Thursday, April 28, 2016

“Can do NOTHING” nation – PIL v. IPL

India, as a nation, projects itself as a “can do NOTHING” nation! Discount all propagandist stuff coming out of the government; ignore too all the selfies our prime minister takes with other leaders, both government and corporate. Ignore everything but IPL.
I am no big fan of IPL; indeed I cannot watch this pseudo-cricket (Can we not find another name that demeans cricket less?) for more than 5 minutes at a stretch and no more than twice, at strategic times (synchronized with the “strategic time outs”!), through a 3 ½ hour match. Yet, I pity IPL. It is getting the short end of the stick. I refer to the match venues being shifted out of the state of Maharashtra.
If the nation cannot afford to hold a few 3 ½ hour events – admittedly nothing truly productive except through the economic churning the matches may induce  in the immediate vicinity – because of a severe drought, can anyone have any confidence in the ability to tackle more severe and nation-wide calamities? I very doubt it can.
Who is spreading this message? Our respected judiciary. Under pressure from whom? From the self-proclaimed do-gooders. Neither of them thought a whit about the measurable effect of the staging of the event, in Mumbai, Pune and Nagpur on the water availability in the suffering regions of Maharashtra.
To conclude, climate change will affect the nation as a whole, in short order, say less than 2 decades. What would we do then? How many PIL’s would be raised? What would the judiciary decide?
Just scale up the current situation and you cannot but conclude – India is a “Cannot do” country.
Very reassuring.

Raghuram Ekambaram

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