall, read on.

 

Thanks to the maximum 4 rule of IPL, the Indian players got a chance to play in the tourney. Unknown faces from across the country showcased their skills on a very large platform. There were in all 86 Indian players who were given an opportunity to be a part of the teams. These players had never represented the country. I am not counting the ones who had. Of these 86 players a huge bunch of which I don’t have a count of only warmed the benches. But, there were 12 players who got the opportunity and also made it count. The players who changed their destinies with IPL were: Ravindra Jadeja, Manpreet Gony, Swapnil Asnodkar, Yusuf Pathan, Abhishek Nayar, Amit Mishra, Siddharth Trivedi, Shikhar Dhawan, Yo Mahesh, Ashok Dinda, Dhaval Kulkarni and Pragyan Ojha.

 

Of these only Pragyan Ohja was the lone player who got selected in the Indian team. Yes, Yousuf did get selected, but that was on the cards even before the IPL, and also that he had represented the country in T20 World Cup. So for me the numbers that are important are 86, 12 and 1, Number of players who were in, the ones who performed and the one who made it to the national side in that order.

 

The ICL on the other hand was a neglected baby compared to the IPL. But then they were not far behind in the numbers that matter. Yes, they had less Ad revenues, leave alone ads they had less revenues overall. But the ICL offered a platform to 79 young cricketers of this country who would have not seen a crowd more than 500 in their life had it not been for the ICL. They all performed out of their skins to ensure they were noticed. The ultimate reward was a blue uniform for 16 of them. Though the uniform did not carry the BCCI logo, it would certainly have been a matter of great pride for the following 16: Rajagopal Satish, Abbas Ali, Abhishek Jhunjhunwala, Abu Nacheem, Ali Murtaza, Ambati Rayudu, Ganapathi Vignesh, Ibrahim Khaleel, Love Ablish, Ravi Raj Patil, Rohan Gavaskar, Stuart Binny, Syed Mohammed, T. Sudhindra, TP. Singh and V. Sarvanan. The only player in the team who had previously known how it feels like in the blue uniform was Thiru Kumaran.

 

Whatever happens next. Whether IPL becomes the only form of cricket, killing Test and Onedayers, or whether everyone in the world has their own league. The facts are in front of you. I am someone who watches and admires Test cricket and I will continue to do so. But if these formats can produce 5 players every year who can bat for 4 hours without getting out, and 5 players who can bowl 20 overs in a day with steadiness, rest assured I will be the happiest cricket fan on the planet.

 

The PCB – and Does it impact???

 

Well as the header suggests, I am sure you are wondering what PCB stands for? Well let me clear the air… If you think PCB is Printed Circuit Board which is used in electronic equipments ranging from mobile phones to computers, this is not about them. The abbreviation PCB here means the “Palaniappan Chidambaram Budget”. While some may call it a Pro-Voter budget and some others call it a divine gift to the nation, some also term it as a huge financial failure. Put together Mr. PC has overall done well to please the people who matter the most to his existence, the poor of this country.

Mr. PC was very sure of what he was doing. He must have got very clear instructions from the High Command that his budget would write the script for next five years of congress’ future. And he did exactly what the doctor (I wonder when she passed out her MBBS) ordered. But, pause for a while and think… Does the highly politicised budget of this country actually affect you?? Well if you are able to read this… IT DOESN’T.

Yes he increased the threshold limit for the Taxpayer. So what?? Did we not increase our earnings over the last year?? By the time we pay tax according to the new limits, either him or another finance minister would have announced another high profile pro-poor, pro-voter budget. And after all where does the government earn all its revenues from?? From those who were let off a whopping INR 6,000,000,000,000… Difficult to count the number is it?? That is INR 600 Billions. That is Rs. 600 out of every Indian’s pocket. Oh yes, I know the farmers are committing suicide… My fault??

The cars became cheap. Where is the road to drive them? The women will pay less tax. Where is the opportunity to earn…? Let alone paying tax. I will pay less tax… No I will pay the same tax because my salary has been increased thanks to the Bull Run in the economy market. And what did the guys who made the dream of India INC. come true get?? 5% extra tax on their short term gains. Where does that go? To more farmers who are committing suicide.

And the best catch out of this will come some days later. The farmers in the congress run states will get the major share of that whopping figure (I have no patience to write that again). How much money will go to Gujarat and Rajasthan? Good question to find an answer to. Those are opposition ruled states. They don’t get much.

The businessmen of this country have given about the same contribution to India’s growth that a farmer has. But this is one creed that has never got it due credit. The best entrepreneur award does not boost the economy. Sops do. But they are reserved for the illiterates and farmers and beggars and poor and other people who are classified in the “aam aadmi” category. Businessmen are rich and they only deserve to pay tax and more tax and more tax, until they become “aam aadmi”. Then they too will get the sops.

Who is at the fault? Mr. PC? No, not at all. He is doing the best he can do in the best interest of his party. The real culprits are us. Yes, you, me and all others who are sitting in their AC cabins. We did not go out in the burning sun in the summer of 2004 to cast our vote (I did, but one can only make that much difference). The ones who did are reaping the benefits. The BJP and specially the TDP government here in AP did all it could to lift people like me and you to greater heights. They facilitated the growth of today’s India Inc. And what happened? The people that they worked for preferred to stay indoors in the cosy environments of their offices and alas! THEY LOST!! Had the BJP at centre and TDP at the state level made the same efforts for the poor people, they would have been in power till today. But I would have not been writing this article because I wouldn’t afford a computer.

Now what is the way out? It’s not very difficult. The tax paying community of the country should put its head together and elect a government that works for them. It may even be the congress. But they should also be made to understand that we can uproot you if you do not work for us. And to prove that we have to do just that… Once… And only then will the real India Shining come true.