Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis is now considered a messiah for the drought-stricken region of his State, particularly latur known for living with God’s wrath more often than it happens elsewhere. latur had suffered a most devastating earthquake only a few years ago; and now, there is such a terrible dry spell that the Government is dispatching water, the elixir of life, by trainloads.
The most laudable decision he took was to throw the wasteful IPl matches out of the State only because the filthy-rich cricket organisers consume immeasurable amounts of water to keep the playing pitches beaming smiles -- the ground, grass and the whole facility including sitting spaces. The people of the whole nation have expressed gratitude to the Creator for having gifted mankind some sensible politicians that are now the rarest of species, especially in the developing countries of South Asia where cricket rules the hearts and minds of the people more powerfully than any other force known in history. According to civil rights outfit loksatta, over 60,000 litres of water is used daily to maintain the pitches only. The Bombay High Court lashed at the Government for failing to take a stand on the issue. “22,000 litres of water is provided per day to the Maharashtra Cricket Association by the Government at a time, when one-third of State is gasping due to thirst,” the HC remarked and stated, “The Government has to decide what is more important for them - IPl or peopleIJ”
In 2009, IPl became popular as a ‘billionaire dollar baby’ because so big money was involved. Some estimates then had put the figure close to 1.5 billion dollars, mainly in TV rights and sponsorships. “The BCCI will see to it that franchises don’t lose out,” IPl chairman lalit Modi said.
The VIVO Indian Premier league of 2016 features eight franchise teams representing cities across the country competing in 60 matches in the explosive Twenty20. The IPl follows on from the ICC World Twenty20, a competition featuring national teams that is currently approaching its climax in India. Though the IPl season lasts only a few weeks, this year’s tournament runs from April 9 to May 29> The top international players taking part are lavishly rewarded. At February’s player auction, Australian Shane Watson attracted the highest bid, $1.4 million, to play for the Royal Challengers Bangalore team this year.
The American Appraisal valuation services company last year put the overall value of the IPl as a business at $3.5 billion, up 9 per cent from 2014.
An expert research team used an input-output method that takes into account the links between the different parts of an economy. Input-output models involve the use of economic multipliers, factors that determine the total amount of spending generated by an injection of money. Their use is based on the idea that increased spending has knock-on effects that result in even greater total spending.
The direct economic impact of the IPl season, including spending on travel, accommodation, food and beverages, team outfits and equipment, promotional activities and the cost of staging matches, was put at 5.7 billion rupees. The total output impact, once the multiplier effect of this spending across the Indian economy was taken into account, was 26.5 billion rupees. Reports say three groups drove the economic impact of the competition spectators, franchises and organisers.
When lalit Modi took away IPl to South Africa in 2009 due to confusing security problems in India, the team owners were aghast that they would lose heavily because no match would be played on home grounds. But the IPl then promised franchisees won’t lose out ever. loss of 10 crore rupees on ticket sales would be made up from the huge advertisement prospects. lalit proved right and IPl is the biggest cricket brand in commercial cricket.
Fadnavis may be a recently-identified hero, but Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik is a greater guy as politician. He thinks ahead of times unlike his counterparts across the country. He declined to play Holi because Odisha too is suffering from a drought. But his political colleagues don’t seem to have followed his steps. Devendra and Naveen are both praiseworthy for being people-friendly. The way Naveen gets his political wishes fulfilled has to be studied well to grasp the approach he uses. People rightly believe he trusts bureaucrats more than political animals. He has a few carefully-handpicked super-brains who have scanned and known the boss too well so much so that a simple look at his eyes would tell them what to do without losing time. So, the Government runs like a modern passenger plane flies on autopilot. Only a little monitoring once in a while would put things in path.
But lately, politicians close to him some way or the other seem to have betrayed his trust. Sanjay Dasburma has put the BJD into shame. late Kalpataru Das had also fallen in the eyes of people for having been exposed as a horrendously property-greedy person. His son inherited his wicked greed and has walked into the difficult traps as are difficult to wriggle out of. Sanjay was his alter ego in common missions and ventures. It is strange that Naveen does not ask him to step down at least until the Pajero heat dies down. No one can say for sure he had intimate links with the Artha Tatwa fellow to snatch a luxury vehicle worth 19 lakh rupees from the thug. The Sethi boy has kept changing his versions. He had said Dasburma is a Pajero beneficiary. Now, he says Pajero was given temporarily for election campaign only.Tomorrow he is likely to say Dasburma is a saint who donated a plane to poor patients of interior Malkanagiri by selling his land, jewellery and other valuables. Any new turn can take place. But one statement made with flickering eyes and some bank documents in shaky hands that he placed one lakh rupee to get a 19-lakh vehicle from Vijaya or any other bank is plain crap. Banking norms would require beneficiary to put up at least fifteen percent of the price before getting a loan sanction. Further, Pajero-grade vehicles are nearly lifetime assets. No sane owner would dump it as useless to buy another so soon as Dasburma did! The next worry point is Sanjay is not a patriot. He loves Japan more than India. When supremely-crafted Indian SUVs are plentifully available including Indo-Japanese wonders, he chooses Pajero as his mount. He is not aware that he is an Indian politician shouting the Jai Hind slogan at least twice a year, August 15 and January 26, along with colleagues at public gatherings. It is not untrue that for some reason or the other, the people’s perception is that he is unethical and corrupt because his wealth grew too big too fast. Naveen has to be extremely cautious about such a ‘Man Friday’ who stabbed a mentor to join him. Sanjay will be the first to desert him the day trouble starts brewing for him and the BJD.
(The writer is a core member of Transparency International, Odisha)