The stage is set, the players are sold, the venues decided, the cheer girls going gaga, the betting season in full thrust, lakhs and crores been spent already and much much more in store - Welcome to the Indian Premier League. Once again we will be 'enraptured' in the amalgam of cricket, business and entertainment. But wait a minute who does 'we' signify above? Does it entail to the 32.7% Indians living below the Poverty Line or even to the 68.7% who are able to earn about $2 a day and are considered rich by our Government.
A country like India where poverty is so widespread that 96.90% of people earn less than $5 a day, its hard to imagine something like I.P.L. happening while farmers commit suicide, people striving hard to their earn bread, children being abducted, our police using outdated weapons on account of limited funds and the list is endless.
Now lets take a look at the income of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (B.C.C.I.). In 2010-11 the gross income of B.C.C.I. stood at a whooping 868.03 crores and after an 'expenditure' of about 678.31 crores its surplus was 189.72 crores. Similarly in 2011-12 its gross income increased to 1043.11 crores and after the expenses it made a cool profit of 296.31 crores.
A look at the expenditure by the B.C.C.I. reveals king size expenditure on salaries of top officials, renovation of their offices, bearing the expenses of the extravagant life style of players, payment to 5 star hotels and a lot more. And to top it all, the B.C.C.I. sought to evade taxes by citing that its activities are charitable.
An R.T.I. application revealed the board owed the tax department 500 crores. According to India Today the IT department has slammed the board with a tax burden of 2300 crores claiming its activities commercial which I believe is true. No progress has been made so far.
I.P.L. turns out to be one of the highest earning branch of the B.C.C.I. Sure we do get 3 hours of excitement and fun filled journey to millions and billions of cricket fans worldwide but what after it. We spend our hard earnt money and the players fill their pockets and the BCCI earn its profit. What do we get?
If some say it is a business then let me assure you it is not business in true form since no real product is created out of it. Its not pure cricket too. The country does not get anything out of it. The economy doesn't get any better. I am not saying that cricket is bad but it should be considered a game and not made a religion and cricketers God.
What should be done is that the income raised through cricket which is huge ours being a cricket crazy nation should be under government control and it should be spent on bringing reforms to the country. A cricketer is also doing a job for himself and should get a reasonable salary and not something as 'paltry' as 3.5 million USD like Dhoni. Lets bank on our love for cricket to raise funds to elevate the poor, build schools, provide hospitals and i am sure it would even lead to big gains in future to all the society but only if it is done. Let cricketers and experts handle BCCI and their income be under government control. All i am saying is lets live cricket and enjoy it as we always do but also atleast begin to introspect and question of what happens with the money and what can be done about it and not blindly worship and idolize cricketers.
A country like India where poverty is so widespread that 96.90% of people earn less than $5 a day, its hard to imagine something like I.P.L. happening while farmers commit suicide, people striving hard to their earn bread, children being abducted, our police using outdated weapons on account of limited funds and the list is endless.
Now lets take a look at the income of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (B.C.C.I.). In 2010-11 the gross income of B.C.C.I. stood at a whooping 868.03 crores and after an 'expenditure' of about 678.31 crores its surplus was 189.72 crores. Similarly in 2011-12 its gross income increased to 1043.11 crores and after the expenses it made a cool profit of 296.31 crores.
A look at the expenditure by the B.C.C.I. reveals king size expenditure on salaries of top officials, renovation of their offices, bearing the expenses of the extravagant life style of players, payment to 5 star hotels and a lot more. And to top it all, the B.C.C.I. sought to evade taxes by citing that its activities are charitable.
An R.T.I. application revealed the board owed the tax department 500 crores. According to India Today the IT department has slammed the board with a tax burden of 2300 crores claiming its activities commercial which I believe is true. No progress has been made so far.
I.P.L. turns out to be one of the highest earning branch of the B.C.C.I. Sure we do get 3 hours of excitement and fun filled journey to millions and billions of cricket fans worldwide but what after it. We spend our hard earnt money and the players fill their pockets and the BCCI earn its profit. What do we get?
If some say it is a business then let me assure you it is not business in true form since no real product is created out of it. Its not pure cricket too. The country does not get anything out of it. The economy doesn't get any better. I am not saying that cricket is bad but it should be considered a game and not made a religion and cricketers God.
What should be done is that the income raised through cricket which is huge ours being a cricket crazy nation should be under government control and it should be spent on bringing reforms to the country. A cricketer is also doing a job for himself and should get a reasonable salary and not something as 'paltry' as 3.5 million USD like Dhoni. Lets bank on our love for cricket to raise funds to elevate the poor, build schools, provide hospitals and i am sure it would even lead to big gains in future to all the society but only if it is done. Let cricketers and experts handle BCCI and their income be under government control. All i am saying is lets live cricket and enjoy it as we always do but also atleast begin to introspect and question of what happens with the money and what can be done about it and not blindly worship and idolize cricketers.
