The Indian Paisa League - A Story of Greed

Much is being talked about the IPL, let us call it Indian Paisa League instead of the Indian Premier League as all the ongoing media talk is about money, power and corruption, nothing to do with cricket.

I have no clue what happens behind those closed doors but just for fun, let us try to imagine what would have happened: The two failed bidders (or at least one of the two) would have paid some large "facilitation money" to Lalit in advance for getting an IPL team. Now, Lalit needs to return this or get him a team - all his equation has gone in for a toss due to some last minute disruption by someone from somewhere in Kerala. Lalit tries hard to cough up enough from this new team for the loss but the Kochi boys have already paid their due share to the pseud mallu (by transferring enough to his so-called female friend).

The all-powerful IPL supremo cannot tolerate any of this encroachment and starts pelting stones but forgot he himself was in a glass house. The highly educated pseud Mallu faces the brunt and loses the ministership but in the meantime, raising unanswered questions on Lalit, IPL, BCCI, Pawar, Patel and god only knows who all....followed by all the IT raids (was Income tax office sleeping for so long), the undeclared Mauritius accounts, the kick-backs and all else you can find on any TV.

So, what is going to happen next? Skeletons are falling from every closet. Someone needs to die on the other side, after all there cannot be casualties on only one side in a battle, so who better than Lalit Modi, the man who started it all. He needs to go, no doubt about it....but is he the only one who took all of it home, common sense says you need to share the booty in every loot. I guess every top official in BCCI (the so-called charitable society registered in Tamil Nadu) takes a share of the pie.

The big question is what is the way forward?

Why should BCCI eat away all the money it makes in the name of cricket and national pride? It should ideally be made a publicly listed enterprise controlled by Government of India (like the PSUs). Enhanced transparency and accountability would bring more professionalism to the sport. Also, it should be made to share a part of the surplus with Ministry of Sports for development of other sports in the country. As a nation, we should try to utilize this money to prepare ourselves better for sports and may be this country of a billion can devote more resources to make a better mark at forums like Olympics.

Naxalism : The rule of Gun and Mass Murder

I come from Jharkhand, have spent 20 years of my life in the land of tribals - have seen some of them very closely, their hardships, their battle for life, you just can't help but admire the way they always feel content and happy. But, something has changed in the past few years, people are now afraid to pass through the very jungles which used to be symbol of natural beauty and fresh air, they only commute in daytime or with patrolling jeeps along with them.

The same innocent tribals who came to towns to do small shopping and sell fresh produce from their small farms, are now viewed with suspicion. What if the person is a Naxalite, what if he is here to spy, what if he kidnaps my son for extortion money?

The Naxalite movement has done no good to the lives of ordinary tribals, it has just made it worse. The so-called jan adalats are nothing but a formal system of stamping justice to the atrocities committed by the Party.

I recently read this article by Arundhoti Roy in Outlook, seems like she has taken the role of their spokesperson - hell bent at justifying every crime perpetrated by this armed gang of hoodlums. She seems to have drained all the grey content out of her brain and does not seem to be at all concerned by the grave internal security threat posed by this movement. She is ignorant of the challenges faced by a common man in these areas due to the ongoing war between the maoists and the administration.

Maoists are a bunch of misguided youth led by a few selfish leaders at the top who are indoctrinating innocent children to realise their selfish motives. I believe country needs a man with an iron hand to douse this fire of unrest before it assumes large proportion to burn our motherland. I sincerely wish Chidambram delivers this before it is too late.

At the same time, the Indian government would need to take sufficient measures to ensure that the tribals feel themselves as a part of the country, share the fruits of development and have enough education and reason to deny the Party a space in their backyard.