Late last night, India was crowned the champions of the most prestigious cricket tournament, the World Cup. Considering that this victory had come after 28 long years after our 1 and only cricket world cup, won by the legendary Kapil Dev’s Dare Devils.
That time around, we won when no one expected us to. This time around we were highly rated. Had a good world class team. And were favorites. We played well and deservedly won.
Several articles have been written about the great win and the greater celebrations. So I’ll pass. What I’d like to write about is the after effects, what happened on Day 1. And does any of it make sense. First up at the awards ceremony, an announcement was made. The BCCI awarded each of the players Rs. 10 million, and the coach Rs. 5 million.
So what’s wrong. 2 things. It seems cheap that the announcement should be made in public immediately after the win. Sort of sounds like the Big, Rich Uncle doling out sweets to kids for being well behaved. And then a distinction. You want to reward the coach. Be nice enough to make it similar to that of the team members. Not half. And whilst the act itself is fine, it could and should have been handled in a manner to make it nice for everybody.
And then all the state governments and cricket boards went into overdrive. To reward players. Those from their State, those who were popular. They were given cash prizes, most of the time Rs. 10 million each. Houses. Plots of land. And so on. They gave away or at least promised to give away a cumulative amount far in excess of Rs. 1000 million. And most of these States, Boards, … claim they have no money.
Interestingly the Indian Government Cabinet who seldom gets time to meet or discuss issues of national importance, took a strange decision at a meeting held a couple of weeks before the World Cup Final. To exempt the ICC from paying tax on the “Profits” generated by the World Cup. And the fact that Mr. Sharad Pawar is part of the Cabinet, also happens to be ICC President is pure coincidence.
As a nation, we tend to forget the basics. A victory is good. And needs to be celebrated. But giving away money to the cricketers who in any case earn 100’s of crores, just does not make any sense. Its not as if it makes a significant difference to any of them. But that money, used wisely could make a significant difference to not 1, or 10 or 100 or 1000 but tens of thousands of not financially sound Indians.
The Indian Cricket team has shown that sports wise they have what it takes. Maybe they can now show us that they are just as awesome human beings. And start by giving the public money that was doled out to them for charities that could use them to change many, many, many, many lives.
Several articles have been written about the great win and the greater celebrations. So I’ll pass. What I’d like to write about is the after effects, what happened on Day 1. And does any of it make sense. First up at the awards ceremony, an announcement was made. The BCCI awarded each of the players Rs. 10 million, and the coach Rs. 5 million.
And then all the state governments and cricket boards went into overdrive. To reward players. Those from their State, those who were popular. They were given cash prizes, most of the time Rs. 10 million each. Houses. Plots of land. And so on. They gave away or at least promised to give away a cumulative amount far in excess of Rs. 1000 million. And most of these States, Boards, … claim they have no money.
Interestingly the Indian Government Cabinet who seldom gets time to meet or discuss issues of national importance, took a strange decision at a meeting held a couple of weeks before the World Cup Final. To exempt the ICC from paying tax on the “Profits” generated by the World Cup. And the fact that Mr. Sharad Pawar is part of the Cabinet, also happens to be ICC President is pure coincidence.
As a nation, we tend to forget the basics. A victory is good. And needs to be celebrated. But giving away money to the cricketers who in any case earn 100’s of crores, just does not make any sense. Its not as if it makes a significant difference to any of them. But that money, used wisely could make a significant difference to not 1, or 10 or 100 or 1000 but tens of thousands of not financially sound Indians.
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