Corruption, corruption and more corruption - even Cricket is not untouched

Now-a-days, the news channels and news papers are busy exposing some corruption, scam, scandal or the other. Most of the time, the ruling UPA Government at New Delhi has been at the target of these agencies, but this time the focus has shifted.

After being in the negative-light for Lokpal, Black Money, 2G, CWG, Coalgate scandals, it must be taking a breath of relief that this it is Cricket that has hit the media.

This time the focus has shifted to Cricket and the scandal of spot fixing in the IPL matches. The media reporters are busy working overtime trying to keep up pace with the revelations that are coming out from the various investigating agencies and the subsequent reactions and developments after each exposure.

There is so much money around the Indian Premier League from its very inception, in fact I was surprised to know that people were willing to pay so much money for owning teams and then again were still ready to shell out more for "buying" players for their teams.

I think it was only a matter of time before some controversy, the underworld and the betting industry stepped in.

And not surprisingly, in the second year itself it was forced to shift the tournament to South Africa due to some controversy. Then next season (in 2010) the first IPL commissioner and the "father" of IPL Lalit Modi was removed from his chair following allegations of corruption and irregularities amidst other charges.

The matches of IPL 2012 were also stained with reports of spot fixing, but this year (2013) the spot fixing scandal is promising to be the murkiest of it all. This time celebrities - cricket players, a film star and allegedly a team owner - are involved. The cops have already taken some of these celebrities into custody alongwith several bookies from different cities.

So much so, the controversy still appears to only be bloating and expanding. Time alone will tell whether the it will burst or fizzle out.

All things said - one thing is certain - the Congress led UPA government must be considering it a relief that this time it is not at the receiving end of the bad news and publicity - for a change.

2012 - Who grew in Indian Politics?

2012 has been a busy year for Indian Politics.

Swami Ramdev, Anna Hazare, Arvind Kejriwal are some of the new names that have emerged on the political front during the course of 2012. Each of these three got prominence due the government's apparent inaction in tackling corruption and black money.

Swami Ramdev and Anna Hazare got great public support for their campaign against black money and corruption. But, the ruling Congress-led coalition managed to suppress their movements. The government managed to successfully put Swami Ramdev on the back foot, while Anna Hazare's campaign lost its sheen as Anna was apparently not able to recover fully from the effects of his hunger fast.

Arvind Kejriwal once a member of Team Anna has not yet given up. He is still going strong. He and his colleagues have launched a political party - Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). They are still gunning for a strong Lokpal bill. and are even willing to contest in the next elections, if necessary.

Other names that stole the limelight and grew in stature during 2012 are Narendra Modi, Akhilesh Yadav.

In Narendra Modi become the Chief Minister of Gujarat for the fourth time. In December he chalked his hat-trick - his third consecutive victory in the Gujarat Assembly polls.It was a big year for Narendra Modi himself when he was praised for the development work that he has done in the state during his tenure.

Narendra Modi's stature grew so much that he has almost become BJP's next Prime Ministerial Candidate for the next General Elections. The General Elections are originally due in 2014, but many political experts have publicly predicted that the nation could go to polls in 2013 itself.

In 2012, Akhilesh Yadav became the youngest Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh when his party ousted Mayawati's Bahujan Samaj Party. A lot was promised during the elections and a lot is expected from this young Chief Minister.

Is the charisma of Arvind Kejriwal waning?

India's fast track crusader against corruption, Arvind Kejriwal,  has certainly managed to catch the attention of the Indian masses.

He has directly attacked India's top political family - Sonia Gandhi's son-in-law and other top politicians. Opposition leader Nitin Gadkari 's business activities too came under public scrutiny after Arvind spoke against him. Now, his latest allegations against Mukesh Ambani and his flagship company Reliance Industries Ltd have once again raised the issue of corruption at high places.


All this certainly has caught everyone's attention. He has just reinforced everyone's belief the corruption is rooted in India in a big way, but it is fast becoming evident that even he can not do much to get the guilty punished.

So now it remains to be seen how long Arvind Kejriwal is able to retain all this attention. Even during the last revelation against Mukesh Ambani, we noticed that there wasn't much enthusiasm in way the people have reacted.


My question is...  Is Arvind's charm is wearing off?  and my own take is Yes!

The common man does not need any more  revelations. He knows how deep routed the corruption is in this country. He is too busy working hard for his next meal to care about revelations and accusation.

Whose responsible for the loss of crores and crores of rupees?

Almost everybody - including those within the government and those outside - agrees that there is rampant corruption in the country.

There is even a general acceptance that only 10-12% of the funds allocated for the upliftment of the poor and downtrodden in this country reaches the targeted at the grass-root levels, rest of the entire amount is either gobbled by the corrupt or lost in the bureaucratic red tape.


Yet, it is surprising, the successive governments have done very little to device measures that ensure checks and controls, device measures that club responsibility and accountability when earmarking funds for any project.


Way back in the 80s, the then Prime Minister of India Rajiv Gandhi had publicly accepted this. The country's media recently when on record stating that lakhs of crores of Indian money is stashed in Swiss and other similar Banks.

I would certainly like to know, why then, each year the government is allocating crores and crores of rupees for development schemes in the far-flung rural regions without putting in place any mechanism that can ensure proper utilization of the funds.

Who is responsible for this great loss to the nation?