BCCI Mantra: Money Matters, More Money Matters More

To all social media cribbers who love a mediocre team and its mediocre victories:

12/17-2/18: India in SA. 3 tests over. 6 ODIs/3 T20s remain. Total: 12

3/18: India in Lanka. 7 T20s in Nidahas Trophy. Total: 7
(Assuming India reaches final, India will play 5 matches)

4/18-5/18: India in India. IPL 60 T20. Total: 60

6/18-9/18: India in UK. 5 tests, 5 ODI, 1 T20. Total: 11

9/18: India in India. Asia Cup 10 ODIs and 1 final. Total: 11
(Assuming India reaches final, India will play 6 matches.)

10/18-11/18: India in India. Vs West Indies. 3 tests, 5 ODIs, 1 T20. Total: 9

11/18-1/19: India Australia. 4 Tests. Total: 4

Total matches in 2018: 107 matches in all formats

Check the schedule to see how much breathing space they get between each series.
It is zilch.
In May end, IPL ends after a grueling 50 days. Team India gets just a month to unwind and prepare for UK.
It leaves for UK in June end, plays first T20 on July 3.
India returns from UK in September first week. Asia Cup begins September 15.
Asia Cup ends on September 30, West Indies are in India in October, first match on October 1 or 3.
WI tour ends in November first or second week, India has to rush to Australia where first match may begin on Nov 20.

If this is not enough, see how tight the 2019 calendar is:

2/19: The Australian tour ends in January end, India goes to New Zealand for 5 ODIs and 2 T20 matches in February.
(What is the point in this, nobody knows.) Total: 7

3/19: Zimbabwe in India. 1 test, 3 ODI. Total: 4

4/19-5/19” IPL. Marches 60.

5/19-9/19: India in WI. 3 tests, 5 ODI, 1 t20. Total: 9

7/19-9/21: ICC test championship 2019-2021. YTD, in UK

10/19-12/19: SA in India. 3 test, 7 ODI, 2 T20. Total: 12

12/19: India vs Pakistan. In UAE. 2 tests, 5 ODI, 2 t20. Total: 9

Total matches 101. Give or take a few. Just as IPL ends after grueling 50 days, India leave for 4-month-long tour to WI.
Once they return, they will have to go to the UK for the ICC test championship, depending on dates.
The “revenge” series with SA is in October. India will not have more than a fortnight to plan for this tough series.
The toughest test for India comes just as the SA series ends – the series against Pakistan in UAE.

What is Team India priority? Gain as many points for ICC rankings – by winning all or playing most than others? Or do they want to earn money – by winning all or playing more matches? Or do they want to be real champions with enduring and consistent performances? If, and I doubt this, the last one is the priority, then neither the players nor the coach (nut case) nor the BCCI are going about it the correct way. No question about it.

The players simply don’t get enough rest. They don’t get sufficient training time. They don’t get sufficient relaxation time. The schedules are uselessly long – like wasting four months in WI or wasting such a long trip to NZ only for ODIs.
Today we are happy without fast bowlers. Just imagine their plight after two IPL seasons. Let us all see them in 2020. They will be near-dead with fatigue. The top order batsmen? They are the biggest flops in SA. We have three openers -- Dhawan, Vijay and Rahul. (Then Rohit -- why is he in the team? Because he made 264 some years in a ODI?) Nearly 100 tests between them. Did they score even that many runs together in SA tests? The point is not that they are not scoring runs. The point is the stupid ways of their dismissals – points to lack of technique, lack of mental strength, lack of discipline. What happened in SA as a result. Number 3 and 4 got exposed early to the quickies. Even Virat could have one big score –153. He too was tentative in all three tests – even though he was very, very tough mentally. We then follow these weaknesses by messing up with the team. By ignoring Rahane, leaving Bhuvi from second test, trying to squeeze in Pandya or Ashwin. What could they do? Nothing. What is the coach doing? Nothing, other than making 8 crore rupees. Idiots.

I am not a ridiculous nationalist that I will praise Team India simply because they managed a consolation victory after losing a test series. They had no business to lose any of the tests in the first place. The same is true in tennis, badminton, name any sport, including chess. We as a nation are happy with mediocrity. That is why a Federer can never be born in India. He makes money. More than our fellas can ever dream of. But he is also the only one of his kind in the world. He can weep even after a victory, the 20th slam victory. That's commitment. What about our chaps? My lips are sealed.

We will, like mediocres, grovel over a vague victory abroad and series of victories at home and think we are at the top of the world. By doing so, we are doing a major disservice to our sports, sportspersons and the country. We are siding with cut-throat rascals like the sports organisations who are corrupt to the core and are bothered about money.

Someone Is Hurting Our Children In The Name of A Fatal Ideology

Wait. Let's think. We're blaming Kalvi and Karni Sena. We've raised them to the same pedestal as Khilji. We're calling them names, asking for their heads. In the process, we are protecting someone. 

In the media and social media, in the theatres, on the streets, nobody, no one, is blaming either Modi or the Union govt or the BJP central leadership for the Padmavat crisis. 

Where some of us showed spine, we perfunctorily blamed the CMs of BJP-ruled states, but cringed from going up the ladder. 

Like the Hindi saying: Saamp bhi mare, lathi bhi na toote. 

The ideology that the Prime Minister espoused as he made his way to power in 2014 is responsible for the current row. People were hoodwinked by raking up 5000 year old "facts" and blaming Congress and Nehru and RaGa for "distorting" history. 

The formula was used for everything -- beef, love-jihad, ghar wapsi, hatred of Muslims, hatred of secularism, hatred or genuine nationalism, encouraging the Fatherland spirit, replacing financial corruption with cultural corruption, even toilets. 

In Padmavat, yet another issue was found. The formula was applied. The Karni Sena was summoned. The Sena consists of people like Kalvi -- you throw a coin at them, they will pick it up with their teeth from a pile of shit and do your bidding or anybody's bidding. 

The formula had an additional rider. It was an issue of not just honour or anybody's honour. It was about Rajput honour. That fact alone brought about a silent support from fellow castemen of various parties. Like Digvijay of Congress. The criticism was already dented. 

The Sena was told to go on a rampage. The police, ever more loyal than the King, committed themselves to silence. Such is the brazenness of this formula, that even young children were used as cannon fodder. Things will only get worse in the future if this formula is allowed to be used to further a dangerous ideological cause.

The Supreme Court stood tall. It did all the right things by democracy. But even the SC -- the highest judicial altar in the country -- was sidelined. Brushed aside, literally. By Sena criminals. The judiciary was being obliquely given a message about its parameters of freedom. 

When the charade worked, the drama ceased. The film got released. Maybe not in four states, but UP allowed its release. Isn't it? Chattisgarh released it. Isn't it? So how can you blame the BJP or Amit Shah or Modi? Go and blame Khattar or Raje or Chauhan who are anyway easy fodder in the current party heirarchy. Also, you can't blame BJP without blaming Congress (remember that stooge, Digvijay?). 

You won't hear about this any more. The President will read out a message to the nation this evening. Tiomorrow is R-day -- the national fervour will be in full color. The media will be chanting nationalist mantras throughout the day. The glorious military pageant will be shown in loop. The might of India on display in front of 10 heads of state. Trump will congratulate India. So will Abe, Xi, Merkel. There will be more news about more cuts in US aid to Pakistan. 

The only reminder of the atrocious perfidy over Padmavati will be the scars in the minds of the school children of Gurgaon.

An advisor to a nation does not run family errands

Ivanka Trump is a Wharton alumni, successful businesswoman and daughter of a President. She is also an Advisor to the President. 

Is that enough of a qualification for her to lead the US delegation to the Global Entrepreneurship Summit 2017 being held in a powerful country such as India? 

Or did the US President send a personal message of friendship to India by sending his own daughter? 

The jury is still out. 

Hyderabad is down to its knees, even ankles, welcoming the President's emissary.

Let us see who all headed the US delegations in past GESummits:

GES 2017 at Hyderabad, India, one of the advisors to the President, who happens to be the President’s daughter and businesswoman in her own right, leads the US delegation

GES 2016 at Silicon Valley, Barack Obama was present

GES 2015 at Nairobi, Kenya, Barack Obama was present, US Administration’s point person on entrepreneurship, Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker joined President Obama

GES 2014 at Marrakech, Morocco, Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker was present, Vice President Joe Biden led the delegation

GES 2013 at Kuala Lampur, Malaysia, US Secretary of State John Kerry was present, Obama had to cancel at the last minute due to the federal government shutdown

GES 2012 at Dubai, Obama participated in the event through
a televised statement

GES 2011 at Istanbul, Turkey, Vice President Joe Biden led the delegation

GES 2010 in US, Obama inaugurated it

We’ve Lost The Habit of Recognising Good Journalism

Journalism stands maligned today. You don’t like a story, tom tom it as fake news. You don’t like the stakes of a story, you describe the journalist as a Bhakt or a Libtard. You ascribe a nefarious motive to everything a newspaper or a news channel or a news website does these days. It’s not limited to India. It’s a world-wide phenomenon. It is the weapon every lackey and a liar uses when exposed or fearing exposure.  

There is truth in what is said about journalism. There is no editorial; it is called content. There is hardly any reportage; it is editorializing. There is just about a shred of analysis; it is sychophancy at work. There is no Editor; everybody is an editor. There are no issues; there is an agenda. There is not much of investigative journalism; it is source-based writing. There is scant respect for fact; there is lot of supposition. There is not sufficient news; it is entertainment.

Journalism shares these anomalies with today’s society. That should normally mean death for both journalism and our institutions. But that is not the case. Journalism is still alive.  A surprisingly substantial part of journalism in India continues to be a product of integrity, the derivative of a process based on the principle of holding a mirror to the society. Only, one has to be erudite and courageous enough, and sincere to boot, to recognize such journalism.

The Tribune’s story on January 3, 2018 titled “Rs. 500, 10 minutes, and you have access to billion Aadhaar details” is a case in point.  The second to fifth paragraphs summarise the nature of the expose:

“It took just Rs 500, paid through Paytm, and 10 minutes in which an “agent” of the group running the racket created a “gateway” for this correspondent and gave a login ID and password. Lo and behold, you could enter any Aadhaar number in the portal, and instantly get all particulars that an individual may have submitted to the UIDAI (Unique Identification Authority of India), including name, address, postal code (PIN), photo, phone number and email.

“What is more, The Tribune team paid another Rs 300, for which the agent provided “software” that could facilitate the printing of the Aadhaar card after entering the Aadhaar number of any individual.

“When contacted, UIDAI officials in Chandigarh expressed shock over the full data being accessed, and admitted it seemed to be a major national security breach. They immediately took up the matter with the UIDAI technical consultants in Bangaluru (sic).

“Sanjay Jindal, Additional Director-General, UIDAI Regional Centre, Chandigarh, accepting that this was a lapse, told The Tribune: “Except the Director-General and I, no third person in Punjab should have a login access to our official portal. Anyone else having access is illegal, and is a major national security breach.”

The UIDAI, which has faced innumerable complaints about problems in data collection and preservation of privacy, took particular umbrage and filed an FIR against the reporter Rachna Khair and a few others. The journalist was charged with impersonation, using forged document and for good measure, cheating.

What was its ground for filing the FIR?  It says: “An input has been received through The Tribune dated January 3, 2018, that the ‘The Tribune purchased’ a service being offered by anonymous sellers over WhatsApp that provided unrestricted access to details for any of the more than 1 billion Aadhaar numbers created in India thus far….The above-mentioned persons have unauthorisedly accessed the Aadhaar ecosystem in connivance of the criminal conspiracy… The act of the aforesaid involved persons is in violation of (the various sections mentioned in the FIR)… Hence, an FIR needs to be filed at the cyber cell for the said violation.”

A “babu” did his/her duty. The organization is satisfied. Its ruffled feathers smoothened. Let the damn reporter go to jail, or spend money and time appearing in courts. She deserves it! How dare she expose the organization which is collecting the citizen’s personal data and is wholly responsible for its secrecy? I will be surprised if a simultaneous, hidden, internal inquiry was ordered to verify the facts in the story.

Thanks to the social media, and the traditional media competing with it for space, the issue “trended” – as they describe a story’s success these days. The reaction was divided. I sympathise with the Indians – like me, they have lost the habit of recognizing a good story when it appears. A businessman, Mohandas Pai, tweeted in response to journalist Shekhar Gupta’s defence of the report: “…nothing wrong in reporting this flaw and misuse but to buy a stolen password, access data is a criminal act, breaking the law cannot be justified by good intentions.”

The well-respected Pai, who was part of the team which heralded India’s entry into the cyber century, also tweeted: “Very surprised at this view. Are journalists above the law? For any story can you break the law? Today everybody is a journalist, write a blog, a criminal can rob a bank, write a blog and claim did it for story!”

Now, that’s the perception of such a widely travelled and experienced professional who is regarded for his acumen the world over. No point talking  about the reaction of lesser humans, is there?

This simply shows current India relies largely on botched up interpretations of values and professional ethics. The word, professional, seems obsolete. Every action, inaction, non-action is suspect. Ethics is a burden opportunism barely wants to tolerate. Opportunism is the fad of the day. A national tragedy.

A journalist knows there is something wrong happening. It is the journalist’s bounden duty to expose the wrong-doing through a well-researched story from an information platform. How can a journalist expose a wrong without showing the wrong and how the wrong is allowed to happen? In The Tribune case, the reporter simply told us how it is possible to bribe and hack private data. For that, she gets called a cheat. Wow!

And the Pais of the world are shocked that journalists dare describe intentional  breach of law as a good intention.

By this illogic, the then Indian government should have dumped Indian Express journalist Ashwini Sarin in jail for “buying” Kamala. Aware of flesh trade in the tri-junction of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, and to expose the fact that it is easy to “buy” a woman for as little as around R. 2000 as the law turns a blind eye, Sarin “bought” the girl. The story, in February, 1981, shocked the country. Nobody called Sarin a “cheat” or an “impersonator” then.

There were and are hundreds of Sarins in India. Like Khaira. They live to expose a wrong. They go into unchartered waters, with only a verbal assurance of their bosses acting as a life line, to get you to see the dirty underbelly of this country and this government and these institutions. The people never get to know what these journalists go through. Many live to tell their stories, but many get hurt, maimed, even killed in the process.

Like the whistleblowers. Like the citizen journalists. Like the good citizens who record bad things – molestations, rapes, murders, corruption, beatings, anything. Who do you think inspire these people, these ordinary citizens who put their lives in danger all across the country every day?

Sitting in an arm-chair anyone with time to waste can keep discussing the similarities and dissimilarities between an investigative journalist and an ethical hacker. A routine browsing of an English dictionary will tell you they are two different things with their own, separate, moral and ethical fibres.

After the Kamala episode, the then Executive Editor of The Indian Express, Arun Shourie, said: "We will ask the court if the law can be broken for a legitimate investigation and afterwards approach the court with a request to initiate steps to mitigate the evil laid bare by the investigation and thereby enlarge the scope of the citizen's rights…..I can't change the society. It will change when people will want it. I am just holding a mirror to society. I am using the Gandhian technique: pick up small issues, remove fear, try and educate people about the evils in society, and coax his contribution out of every individual." 

Koyee shaq?