Vijay Hashia
Nothing brings more happiness than helping the most vulnerable people in the society but when you work to achieve personal gains at the cost of someone’s hard earned money or play with the sentiments of people, the whole system crumbles to wreck havoc. The societies, which consist of communities and individuals for whom you work, will feel cheated. Pandemonium roars louder and louder. That is what has happened in the IPL fiasco. Fixing, the corruption of high order, where high echelons of the corporate world having nexus with politicians, has once again hit media news to its zenith. The system that has allowed haves to loot spectators, who were ignorant of the fact that what they had been witnessing, was really enjoyed by sponsors, franchisees, team players and corporates in their protected corridors by way of cheating methods. The haves are none else than kith and kin of the IPL czars, business magnates and politicians. Stream of revenue generated through sponsorship of several billions is shared among franchisee kith and kin and their czars. The scandal is just the tip of the iceberg.
Who has intoxicated our society? Majority of masses must have known that upper stratum has easily fleeced them in the garb of ‘entertainment’. While various strata of these haves have become rich by deceit, the poor has become poorer. The homes- turned museums of mortality are all the more noteworthy in a country like India where many millions sleep beneath the open sky for want of a roof over their heads. The concept of socialism and free economy has recycled back to capitalism, where power and money is shared and enjoyed by a few modern elite. It is unfortunate and shameful that the hawks of this gentleman’s game are trading drugs, sex, betting, laundering, evasion, bribery and have underworld connections.
When IPL concept was at its incubation stage, we were optimistic that the hall of fame would bring new change to this gentleman’s game. Nobody knew that its czars would misuse budding players to amass millions and billions. Having promised in the ab-initio, that BCCI would fund training costs to sportsmen for other sports and also would develop a separate corpus for funding to bring up young talents in various sports, was not kept and fulfilled; instead billions have been siphoned out and deposited in personal foreign accounts. The scandal is intriguing and undercover. The wealth did not reach to the nation’s treasure for sports activities as was promised by the BCCI. The corporate- political nexus has thrown open Indian viewer-ship to many questions, to which its promoters have to answer for fleecing fans with proclivity.
What separate us from animals is conscience and our ability to know the difference between right and wrong. We have evolved out of environment full of struggle against all odds. When the wealth has become abundant, other resources have become cheaper and easy to amass and when resources have become cheaper to access, it has adversely affected the societies some way or the other. Our environment is interdependent and so are we. This interdependence on other human beings is based on certain factors. Of all these factors, one is ‘need to seek help’ and another is ‘willingness to render help.’ Seeking and rendering are interdependent for one’s sustenance. We help the individuals at one or the other occasion but it is based on one’s choice as discrimination plays a role. However, all needs are varied and may differ from person to person and sect to sect but fulfilling basic needs of a needy cannot be left unrecognized and unfulfilled. Today, if people are poor, it is because the wealth in terms of money has gone into the wrong coffers. Several NGOs, community workers and agencies working to help poor, down trodden and the deprived do not do it by honest but selfish means to fleece a common man.
When our needs exceed limits, we plunge into unethical practices. A system where an unethical practice like corruption prevails, it gives way to economic inequalities. The concept of social justice which implies a system, wherein everyone is provided with an opportunity to develop in accordance with his ability and all obstacles in the process of his development must be removed. It also demands support of society so that the helpless, needy and all those who are not in a position to acquire means for themselves, should be helped by the state and provided with necessary needs. It means an equal opportunity to acquire wealth and use it for personal living without causing bad to others. It also implies that those who are unable to acquire it should be helped by the society to live so that the distribution of wealth has to be regulated in keeping with the public good and not individual or sectional good.
Doubtless to say, the game of cricket is plunged from gentle to vulgar entertainment. Had this revenue, what is estimated to be in several billions been utilized for eradicating poverty, development of infrastructure and other social services, the BCCI cricket would have not reduced itself to hall of shame. It is now up to the government that must with all its honest intentions break the shackles of this capitalist monopolistic class. But will the Government do that, or will it frame strict corporate social responsibility guidelines to which it has been reluctant so far?
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