Credibility Crisis Rocks the Great Game

As this writer has been preoccupied with some official tasks he has not been writing any essay in his blog for the past two months. However the credibility crisis that is rocking the game he loves the most has left him with no other choice but to express his views through his blog. It is a sad state of affairs that some unscrupulous players have brought disrepute to the great game by their personal greed and avarice.

It appears that this has been the chance that many detractors of the game of cricket were looking for to come down heavily on the game. They are out with their knives and attacking the game with opinions that call for a ban on IPL or even a ban on the game of cricket as a whole. It is a shame that three players, who were made famous by the game, have been instrumental in bringing ignominy to the gentlemen's game.

In cricket, as in any other profession, nothing can substitute personal integrity and discipline in defining how successful a person could ever become. We have many an example in cricket, where the lack of the previously mentioned qualities has become the undoing of a player. Therefore, when news of the spot-fixing scandal was breaking on news channels, with the images of its three protagonists flashing on television screens, there was a sense of déjà vu for all of us. 

Yes, there was a sense that we have seen it before, we are seeing it now and we will see it again in the future. That BCCI didn’t take strong enough actions against players who were found guilty on spot-fixing allegation last season of IPL has resulted in the repetition of the crime in this season too. Many in the country doubt that the bosses of BCCI are not very much interested in protecting and enhancing the image of the game but in utilising the popularity of the game in filling their coffers and in usurping greater power. It is high time that the government take steps to flush out all those in BCCI who are not cricketers. As of now, the committee is dominated by businessmen and politicians, some of whom haven’t even played galli cricket. What good can anyone expect from these men to cricket in India? 

Being a commercial heavyweight, India, and as an extension the BCCI, wields enormous power in international cricket. We have seen many occasions where the BCCI had resorted to arm twisting tactics to bring the international cricket under its control and to make the ICC change rules and laws in accordance with its whims and fancies. Because of this there is a general discontent against BCCI among many cricket associations around the world. They are surely going to use this opportunity to slam the BCCI for its lack of transparency and its inability in preventing corruption and fixing cases.

This writer had the privileged opportunity to read Gulu Ezekiel’s biography of Sachin Tendulkar, Sachin. The various instances depicted in the book of the love for the game, personal integrity, commitment and patriotism of the Master Batsman had given goose bumps to him. The way in which he overcame not only fearsome opponent bowlers and lack of talent in his team but also treachery and betrayal of some of his team mates, is a matter of pride for every citizen of this great nation. Much like Tendulkar, other players of his generation like Rahul Dravid, Anil Kumble and VVS Laxman are also men of great personal uprightness and commitment. It defies human understanding how players who have had chances to share dressing room with such legends can stoop this low and cheat their own teams for a few bucks.

This is not the time to cry over the lowering standards of integrity of the players and do nothing. It is imperative for the BCCI and all the franchisees of the IPL to provide all assistance to the Delhi Police and the Mumbai Police in their investigations on the spot-fixing scandal. If the players are found guilty then they should be given immaculate punishment which would act as a deterrent to future players from indulging in fixing matches. The scandal that has come to the fore appears only to be a tip of the iceberg. It is very important to go deep to the roots of this issue and identify the places where the rot has happened. If the whole system is flawed, it should be corrected as soon as possible before people’s mistrust on this great game would put its future to jeopardy. 

Senseless Politics over IPL by Jayalalithaa's Government

The governing council of the IPL has decided against fielding Sri Lankan players in the IPL matches in Chennai after Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa barred the Lankans from the state. By playing bad politics using the Tamil card Jayalalithaa is trying to gain brownie points is a fact that anyone could easily comprehend. When it is true that terrible crimes have been committed against Sri Lankan Tamils by the Sri Lankan armed forces and the government, it makes no sense in barring the Sri Lankan players from playing IPL in Chennai as they are coming in their individual capacities as professional cricketers and not as representatives of the Sri Lankan government.

There is no doubt that India as a country should take tough stand against Sri Lanka and should make the Lankan government investigate war crimes. But barring Sri Lankans from playing sports in India shows poor political imagination. When the DMK has scored a point on the Sri Lankan Tamil issue by pulling out of UPA, Jayalalithaa’s AIADMK was in the lookout for an opening and chose to use IPL as an opportunity to draw level with their political rivals.

Had the Sri Lankan players were coming over to India as the representatives of the government, there would have been more sense in protesting against them. But these players are, like other ordinary people in Sri Lanka, absolutely blameless in the alleged pogrom against the Lankan Tamils. All our anger should be channelled against the Sri Lankan government who is allegedly involved in the grave human rights violation and genocide in Sri Lanka and not on ordinary people of Sri Lanka. If the public opinion in Tamil Nadu is against ordinary Sri Lankans too, it is the responsibility of the government as well as that of the political parties to put things straight and persuade people by making them aware of the facts. If a government functions based on what it claims to be “public opinion”, which could be factually and morally wrong, then it would not be able to govern with any sense of purpose.

If Tamil Nadu is not able to provide security to the Sri Lankans or if the government thinks it is wrong to allow Lankans to play in the state, then the right line of action for the IPL to take would have been to move all the matches out of Chennai. However such an action would have caused logistical deadlocks and hence the IPL governing council has decided to ask IPL franchisees not to field any Lankan players in matches that would be held in Chennai.

If we continue to change our policies and actions based on mob sentiments, it would not be long when our country would descent into chaos and disorder. It is a matter of great shame that we as a country are often threatened and intimidated by mob violence and immoral and flawed public opinion.

A Budget Focussed on Fiscal Deficit

The Union Budget 2013-14 has come at a time when the fiscal deficit is spiralling almost out of control. So it was imperative for the government to take steps to reduce the fiscal deficit, tame inflation, increase the growth rate and at the same time bring out populist economic measures in view of the impending general elections in 2014. The onus was on the Finance Minister P. Chidambaram to come out with a balanced budget that would take care of these various needs.

Experience of the countries in the Euro zone, like Greece, has shown that failing to control the worsening fiscal deficit would spell dooms to a country. Therefore the Finance Minister had no other option left with him but to take measures in the financial year 2013-14 to reduce government expenditure, while simultaneously taking steps to increase revenue collection. With a view to increase the revenue the FM has proposed a one year surcharge of 10% as tax on the super-rich of the country. The super-rich are defined as those who would earn more than 1 crore per annum, all 42,800 of them. He has also proposed increased import duty for luxury items like SUVs, luxury bikes and cars, imported yachts and motorboats, mobile phones priced more than Rs.2000, cigarettes, sale of immovable property, home and flats with a carpet area of 2,000 sq ft or more or of a value of Rs 1 crore. Though there is no revision of the tax exemption slabs, he has proposed to provide a tax break of Rs.2000 to individual tax payers with a taxable income of up to Rs.5 lakh. This would come as a benefit to about 1.8 crore tax payers who are reeling under increased pressure of inflation. Similarly, first time buyers of affordable homes will get an additional deduction in interest of Rs. 1 lakh for home loans up to Rs. 25 lakh. 

It must be noted that the step taken for fiscal consolidation, reduction in government spending, will negatively affect many social sector activities. There have been cuts in many important sectors that directly affect the livelihood and welfare of the people in the country. Irrigation, flood control, science and technology, industries and minerals, rural development and even agriculture have seen massive cutbacks in government spending. The worst of them all is the reduction in fuel subsidy. With the global fuel prices going up continuously, such a cut in fuel subsidy would mean continuous increase in petrol and diesel prices, which would in turn worsen inflationary pressure on the economy. It is also surprising to see that there has been no increase in budgetary allocation to Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), the flag ship programme of the UPA-2. Reduction of government spending in various infrastructure development schemes also shows that this is a budget that is focussed on short term gains and not on long term gain development of the nation.

However the budget also has many incentives for private investments in the field of infrastructure development, like institutional measures to do away with the bottlenecks in project approvals, plans for new industrial corridors, ports, expansion of domestic production of coal, which would ease thermal power generation issues etc. 

In a bid to assuage the general discontent in the minds of the youth in the country after many assaults on women, there have been many measures proposed for providing better security and better living conditions to the women. The ‘Nirbhaya’ fund of Rs. 1 crore for improving the safety of women is a welcome step. A scheme for addressing the issue of maternal and child malnutrition for the 100 poorest districts in the country is another important step. Proposal for setting up of a Women’s bank exclusively for women in the country is another important proposal in the right direction. The bank is proposed to lend mainly to women and women-run businesses. The bank, which would be under the public sector, would employ mainly women and would do a great service for the empowerment and the financial inclusion of the women folk.

The Finance Minister has failed in many fronts vis-a-vis the budget. Import of gold, one of the main reasons for the unhealthy increase in current account deficit, should have been checked by increasing the import duty on the yellow metal. All mobile phones that are priced above Rs. 2000 cannot be considered as luxury items. Most smart phones cost more than that and the increase in import duty of such mobile phone could only help those traders in the grey market. There have been no major proposals to improve the investment climate in the country.

Union Budget 2013-14 at a glance for the layman's interest.

Items that would be costlier

• Mobile handsets above Rs.2000
• SUVs, luxury bikes, luxury cars, imported yachts and motor boats
• Dining at AC restaurants
• Staying at luxury hotels
• Cigarettes
• Sale of immovable property above 50 lakhs (sale of plots, house, flats etc.)
• Home/flats with a carpet area of 2,000 sq ft or more or of a value of Rs 1 crore
• Marbles for flooring
• Silver ornaments
• Silk clothes produced using imported raw materials
• Set top boxes
• Parking fees

Items that would be cheaper

• Branded apparels 
• Precious stones 
• Carpets and other textile floor coverings 
• Branded Non-Allopathic medicines 
• Environment-friendly vehicles, like electric and hybrid vehicles
• Leather goods including footwear 
• Books on vocational courses 
• Lower Securities Transaction Tax on mutual funds

Other important facts

• No change in income tax slabs
• Raised duty-free limit on imported jewellery to Rs 50,000 in the case of a male passenger and Rs 100,000 in the case of a female passenger
• Person taking home loan for the first time to get tax cut of Rs. 1 lakh
• At least one LIC office and one public sector insurance company in all towns with more than 10000 people
• India's first all-women public sector bank to be set up
• “Nirbhaya Fund” for women’s safety in memory of the Delhi brave heart with Rs.1000 crore corpus will support initiatives by the government and NGOs working towards protecting the dignity and ensuring safety of women.
• Reduction in fuel subsidies, which may further increase fuel prices

Source: The Hindu, India Today, The Economic Times

Only Want to Show Your Protest? Please Find Some New Ways

For two days people in India were under a siege, unable to go out of their homes and do their jobs, unable to go out to meet their friends, unable to eat out, unable to go for a movie, all in the name of a general strike called by the trade unions in the country. The general strike on February 20 and 21 that was called by the Central trade unions and backed by all non-Congress parties, held the whole country to a standstill. Now that the general strike that was observed for 48 hours is over let us ask the question what have we gained from the general strike? As this writer had written in one of his previous essays, what have we achieved from the hartals?

The general strike was called for as a protest against rising petrol and diesel prices, rising inflation, for increasing the minimum wages of workers to Rs.10000, for putting pressure on the government to create more jobs etc. It is anyone’s guess that even after the strike none of these demands is going to be heard by the government. So when the intention is only to show our protest, can’t we find some new ways of doing it rather than going for archaic practices like complete shutdown of a country? 

It is a shame that workers unions in our country, which have a great tradition and history, are unable to change with the times. There is no doubt that it is high time they find some new ways of protesting that would not hit at the economic well being of the country. It is an irony that workers who are protesting against government policies that are weakening the economy are further putting pressure on the same weak economy by complete shutdown of the country. If we go by the numbers put forwarded by ASSOCHAM, Indian economy has lost Rs. 26000 crores as a result of this 48 hours strike. 

As is the case with all strikes in our state of Kerala, in the last 48 hours too, people who were going to their work places were threatened by the supporters of the strike. We also saw in the media that passengers were intimidated and in some cases manhandled by protesters. Even this writer was stopped by the protesters and was sternly told to return to his home or face the “consequences”. It is another matter of irony that workers unions that were formed to protect the jobs of the people and to create a favourable environment for work are themselves stopping workers from going to work.

Laws should be made and strictly enforced to make sure that strike supporters are not vandalising public and private property. If at all any sort of vandalism happens, those who are calling the strike should be held accountable for the damages. But such a law must be created by our law makers, the politicians. Therefore there is no hope for such a law to come into force. Unscrupulous politicians and party workers of all parties think that it is their birth right to cause destruction of public and private property on a strike or a hartal day. Such a situation should change or otherwise a time is not far when ordinary people fed up with such violence during strikes and hartals would take to the streets and physically confront those who indulge in it. If such a day comes, it would not be good for our country and its people.

Difference between "few" and "a few" / "little" and "a little"

The usage of the words “few” and “a few” as well as “little” and “a little” has often confused many of us. Though they may appear simple and straight forward, many are not sure which one to use when.

First of all, “few” and “a few” are used with countable nouns. E.g.: few friends / a few friends, few books / a few books, etc.

Whereas, “little” and “a little” are used with uncountable nouns. E.g.: little time / a little time, little sugar / a little sugar, etc.

“A few” and “a little” express a positive idea; it means that something is present. For example, a statement such as “I have a few friends there” shows that the person making the statement has SOME friends there. The statement “I have a little time for exercise” shows that the person making the statement has SOME time for exercise.

“Few” and “little” express a negative idea; it means that something is largely absent. For example, a statement such as “I have few friends there” shows that the person making the statement has NO friends there. The statement “I have little time for exercise” shows that the person making the statement has NO time for exercise.

Hope this helps.

Therefore, on reading this post if you got some knowledge on the usage of few/a few and little/a little, you can say, “I got a little knowledge from this post” and if reading this post was a real waste of your time, you can very well say, “I got little knowledge from this post”.

So, what would you say?

Strike on Contributory Pension – Much Ado about Nothing

The strike organised by the teachers and employees groups associated with the opposition front LDF, which is underway in Kerala, against the introduction of contributory pension scheme to the government employees getting into government service after March 31, 2013 should have been avoided. As the new scheme is not going to affect anyone who is already in service, there are no logical justifications for this strike. If those who are striking are saying that they are striking for the future generations (future employees in the government service) then those arguments will not stand the test of the real facts, some of which will appear in this essay.

What is contributory pension? - As of now we follow a scheme of statutory pension in the state where the government employees on retirement will get a specific amount as pension based on certain criteria. According to the contributory pension scheme all employees who join the government service from April 1, 2013 will contribute every month 10% of their basic salary and dearness allowance each to a central government managed Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA). The state government will also contribute the same amount to the fund every month. When an employee retires he/she can withdraw 50% amount from the fund and based on an annuity scheme he/she will get pension from the rest of the amount. Thus the government and the employee will work together in providing his/her pension. 

Kerala is already a consumer state and at a time when we are facing acute shortage of fund for social welfare measures it is impractical to continue with the present method of pension scheme. To validate the above mentioned point, let us see the following economic figures. 

Annual revenue of the state for the financial year 2011-12 will come to 29197.09 crores. The salary and pension of government employees amount to 23536.68 crores, which is 80.61% of the annual revenue of the state. That means the government spent 80.61% of its revenue for the government employees, who is less than 5% of total population of the state. If we add interest payable by the state government, the amount required would be 29895.11 crores, which is 102.39% of annual revenue of the state. 

If we also add the contribution made by the central government, then the revenue of the state would become 39587.85 crores. Then the percentage of salary + pension will come down to 59.45% and the percentage of salary + pension + interest will come down to 75%, which is still quite high, leaving very less money in the hands of the state government to continue with its social welfare measures for the millions of poor people in the state. 

When the situation is already quite dismal, in the future, things will get more difficult and miserable. Future governments will have little money for the social welfare programmes and in the absence of money, government schools and colleges, government hospitals and other such social welfare organisations of the government will have to either reduce or completely stop their activities. Such a situation would be detrimental to even the existence of our state and is a sure recipe for violent upheavals. Any citizen with a little civic sense would understand that the government has decided on introducing contributory pension scheme taking into consideration the future of the state. 

One needs no great intelligence to comprehend that the ongoing strike is one with political intentions only. The striking political parties should know that when they come to the government, they will also face the same problem of lack of money for welfare measures if the present day government doesn’t adopt the contributory pension scheme now.

With their united strength the government employees have successfully thwarted the attempts of the government to bring in a system where the salary revision will be applied only once in ten years. Now they have salary revision every five years and they are also getting many other benefits as well. Even then, the quality of service that they provide for the common man has not improved at all. 

The laymen have no favourable opinion on the government employees and that being the case there is no way they are going to get a sympathetic hearing from the common man on their strike. The CPI (M) and other left parties are trying to give the strike a violent form by taking the strike to the streets by allowing their students and youth cadre to support the strike. The students and youth wing of the ruling Congress party are making things worse by confronting those striking employees in the street as well. It would be prudent if the government and the striking employees find some amicable solution to the present problem. As far as the future generations of the state are concerned, it is quite important that the strike fails and the contributory pension scheme prevails unless their future would be in jeopardy. 

Statistics: ‘Budget in Brief’ of Government of Kerala, available in public domain

Grieving for My Sister, the Delhi Braveheart

Delhi Gang Rape Case, a Reason to be Ashamed on Being a Man

It took more than one week for this writer to come out of the shock and the mental distress that he went through after knowing about the gang rape of a 23 year old girl in a bus in Delhi, for it was only recently that one of his younger sisters had explained to him the various harassments that she faces in her everyday bus journey through the city roads of Thiruvananthapuram. He had no courage to write about it hitherto as he was appalled and completely taken aback at what happened, for in his mind the Delhi gang rape survivor (she should not be called a victim, but a brave survivor, for she is showing tremendous bravery and courage in the hospital) suddenly become his own sister; her pain, his own sister’s pain and the agony of her parents and brothers, his own agony.

Whole of the country has joined with the protesters in Delhi streets to ask for justice for the girl. While the most important thing now is doing everything to save the life of the girl, making sure that the culprits get maximum punishment for the horrendous crime they committed is one of utmost importance as well. Though this writer, along with Amnesty International, for which he is a Voice Ambassador, has always taken a principled stand against capital punishment, he wonders what other punishment could be given to the culprits of this gang rape, who behaved worse than the beasts. The maximum punishment for those convicted for rape in our country is a life imprisonment of 10 years, which by any standards is grossly inadequate. Life time imprisonment for 10 years, together with permanent castration seems to be an adequate punishment for rape, which is a crime that must be considered a much graver crime than murder, as murder would end the life of a victim, but rape would put the victim under terrible lifelong trauma and social stigma. Though it is true that rape is not only about sex, but is about power, violence, intimidation and humiliation, it seems logical that the threat of castration as a punishment to rape will act as a deterrent.

The conviction rate of rapists in our country is abysmally low (studies show it to be as low as 20%) and most of the rapists go scot free, which gives a sense of impunity to them. Therefore for the rapists, it is not the enormity of punishment like capital punishment, but certainty of punishment that could act as a deterrent. The legislature should not only make strong laws to give model punishment to the rapists, but the police machinery should be made capable of providing incriminating evidence to nail the culprits in a court of law. A lot of onus also rests on the judiciary and there is an urgent need to create an environment in the courts where the victims are not further tortured while they are examined in the courts. The judicial system in India also needs to debate why the conviction rate in rape cases is less.

The impressive protests at Delhi show how the lay people feel about the whole issue – they are outraged, angry and livid. They call for justice, not only for the gang rape survivor, but for all women in the country. The protests see participation from all sections of the society; men and women, students and professionals, young and the old, people from various political parties and the apolitical. Women’s right to life is being threatened and they are protesting to save their freedom and to save their lives. The men folk are protesting because in such an environment of insecurity and danger no man can rest assured when his sisters, daughters and mothers are out travelling in public buses, trains and on the public roads of the country. The situation must change and the protestors are asking for action and not mere words of assurances uttered by the government machinery. 

The central government has some answering to do as the law and order situation in the capital city is directly handled by the central government. There is an urgent need of better policing in the country, particularly in the capital city of Delhi.  The government and the parliament must work together and bring about a stricter rape law. Fast track courts must be established to try rape cases and model punishments must be handed down. As Kiran Bedi has suggested there is a need of social audit to keep track of the how the police is functioning and to give valuable suggestions to improve the functioning of the police department.

The most important change that needs to come is not in the legal functions of the judiciary or the executive tasks of the police department, but in the social mindset of the country. In the patriarchal social order in India, women are still considered as second rate citizens, with unequal status when compared to men. Girl children are unwanted to many and female foetuses are destroyed in the womb itself; women are subjected to harassment at the workplaces and at homes; most husbands think the rights of their wives are to be trampled upon; wives, daughters and sisters are not allowed to make their own choices and many wives and even girlfriends don’t live their own lives but live lives that their husbands and boyfriends want them to live. It is high time we work to change this social mindset. Boys and men need to be trained from a very young age on why it is important to respect women. Teach them the importance of respecting their mothers, teach them that their sisters have the same rights as they have, teach them their wives and girl friends are free to have their individual choices, teach them that their daughters should be given exactly the same opportunities as their sons, teach them that a woman is not a sexual object but a human being that deserves respect and dignity, teach them that touching a woman’s body without her consent won’t make him a man, but a coward. 

When this writer’s younger sister told him indignantly that ‘all’ men are harassers, he got ashamed but took umbrage on that comment as he honestly believed he had never been a harasser of women and so told her to change her opinion and asked her to add the caveat ‘many’ men instead of a more generalised ‘all’ men. It is a matter of dreadful ignominy and pathetic shame that our sisters and daughters have started to think that all men are harassers. The men folk have no one else to blame but themselves, and as long as news about rapes, harassments and eve teasing come from any part of the world, men all around the world would be faced with occasions such as the one this writer faced, where he would be ashamed on being a man. 

Why Sachin Tendulkar Should Not Retire Now

Amidst the cacophony of diverse voices baying for the blood of Sachin Tendulkar, this writer, a self-confessed emotional fan of the great man, would point out some facts by which he would like to tell why this is the not the right time for Sachin to announce his retirement. When the instinctive Tendulkar-bashers and the so called pundits of the game are burning the midnight oil to come up with logical points to prove why Tendulkar should retire now, this writer would try to counter them with his own style of reasoning, which is an assortment of logic as well as emotion - without some emotional discourse, what is an Indian? 

First things first. One of the main arguments that the pundits put forward to say that it is high time for Tendulkar be asked to retire by the selectors is the fundamental philosophy that no one is bigger than the game. Now, let us face it, let us face the truth – Sachin Tendulkar is bigger than the game, period. The popularity of the game soared to magnificent proportions in India during the 90s only because of the great man Sachin Tendulkar. People flocked to the cricket stadium not to watch the game, but to the see the young prodigy at work; they left the stadium en masse the moment he got out. For a generation of Indians, including this writer, he has been a role model, a symbol of courage, dignity, hard work, perseverance, righteousness and an embodiment of a never-say-die attitude. For them he has been the living model of an emerging India after the opening up of the economy to global competition, confident and brave, competing in the global stage to make a name of itself. When he scored runs, the whole country rejoiced, when he got out cheaply, the whole country despaired. Millions of poor people in the country found a little redemption from their sufferings when the Little Master scored hundreds. When he scored runs against the English, people felt centuries of British domination of India is getting avenged, when he scored runs against Pakistan, Indians felt he is fighting a brave battle against the arch rivals for all of us. When his father passed away during the 1999 World Cup, the whole country mourned and when he got back to the team and hit a century few days after his bereavement all his countrymen praised the strength of human spirit that he showed. It is not a matter of ignominy, but a matter of human triumph that a mere mortal became bigger than the world that made him. And it is not the first time in the history of mankind that someone became bigger than his/her field of activity. Indian politics did not define Mahatma Gandhi, he defined Indian politics; pop music did not define Michael Jackson, the ‘King of Pope’ defined pop music; English drama did not define William Shakespeare, the great playwright defined English drama. 

The Indian team is going through a transition phase after the retirement of the greats Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman. This is the time that the youngsters in the team need someone who can groom them and this makes it extremely important that Tendulkar remain in the team. If the detractors of the man come with an argument that he is not scoring runs and in such a circumstance how sensible it would be to retain him in the team, it must be noted that no one in the current Indian team is scoring consistent runs. Sehwag, Gambhir, Kohli, Yuvraj, Dhoni have all scored cheaply in the current series. 

It is again not that lot of great talents in the domestic circuit are knocking the doors of the Indian team to get in and take the place of Tendulkar. Names of Ajinkya Rahane, Subramaniam Badrinath, Mohd. Kaif, Manoj Tiwary, and Suresh Raina are going the rounds as the probables for replacing Tendulkar. All these players have got chances to play international cricket, but none has shown strong batting technique while playing against international bowlers, not to talk about about foreign match conditions. So it is not that there is a long queue of prodigious talents waiting for their entry in to the Indian team prevented only by the presence of Tendulkar in the team. 

Sachin Tendulkar still puts more efforts in constantly improving his batting skills and in rectifying technical glitches than any other of his teammates. It shows the commitment of the man and his determination. Even the great Sunil Gavaskar didn’t put a lot of effort in practice sessions during the fag end of his career. If about age being a factor, 37 test centuries in total have been made by 17 batsmen after they passed the age of 40. Englishman Jack Hobbs made 8 of them after he passed the age of 40 and he is also the oldest to make a test century at the age of 46 years and 82 days. So there are batsmen in the world who have defied age and hit test hundreds, notwithstanding the talks about reflexes getting poorer as you get older.

The retirement of the great Ricky Ponting, a contemporary of Sachin Tendulkar, has come as a shot in the arm for all those who call for the retirement of the great man. But one must note that the condition of the present Australian team is completely different from the condition of the present Indian team. Though the Aussies lost their recent test series against the Proteas, they are still a strong batting side. Michael Clarke is at his topmost form and is making lot of runs at will (this calendar year Clarke scored four double hundreds, a first time in the history of the game, even Sir Don had hit only three double hundreds in a calendar year), Michael Hussey, as always, is rock solid in that middle order, David Warner and Ed Cowan are good opening batsmen, Shane Watson is a brilliant all-rounder, already being compared to the great Jacques Kallis and the new comer in the team, keeper-batsman Mathew Wade has already shown he is not any bad with the bat. So the retirement of Ponting is not a serious setback for the Australians, but only a matter of natural transition. Therefore a comparison of Ponting retirement with Tendulkar’s is not correct in any way. 

At a time when the Indian cricket ship is sinking at a fast pace it is not 'Tendulkar-like' to jump off it, escape and look to save only his life. Many times the great man has single-handedly carried the whole weight of the team, like Atlas carried the earth on his broad shoulders, and rescued the team from many an ominous situation. The great Sachin Tendulkar has been a fighter, many times a lone fighter for his country, and one can hardly find him retiring now with this team in big trouble, unless of course he is forced to make such a decision by the team selectors who might humbly ask him to do it after convincing him that it is good for the team. And he always did what is good for the team, didn’t he?

Courtesy: Mohandas Menon for the statistics, the busy statistician found time to reply to this writer’s request in Twitter

Image Courtesy: PTI

Sponsor a Child’s Education through ActionAid

Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world. ― Nelson Mandela

For many children in India, the dream of going to school and get education remains only that, a dream. Abject poverty prevents them from going to school and they are made to work to help their families make both ends meet. Now you could lend a helping hand to these children and help them get school education through ‘Sponsor a Child’ programme of ActionAid.

ActionAid is an international organisation with 40 years of experience of working with the poor and the marginalised in India (find more information from www.actionaid.org/india). Through the ‘Sponsor a Child’ programme of ActionAid, you can sponsor a child’s education by contributing Rs.6000 a year. You can either contribute this amount as a one-time payment, or in three instalments – Rs.2000 in each quarter. You can use your bank cheque, your credit card or your debit card (in case of debit card you can make only the one-time payment of Rs. 6000 at ActionAid offices) to make the contribution. 

You can find more information about ‘Sponsor a Child’ programme from the following url.

www.actionaidindia.org/sponsor/

Will you join with me in brightening a child’s future?

Be the change you want to see in the world.- Mahatma Gandhi

Disclaimer: This writer is not professionally involved with ActionAid and this post is only a general appeal.