Why in the world should I resign?

Dear Cricket fans,
     
     It gives me immense pleasure in informing you all that I kept my promise of not resigning from the world's richest Cricket Board- Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). I also know that by the time you have read the first sentence you all would have crushed this letter under your feet. However, that doesn't concerns me from expressing my happiness. 
     The very first thing that I would like to clarify is that the Mumbai Crime Branch has arrested my son in law and not me. But as societal values spread its branches all political top brass including cricket fans and my predecessors have asked me to resign on moral grounds. Well if that is the case, then why doesn't Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh places his papers? After all he was in charge of the coal ministry when the Rs. 1.86 lakh crore scam took place. 
     You people don't even know what is the benefit of handling the operations of the richest cricket board. I didn't change the norms of BCCI purposely. I did it so that I can have a side income. Now can anyone tell me what's wrong in having a side income. In India almost every second person has a side income and I'm a citizen of this great country. Moreover, I didn't own Chennai Super Kings (CSK) illegally, I made a constitutional amendment in BCCI laws. 
     If you guys think that I have a conflict of interest between CSK and BCCI then you all have misunderstood me. I never thought the way you guys did because I always kept the interest of the board first which is why I never spoke anything about the controversy surrounding my son in law. I completely gave him the responsibility of managing the team affairs of CSK. Moreover, I even laid a condition- that I would continue to represent India at the International Cricket Council (ICC) meetings if I were to step down. Yet you people never understood my love for BCCI. 

                                                                      Your's Sincerely,
                                                                         N Srinivasan
                                                                     (BCCI President)                                                      

                                                                                                       

Indian Premiere League or Indian Paid League?

     What was introduced with much fanfare in 2008 as a professional cricket tournament to boost friendship among nations, to improve the face of cricket not forgetting Indian cricket, to find new talents and to entertain cricket fans all across the world is now surrounded by a never ending controversy. By the way this shouldn't be a controversy if I rename the tournament as Indian Paid League.
     The latest controversy that's surrounding the IPL tournament is huge as it has hurted the sentiments of the people supporting cricket from the bottom of their heart. Not much has to be said about the character of the players who were involved in spot fixing the matches. What came as a big jolt to the nation was the involvement of S Sreesanth in this spot fixing. A player of such a stature who has played many international matches in all three formats for the country is now merely a subject of criticism for his fans. The other two players Ankit Chavan and Ajit Chandila have ended their career even before it started. With criticisms coming from all sections of the society these newcomers will never be respected for they have gambled in a gentleman's game.
     This is not the first time that IPL is in controversy. Right from the IPL scam in 2010 when then IPL Commissioner Lalit Modi and then Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor were sacked, to a match fixing by five Indian cricketers last year this tournament has always been in the headlines. Yet, as an old Indian saying asserts, "Raat Gayi Baat Gayi", means forget about the things which happened the previous night, our players seem to have acted in the very same way. It is very clear that all the three accused have taken no lessons from their predecessors- Mohd. Azharuddin, Ajay Jadeja, Ajay Sharma, Salman Butt and Hansie Cronjie to name a few. 

     The objectives of this glamorous tournament has just been the opposite of what it was proposed to be. Since the tournament has many foreign players playing in it; some even captaining the teams, one of the objectives of the tournament was to promote friendship among the cricketing nations. However, this task has proven to be very costly for the BCCI. This novel effort of the board is challenged by the childish behavior of Indian cricketers on the field. For instance in 2008 Bhajji slapped our "Michael Jackson"; 
S Sreesanth currently trapped in this latest controversy. Similarly the latest edition has also shown signs of rift between cricketer Virat Kohli and Gautam Gambhir as both of them entered into an argument over Kohli's dismissal. The story doesn't stops here as the aggressive Virat Kohli even started abusing the audience when the latter bullied the cricketer. 
     Lastly, the most important aspect of this tournament is entertainment. By the way entertainment is the only consistent characteristic that Indian Premiere League has been up to. Right from cheer leaders, to the controversy between Bhajji and Sreesanth, to the IPL scam and the latest spot fixing case that has rocked the nation this tournament hasn't let down the aspirations of people's search for entertainment. 
     Well, there's no doubt that the sixth edition of this tournament will be remembered for its spot fixing case rather than Gayle's sixer and Gilly's Gangnam style. 

Just in Time

     If there is someone that the UPA (United Progressive Alliance) government should worry about, that someone is Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi. Modi who became the Chief Minister of Gujarat in 2001; has since then transformed the face of Gujarat, making it one of the most popular industrial hub of India. His popularity as a Chief Minister grew after the Godhra riots in 2002. His critics say that he is the main accused behind the riots, though, the evidence provided by them couldn't make any difference. After winning the elections twice in Gujarat, he has become the most appropriate candidate in the BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) for the Prime Minister's post. However, he has a long way to go.

     The 2012 Gujarat election is seen as a Semi-Final to the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. The election is important in many ways since it will highlight the fate of two major parties of the country- INC (Indian National Congress) and the BJP. While the ruling UPA-II government led by INC is experiencing set-back because of the exposed corruption in the recent times, the BJP led NDA (National Democratic Alliance) is facing internal grudges for the Prime Minister's post. 

     One of the main reason behind UPA's second term in the government was the fast economic growth at an average of 8.04% that it reported during its tenure between 2004-2009. Despite the great recession in September 2008, the growth rate of India was 7.4% in FY 2008 which was a very healthy figure comparatively to the situations prevailing during that time. And yes, who can forget the Indo-US nuclear deal? This was the second main reason for UPA's return to the centre. The deal was very crucial to the country since it will provide India with nuclear power necessary for power generation. This deal was also important because it displayed Congress's power to continue at the centre after Left parties withdrew its support from the government. All was going well in the government until the end of the decade, when the first expose came out as 2G spectrum scam resulting in the creation of a blot over UPA-II's governance. Thereafter, the expose continued and the UPA-II government's popularity gradually reduced. The 18 month long campaign against corruption led by Anna Hazare against the UPA-II government and the subsequent failure of the government in getting a strong Lokpal bill passed in the parliament further reduced its popularity. 

     On the other hand the BJP led NDA is just another side of the coin. If Congress is surrounded by corruption the BJP too is not spared by it. The recent expose by Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Chief Arvind Kejriwal about BJP President Nitin Gadkari has shaken the party from within. Many senior leaders from the party are seen sidelining the BJP President for his alleged role in the Poorti scam. Another major issue that has troubled the party in recent times is regarding the right candidate for the Prime Minister's Office. While many in the party are viewing Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi as the right candidate for the post, rumors are that Janata Dal United will withdraw its support from the NDA since it considers Narendra Modi a religious fundamentalist. Apart from this, many in the party also view L.K. Advani, Sushma Swaraj and Nitin Gadkari as a potential Prime Ministerial candidate resulting in a rift inside the party. As a major setback to BJP recently, two senior leaders of the party, Keshubhai Patel from Gujarat and B.S. Yedyurappa from Karnataka quit BJP and started their own party to counter the ruling BJP governments in these states. 

     Now, with both the Congress and BJP on the backfoot they have started appeasing the public with their movements. On one hand where the government has started introducing its reform measure to boost the economic growth in the country the main opposition party has also taken its stance well by attacking the government on various fronts. As part of the reform measures; the government has passed the most opposed bill of FDI in multi brand retail recently. Similarly, the introduction of the Cabinet Committee on Investment and amendments to the Land Acquisition Bill has received lauds from both the opposition as well as the business class. The Cabinet Committee on Investment will fast track the implementation of the infrastructure projects with a value of more than 1,000 crore rupees. On the other hand the Land Acquisition Bill will benefit the land owners where compensation will be double the market price in urban areas and four times in rural areas. 

     There is an old saying, "Strike when the iron is hot". This proverb goes very well with the strategies of the government. It is so because the government has passed the bill on FDI in multi brand retail "Just in Time" when the Gujarat elections are on head. Though FDI in retail was opposed by majority of parties in the country, the government managed to pass the act with the external support from SP (Samajwadi Party) and BSP (Bahujan Samaj Party). With the bill getting the nod of the parliamentarians the government has definitely attracted the business community of Gujarat as well as the nation. The second game that the government played was the implementation of the Direct Cash Transfer Scheme just before the Gujarat elections. With the implementation of this scheme, it has mainly attracted Gujarat's rural audiences. Of course, another benefit of the scheme would be reduction in the cases of corruption. The third move was raising the cap on LPG cylinders to 9 from the earlier announced 6. This move, however, is a flop show by the government since the audience is already affected by the pseudo environment created by our "Indian Media."
     More or less, the opposition can only wait and watch until 2014 elections because the UPA government has proved its might as and when required; be it the Nuclear Deal or FDI in multi brand retail.

Chandragupta Maurya's fans rewriting history like him

Around 323 BC when India was handcuffed at the hands of tyranny, divided into 16 kingdoms each fighting for power a mighty king named Alexander was racing with his large army towards India. During this time a teacher named Chanakya aka Vishnugupta aka Kautilya sensed this king as a potential threat to India and so he came up with an idea of “One united India” or “Akhanda Bharat”. So he went to seek help from the most powerful kingdom “Magadha” whose king Dhanananda insulted him and threw him out of his court. After bearing this insult Chanakya took oath of destroying Dhanananda and his kingdom and said that he will bring a king to this throne who will first think of the nation and will fulfil his dream of “Akhanda Bharat”.Soon Chanakya found a boy who was a born leader and had equivalent qualities to that of a king. Chanakya then trained this boy at Takshashila University and few years later with coordinated tactics of Chanakya the kingdom of Magadha was defeated and this boy became the first emperor of “Akhanda Bharat” who is none other than Chandragupta Maurya.2,335 years later i.e. 2012 A.D. a show named “Chandragupta Maurya” was been telecasted on the channel Imagine Tv which had to be shut down because it cannot gather the required GRP (Gross Rating Point). Soon after this channel was shut fans of this very popular show started their protest on social networking sites to bring back the show on other channels.It is very interesting to note that in those times Chanakya and Chandragupta created history and the scenario hasn’t changed since that time. Today followers of Chanakya and Chandragupta have already created history by showing support for this historical show. Never in television history has any show received so much support of fans. The facebook group titled “Save Chandragupta Maurya” has so far 77,290 members which is just a week’s effort. A twitter account has also been created: @JaiMaaBharati which also has more than 250 followers. A youtube video has also been created: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B5NY-MVstPMIt seems that with so much support and enthusiasm of fans the producers and channel will have a tough time to decide on this historical show.

Support increases for Chandragupta Maurya

With the sudden shut down of Entertainment channel Imagine Tv on thursday for failing to gather the required TRP's (Television Rating Points) the actors and the crew members are in a complete shock.

But this shut down not only affected the actors or the employees of the channel, instead it affected a large viewer of this channel's most popular show Chandragupta Maurya which is telecasted every Saturday from 9 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. Within no time the fans of this popular show bursted in anger and rage and cursed Imagine Tv and Turner Broadcast. Turner Broadcast was the one who has cancelled the licence of Imagine Tv due to which it has shut down.

The fans of Chandragupta Maurya then created a facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/savecgm/. In no time the group was over flooded with many fans of this show. The group so far has 57,363 members. All the members of this group want their favourite show Chandragupta Maurya to be resumed on a different channel. For this the group members have mailed many Tv channels and requested them to resume the show once again. It is learnt that the group mails one channel at a time so that the channel receives united support of all the fans and ultimately gets convinced to resume the show. Many posts are seen throughout the day and the support is increasing day by day. A twitter account has also been started on Sunday to support this cause:  https://twitter.com/#!/JaiMaaBharati. So far this account has 171 followers. It seems that the increasing support of Chandragupta Maurya's fans will give a tough time for different channels to consider this show for telecasting it on their channel.

The group on facebook is flooded with messages from the show such as "Jai Ho" and "Jai Maa Bharati".

Why is voting necessary?

One may wonder about the degrading quality of this nation. Some may even say that this nation was always corrupt, is corrupt and it will remain corrupt. Some may blame the politicians for corruption, inflation, unemployment, terrorism and so on. But has anyone thought of changing the current system?

     The answer is no. This is the saddest part of our country. Some people say that for changing this system we have to enter in politics and for this reason no one likes to poke their nose on the issue of changing the system. But while saying this how can one forget that the same system has given us a "Brahmaastra". And this Brahmaastra is none other than voting.

     Saying proudly that we are a part of the largest democracy doesn't make any difference. Instead following the process of democracy is more important. Isn't it? Our system has given us the power to change the government if the government is not worth to carry out the process of nation building. Two months back there was a discussion on whether social networking sites should be censored or not. On hearing this people from all over the country started protesting and saying that,      “We live in a democracy; no one has the rights to suppress our voice." Now the very big question arises here. It is: How can people assault the government and start making nuisance over democracy when they don't follow the procedure of the so called democracy i.e. vote? Isn't it ridiculous? 

     When people are blaming the government on its mistake then why the same people remain silent on the voting days and not use their power to make a change. In India people only get one chance to show their participation and that is during elections. And people should make use of this opportunity to show their participation.

     If we talk about change then people understand it as entering politics. I think that for bringing change entering in politics is not necessary as this system has given us the power of electing our representatives. If you cannot use that power then there is no use in blaming the government.

     In recent times social networking sites have become the nerve of most of the individuals all over the world. Many use social networking sites to socialize, promote their pages and to stay updated with the current scenario. Some people even post hatred status on these sites about our country, celebrity or any brand for that matter. But I want to say that posting hatred status on these sites is very easy but actually handling the situation is very difficult in real life. I see people abusing politicians on these sites and when I visit their profile and check their political views I get shocked as most of the profile says "Not Interested." My dear friend when you are not interested then what makes you abuse those politicians is the thought that pinches me. 

     In such times I just feel there are only two options. One is vote and change the current system and await a new beginning or get into that system and make your contribution to clean it up.

My India

India!!! A country where even non-living things are worshipped such as instruments of a craftsmen, weapons of a soldier, where a new computer when bought home is welcomed by performing rituals, where we borrow and lend things in times of need, where teachers are considered second parents of students, where a guest is given the position of a god. Yes this represents us. We are Indians.

From centuries India has been a favourite place of everyone be it invaders, learners, artisans, travellers and so on. This clearly states that India has always been a country where every single person would like to visit. What makes India so special? Is it we people? Or is it our tradition or culture? Well, all of these contribute to make India a special nation. It is a country where mothers will not eat unless they feed their children, where wives will not eat unless their husbands do not return from work, where there are fights between brothers and sisters but we still celebrate Raksha Bandhan and Bhai Dooj. What makes us so different?

Our nation is considered as Cradle of Civilization. It is the birthplace of many religions of the world. We have also accepted other religions and many religions have flourished in India. It shows that we respect other religions and will always continue to do so. Many things in this world are given by an Indian. The numbers 0 to 9 has been given by an Indian. The master of politics “Chanakya” gave the world his thought and today many of his thoughts are used in military and management systems throughout the world. On 11^th September, 1893 during a session held on World religion in America, Chicago Swami Vivekananda started his speech with “Sisters and Brothers of America” after which there were claps for 2 minutes and thus he made the world bow to his knowledge of religion. Our very own Mahatma Gandhi the universal leader for peace is followed by world’s strongest man. Most importantly we have a great potential to sustain in any situation. Throughout the history we have witnessed this. Many invaders starting from the Greeks, Ghaznavids, Mughals and finally British have invaded India throughout the times but we all have shown them a great sustainability. We are a peace loving nation; we have never tried to invade other’s independence. We are always contended with what we have. We have always avoided violence and still we are doing so. We try to maintain friendly relations with our neighbours and we are very eager to help anyone who needs us in their times of difficulty. We have always refrained from doing violence even in our hard times. Our independence is one such example.

Today India is emerging as a global leader in the world in the field of science and technology, economics, education, human development and so on. The world is seeing India as a key to success in many fields. Many Indians today are working in world renowned companies and institutes. NASA has a majority of Indians working in their research centre. IBM and Microsoft are the largest employers of Indians.

To be frank about India’s way of living I can say that we are a nation where a Sikh Prime Minister belonging to Congress government led by an Italian woman was sworn in by a Muslim President and he was given over the responsibility of office by a Hindu man.