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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