Category: India

No Ball Controversy

Posted on by Vincent Augustine D'Souza

Suraj Randiv bowling a no ball resulted in Virender Sehwag not getting a century and remaining not out on 99. Controversy followed. Suraj Randiv apologised to Virender Sehwag. Sri Lanka Cricket Board fined Suraj Randiv and suspended him for one match and fined Tilakaratne Dilshan for telling Suraj Randiv to bowl a no ball. Captain Kumara Sangakkara was warned to see that such incidents do not happen.

Many people talk of sportsman spirit but Virender Sehwag had kicked the ball beyond the boundary to deprive Hashim Amla the strike. Teams play to win matches. Bowlers don’t make it easy for the batsman unless the match is fixed.

People presume Virender Sehwag would have hit a century because he hit the ball beyond boundary and it would have been a six if the match had not been over due to no ball. That is probability and not certainty. Virender Sehwag could have been out bowled, or caught and bowled, or LBW, or hit wicket or stumped. In a Test he had been out stumped.

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BCCI, cricketers and rest

Posted on by Vincent Augustine D'Souza

With cricket being played throughout the year players getting injured is more frequent. Some cricketers want matches to be reduced so that they can have rest. BCCI has signed contracts and it will lose money if it cancels matches.

Very few players represent India in Tests, ODIs and T20. BCCI is ready to give rest to players who want. When Anil Kumble was Test captain and Sri Lanka series was played Mahendra Singh Dhoni had rest.

The tri-series involving India, New Zealand and Sri Lanka ends on 28/8/2010. Champions League in South Africa is from 10/9/2010 to 26/9/2010. India versus Australia series is from 1/10/2010 to 24/10/2010. India versus New Zealand series is from 4/11/2010 to 10/12/2010. India versus South Africa series is from 16/12/2010 to 23/1/2011. ODI World Cup begins on 19/2/2011.

India can have many teams. The players who play in Champions League can be rested for Australia series. When India plays home series it can have three teams: One for Tests, one for ODIs and one for T20. Players in one team will not be in other two teams. India is ranked no. 1 in Tests so the best players will be in Test team. For ODIs and T20 we can even have multiple teams with local teams representing India. If an ODI is in Nagpur, Vidarbha team can become India Team. If a T20 is in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh team can become India Team. Test players will not be part of local teams. Let us not worry about performance because India recently i.e., on 10/8/2010, lost to New Zealand by 200 runs and had at one time lost to Sri Lanka by 245 runs. For local players it is once in a life time opportunity and they will do their best and we may unearth talent. With matches being played all over the country players from different parts will get their turn. BCCI does not have to spend money on travel of players.

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Reservation in private sector

Posted on by Vincent Augustine D'Souza

The Government of India wants 5% reservation for SCs/STs in private sector. Reservation in government jobs itself is a bad idea. Once the reservation begins there will be demand for increase in percentage and extension to other communities like OBCs. It will divide people. There will be further demands to be declared as OBCs or STs. We know the damage done by Gujjar agitation.

Reservations began for a period of 10 years. They got periodic extensions and more people came under reserved category. SCs/STs changed a lot over the years but reservations continue. Then came OBC reservations.

If government thinks that companies benefitting from government incentives have to reserve seats it should stop incentives.

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Commonwealth Games and Corruption

Posted on by Vincent Augustine D'Souza

Commonwealth Games in news for all the wrong reasons and corruption is a major reason. Some want the show to go on and any action against corruption be taken later on after the games are over. Conducting games is a matter of national pride and Suresh Kalmadi can not be replaced at this stage.

Now we know why the expenses for Commonwealth Games constantly increased. There is corruption in procurement of many items like umbrellas, doormats, toilet papers, fire extinguishers and so on. Corruption was suspected but the magnitude was not known. All expenses are said to have been approved by Secretary of Urban Development Ministry. Venues are not ready and it is doubtful whether they will be ready on time. The cost of renovation of a stadium has proved to be more than building a new stadium. There is report of child labour in the construction of venues. Death of 48 labourers did not make much news and was mentioned in passing. For some of the mess in Delhi, Congress blames MCD controlled by BJP.

Three Organising Committee officials are suspended. One of them, T. S. Darbari, had been named as the recipient of 28 lakh rupees ring by a man caught by Kochi customs some months back. Corruption in Baton relay is public knowledge. Anil Khanna, treasurer, resigned and A. K. Mattoo took over. A. K. Mattoo was in news as the head of Hockey India when hockey players had gone on strike demanding the payment of their dues.

Too bad if Suresh Kalmadi can not be replaced with 58 days to go for the games. It seems other IOA officials are good for nothing.

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WikiLeaks and India

Posted on by Vincent Augustine D'Souza

WikiLeaks on 26/7/2010 made public many secret documents dealing with Afghan War. Some of them have relevance to India.

ISI played a role in terrorist activities against Indians. ISI paid the Taliban and Haqqani network to target Indians, Indian Embassy, Indian Consulate in Kandahar and other places. Indians have died. India has suffered loss of property.

It is futile to expect Pakistan to act against ISI or USA to do anything significant. India has to act on its own…

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Commonwealth Games

Posted on by Vincent Augustine D'Souza

India should have quit Commonwealth when it became a republic. It continued in Commonwealth.

Commonwealth Games are to be held in Delhi in October 2010. Mani Shankar Aiyar wants the games to flop so that India does not bid for Asian Games and Olympics and waste its money. He has said that India paid one lakh dollars in bribes to each delegate to get votes for staging Commonwealth Games. He was Sports Minister and foresaw that the games will be a disaster due to the functioning of Indian Olympic Association (IOA). His predecessor Sunil Dutt had a tough time and he died. IOA officials did not want to interact with Mani Shankar Aiyar and they told him to send Sports Secretary and he also died. Mani Shankar Aiyar wanted a special committee be set up to oversee the preparations for Commonwealth Games as India did for Asian Games 1982 but that did not happen. In 2006 Commonwealth Games Federation chief had expressed concern in private that IOA was lagging behind in preparation. In March 2009 it was public. After that various deadlines were set to be extended further. Now just around 60 days are left for games. Stadia are not ready and rains have exposed the shoddy construction…

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Sending man to Moon is waste of money

Posted on by Vincent Augustine D'Souza

India has a plan to send man to moon. It is better to scrap that plan.

USA had seven missions to Moon. It did not proceed with missions as there was nothing to gain.

Sending man to moon is an expensive proposition. It will cost at least 10,000 crore rupees. At the end you have two men who will spend some time on the Moon and return with something that is not of much use and can be brought by unmanned vehicle as Chandrayaan did.

Science has to be for benefit of people. Individuals may spend their personal wealth on projects that do not benefit humanity but it is not right for governments to spend money on such projects.

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Demographic Dividend

Posted on by Vincent Augustine D'Souza

Fools say population is a problem.

Greater fools agree with them.

Wise people say India’s population growth is a demographic dividend.

India’s population was 55 crores in 1971. Many predicted dire consequences if the population growth is not stopped.

Now in 2010 India’s population is around 110 crores. The country is thriving. The prophets of doom have been proved wrong.

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Indian Express repetitions

Posted on by Vincent Augustine D'Souza

I come across repetitions in The Indian Express.
The article “The hormone of laddishness” that appeared under Science and Technology section on 3/5/2010 was a repetition of the article “The CSI effect” that had appeared on 30/4/2010.
The article “The long march – The yuan and global imbalances” with a picture of Chinese currency that appeared on 1/7/2010 was a repetition of the article “Mecca vs Las Vegas” about a Saudi tower with a graph of heights of towers that had appeared on 30/6/2010.

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Abolish Planning Commission

Posted on by Vincent Augustine D'Souza

Road Transport and Highways Minister Kamal Nath has called Planning Commission an “armchair advisor”. On 5/7/2010 he publicly criticised the Planning Commission. He was not happy with its approach. He gave the example of Delhi Airport Terminal 3. He asked one official “How did you do it?” He got the reply “Planning Commission and their people had nothing to do with it.”

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