Well its been really along time since I had written my last blog. In the interim lots and lots of things have taken place and those have been highlighted by all corners of the media and also by eminent personalities.
But in this blog I am going to cite my thoughts on an issue which have been debated about millions and zillions of times and has probably become extinct as a debate topic but with no fruitful outcome. Last week it was all kudos for the 20 year old Saina Nehwal who won the Singapore Open Super Series and climbed onto world No. 3. But what was the outcome?? The news being covered in only one quarter of the corner of newspapers against the full page coverage of The Asia Cup win by Indian Cricket Team in Sri Lanka.
Have we ever wondered why only cricket is given so much of glitter and glamor and of course money. Why not Badminton,Hockey,Swimming,Table Tennis?? This is the reason why the sad situation in Indian sports arises. Cricketers enjoy so much of spotlight that the advertising companies keep them in their books.Clearly other mentioned games are missing what they deserve, both in the name of respect as well as financial recognition. How can we ever forget what had happened just before the Hockey World Cup this year. It was simply a disgrace when Indian Hockey Federation declared "WE ARE BANKRUPT"!!!! Be it Hockey India or the National Rifle Association(they left out Olympic gold medalist Abhinav Bindra from the Commonwealth Games 2010), it is very obvious that sporting event organizers, companies or marketing agencies are least interested in sponsoring events apart from cricket.
If we talk about games like kabbadi and kho kho there are a few local brands which is keeping such games alive. The returns from these sporting activities are so less that the corporates are hesitant to invest. Moreover in the absence of tax incentives and subsidies,the corporates find it even more inappropriate.Unlike cricket,other sports are not at all marketed, there is no adequate infrastructure and training equipments. Even if the Sports Authority of India get foreign coaches, it would be of no help unless there are proper infrastructure and good sponsors for talented people coming from humble background. This is one of the major reason why such sporting activities have not been able to attract fresh and young talent. Sahara India once again became the main sponsor for the Indian Cricket Team and they agreed to pay the BCCI a whopping sum of Rs. 3.43 crore per match. Contradicting this fact, Nike the jersey provider for both the Cricket and Football Team pays to the Cricket Team and not the Football.. Could anybody justify this please??
Its better late than never.. Funds from India Inc. should start flowing into these sporting arenas and it is also upto the respective Federations to utilize these funds and do a proper marketing about their sports or else attaining glory through Saharas will continue to be an elusive dream.. Its time that these agencies and companies come together to build a better and disciplined society and ensure that no talent gets wasted because of lack of resources !!!
Sunday, June 27, 2010
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
THE PROBLEM OF THE MAOISTS
It is a serious crisis that our country is facing which is none other than the Maoist problem that have taken such a brutal shape that it has urged our honorable Home Minister, Mr. P. Chidambaram to resign though his resignation was not accepted. Everyday or the other we get to see and hear about the ferocious attacks by the Maoists either on civilians or on the policemen, the recent being a bus blown up by them killing 50 people. Moreover how can we forget about he killing of 75 CRPF Jawans at Dantewada??
But what actually is propelling the Maoists to become so brutal?? Is there any particular reason behind such killings or is it that they want to send a message to the people or the government?? Well I think it is because of the anger and frustration for decades that they are taking out on the government because of the negligence of the rural population, particularly the tribal communities. It is estimated that 156 districts in 15 states face "threats" from the armed movements with the states of UP, Bihar, Orrisa, West Bengal, Jharkhand and Chattisgarh being worst affected.
The Maoists movements in the country are mostly rooted in the government's failure to provide these tribal communities the basic norms of a democratic state to a larger section of the country's population specially in the rural areas and remote villages. This explains why these movements are more concentrated in the utmost remote ares of the states. These communities majorly depend upon forest and agricultural produce for their survival. Owing to the negligent and callous governmental policies and the drastic exploitation of these forests and natural resources in order to show the world about the "Shining India", the large section of the population has lost both their habitat and livelihood options.
This makes me only say about the ironic situation which prevails in our country that is those who kill for a cause are "celebrated" and those who kill without a cause are "murderers". Actually these Maoists are from very poor families who are left to die of hunger, forget about other basic facilities for survival. I think it is a complete failure on the part of the government and its policies which only aim to enrich themselves and a handful of business houses only adding to the income disparities in India. Maoists are not terrorists but have resorted to arms to kill for a cause. They want to rise out of "extreme" poverty and lead a life of dignity.
So if the government really wants to end the Maoists problems it has to go beyond what it is planning of counter attacking them. Provide them with food, health and a life of dignity and it will surely help the government come out of its internal security problems. But again, if the situation continues to be the same and they are left to die hungry and penniless, they will get back to Maoism. It is high time that the government think beyond the upper class and gets to the grass root level by putting on its "Thinking Cap" !!!!!
But what actually is propelling the Maoists to become so brutal?? Is there any particular reason behind such killings or is it that they want to send a message to the people or the government?? Well I think it is because of the anger and frustration for decades that they are taking out on the government because of the negligence of the rural population, particularly the tribal communities. It is estimated that 156 districts in 15 states face "threats" from the armed movements with the states of UP, Bihar, Orrisa, West Bengal, Jharkhand and Chattisgarh being worst affected.
The Maoists movements in the country are mostly rooted in the government's failure to provide these tribal communities the basic norms of a democratic state to a larger section of the country's population specially in the rural areas and remote villages. This explains why these movements are more concentrated in the utmost remote ares of the states. These communities majorly depend upon forest and agricultural produce for their survival. Owing to the negligent and callous governmental policies and the drastic exploitation of these forests and natural resources in order to show the world about the "Shining India", the large section of the population has lost both their habitat and livelihood options.
This makes me only say about the ironic situation which prevails in our country that is those who kill for a cause are "celebrated" and those who kill without a cause are "murderers". Actually these Maoists are from very poor families who are left to die of hunger, forget about other basic facilities for survival. I think it is a complete failure on the part of the government and its policies which only aim to enrich themselves and a handful of business houses only adding to the income disparities in India. Maoists are not terrorists but have resorted to arms to kill for a cause. They want to rise out of "extreme" poverty and lead a life of dignity.
So if the government really wants to end the Maoists problems it has to go beyond what it is planning of counter attacking them. Provide them with food, health and a life of dignity and it will surely help the government come out of its internal security problems. But again, if the situation continues to be the same and they are left to die hungry and penniless, they will get back to Maoism. It is high time that the government think beyond the upper class and gets to the grass root level by putting on its "Thinking Cap" !!!!!
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Is it Right To pass The Rigth To Education Bill ??
It is indeed an eye opener for all the citizens of our country about the historic bill that has finally been passed by our Government, which according to me should have been passed at least 60 years back. Yes, you are right, I am referring to the "RIGHT TO EDUCATION BILL."(Passed on the 1st April 2010). The attempt made by the government to bring about a change in the primary education in India is really appreciative which can bring about a transformational change to the society. Education has always been a subject of political negligence and budgetary ignorance over the years. Even this year's Union budget did not have adequate financial allocation for Education which according to me has high return on investment. But with the passage of this bill, it seems as if the wheel of fortune is reallt revolving. This Act promises to deliver free and compulsory education to every children till the age of 14 all across India.
But what I feel is whether this Bill can actually be executed thoroughly or not given the infrastructure and political scenario prevailing in our country. The first major concern is the student teacher ratio. The RTE clearly mentions that the student teacher ratio should not be more than 30:1. If we try to peep through various schools, especially in rural India,we would land up seeing that the student teacher ratio is 50:1 !!! With surveys showing that nearly 5 lakh positions vacant for primary teachers, it is indeed a daunting task for the government to attain such a ratio. The dire situation is such that in Bengal the SSC is even taking candidates who have secured a less that 40% in the SSC exam in order to fill up the vacancies !!!!
The second objective of the Bill is that all primary schools are required to reserve 25% of their seats for under privileged students. Any deviations from this would result in strict legal and financial punishments. But my question to everyone is that has the government given it a thought of the expenses that are to be borne by the parents to send their children to a school?? The reserved seats give a relief from the tuition fees but does not give exemption from other expenses like the cost of school books, co-curricular fees and other development fees which are very high in good private schools.
Another though provoking data is that surveys show that the expenses of sending a child to a school has increased by a gigantic 150% in the last 6years where as the income of an average middle class family has increased by only 35%. So, do we really think that the parents of such children would be able to send their children to school and bear this extra burden of expenditure?? Because of this the drop out rate will not change at all. Another crucial thing is the budgetary allocation for this program. The Finance Commission has provisioned 25000 crores and the Center has provided a frugal amount of 15000 crores towards the same which according to me is far below than what is required to make this Act a successful one on a pan India basis.
So, would like to conclude by saying that the RTE should have been one of the fundamental right of every citizen. We all say that 70% of our population is in rural India, but have we ever tried to think if those villagers actually understand the true meaning of the word "DEMOCRACY"?? People have been purposely made to remain illiterate so that they question about their basic needs and requirements for their existence. Given all these stringent conditions it would really be interesting to find out if the government succeeds or not.
But what I feel is whether this Bill can actually be executed thoroughly or not given the infrastructure and political scenario prevailing in our country. The first major concern is the student teacher ratio. The RTE clearly mentions that the student teacher ratio should not be more than 30:1. If we try to peep through various schools, especially in rural India,we would land up seeing that the student teacher ratio is 50:1 !!! With surveys showing that nearly 5 lakh positions vacant for primary teachers, it is indeed a daunting task for the government to attain such a ratio. The dire situation is such that in Bengal the SSC is even taking candidates who have secured a less that 40% in the SSC exam in order to fill up the vacancies !!!!
The second objective of the Bill is that all primary schools are required to reserve 25% of their seats for under privileged students. Any deviations from this would result in strict legal and financial punishments. But my question to everyone is that has the government given it a thought of the expenses that are to be borne by the parents to send their children to a school?? The reserved seats give a relief from the tuition fees but does not give exemption from other expenses like the cost of school books, co-curricular fees and other development fees which are very high in good private schools.
Another though provoking data is that surveys show that the expenses of sending a child to a school has increased by a gigantic 150% in the last 6years where as the income of an average middle class family has increased by only 35%. So, do we really think that the parents of such children would be able to send their children to school and bear this extra burden of expenditure?? Because of this the drop out rate will not change at all. Another crucial thing is the budgetary allocation for this program. The Finance Commission has provisioned 25000 crores and the Center has provided a frugal amount of 15000 crores towards the same which according to me is far below than what is required to make this Act a successful one on a pan India basis.
So, would like to conclude by saying that the RTE should have been one of the fundamental right of every citizen. We all say that 70% of our population is in rural India, but have we ever tried to think if those villagers actually understand the true meaning of the word "DEMOCRACY"?? People have been purposely made to remain illiterate so that they question about their basic needs and requirements for their existence. Given all these stringent conditions it would really be interesting to find out if the government succeeds or not.
Friday, April 16, 2010
We have all been witnessing the war of words going on between the IPL Commissioner Mr. Lalit Modi and the MOS, External Affairs Minister, Mr. Sashi Tharoor resulting in the increase amount of TRP of the news channels.Both of them are trying to prove the other wrong & stating that their rivals statements are baseless.In the mean time, the common man is perplexed when they see these news and come to know waht exactly happens behind the scenes of the cash rich IPL. With the top sources of BCCI announcing that the powers of Mr. Modi is going to clipped down, viewers are eagerly awaiting for the emergency meeting that has been called on later this month.
On top of all these high frolic drama, the selectors are least bothered about the selection of the T20 World Cup starting in just about two weeks time in the Carribean. Yuvraj Singh who has been tremendously out of form and suffering from injuries, and the captain MS Dhoni also not clicking during the IPL, and adding salt to the injury is not by picking up Robin Utthapa, I dont think that the selection has been proper for the World Cup.
Its high time that these officials understand the essence of the game and not only run after cash, advertising patents, television rights and sponsorship revenues. Involving each other in such controversies only glooms the face of Indian Cricket and also shows what these ministers are only interested in !!!
On top of all these high frolic drama, the selectors are least bothered about the selection of the T20 World Cup starting in just about two weeks time in the Carribean. Yuvraj Singh who has been tremendously out of form and suffering from injuries, and the captain MS Dhoni also not clicking during the IPL, and adding salt to the injury is not by picking up Robin Utthapa, I dont think that the selection has been proper for the World Cup.
Its high time that these officials understand the essence of the game and not only run after cash, advertising patents, television rights and sponsorship revenues. Involving each other in such controversies only glooms the face of Indian Cricket and also shows what these ministers are only interested in !!!
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