The lure of limelight and power is probably what makes our Politicians hang on to Chairs of the various sporting Federations in India. I was struggling to figure out why a Minister was spewing out solutions for the shameless public forehand and backhand slurs being thrashed about between two of our finest, yet now, unsporting tennis heroes! The penny dropped. Of course, this Minister is also the Chair of some Tennis federation! And of course, who else knows what's right for Indian Tennis. Obviously an Unsporting Politician. Someone who knows how to lobby better than any Lob a Vijay Amrithraj or Borg could ever attempt. Tennis players play with guile, grace and raw power too. A Politician doesn't need to camouflage stokes. They rarely hide their greed for power. What happens to the sport is far away from their thoughts. And that is what surprises us sports lovers. How these two or three tennis players of world repute, have brought about a shameless power play right out into the open. Sportsmanship, a word derived from the very ethos of a sportsman has been poisoned, crucified, decimated and will soon be cremated. FairPlay and Gentlemanship, words that used to be synonymous with Tennis greats like Vijay Amrithraj and Indian tennis, are no longer applicable.
Why this venom? Why this hatred?
And the only answer I can find is in the way the Federations are run by our politicians. The same way most of them run their shamelessly open corrupt lives. The BCCI is wealthy and thus powerful and by constantly doling out cash awards, they're able to silence and stifle out aggrieved whimpers of players who didn't toe their line. But the other federations, the Olympic and other Sports Associations - each one has a Chair and numerous other power posts - occupied to the best of my layman knowledge by a politician. These positions give them access to a world body, where quite often their allegiance to a particular international candidate could have remunerative incentives. FIFA is a classic case. Less importantly, each federation has a budget, procurement tasks and least importantly travel options. Thus Federation heads are able to travel, offers tickets to events for favours, exposing our Sports to a vy unsporting unethical trait. And it is very easy for this cancer to spread. In our democratic nation, we believe that two terms in offices of appointment should be the norm. Yet some of our Federation heads have been in these seats for decades. Tainted in other forms of public life, they shamelessly continue to fight to remain in those seats.
When the head of a Fish is rotten, the rest of the fish rots too.
And when we say public exhibition, I must say that the change in media formats and a blatant need for TRPs causes our news media to push for more public statements.
Reporters harassing a personality to make a faux pas in public too is a cause of this. I'm sure if a Hesh or a Lee had a day or two to think before making public statements, this would quite likely have resolved their differences. But would it have resolved the media thirst. Would it have resolved a Politcians thirst? I doubt it.
And this is why we have a public shameless fight between two of our most successful and famous sportspersons. Shame on them. But shame on the politics that has led them to this shallowness in character.
End Note: I don't believe that all our politicians are greedy and blind. We have some very dedicated ones - but then the disease does not stem from the few good corpusceles in your blood. It stems from the overwhelming virus!
Friday, June 22, 2012
Monday, June 18, 2012
Incredible Discrediting Credit Ratings of Incredible India and other follies!
Reading Fitch and Standard and Poors downgrading of Indias credit ratings, may have caused sufficient stress and worry to economists and planners. But to a layman like me, I wonder! Seriously wonder.
I announce, " I hereby am downgrading Fitch, S&P, and all those credit rating agencies.
They're Blind or Shortsighted. They're ignorant of new world situations. They couldn't see the disasters of the failure of Western economies. They never did see the emergence of a new world economic order. They didn't see the Euro crisis or the disasters of the US Wars. And they downgrade an economy that works and survives purely by itself. Just on local consumerism! Duh?
We don't deny that corruption hurts growth. That it needs to be weeded out. But India has been growing at over 5-6 and even at 8% DESPITE all these anomalies for years. The local markets are the ones that drive an Economy like India. .. If anyone has noticed, eventually our system roots out the corrupt... The Satyam scam brain is behind bars, the Mining dons, Reddy bros are in " tole" as the French would say it, a Yeddyurappa is out of office, a Lalit Modi is on the run....etc etc. Even an ex PM, the true founder of modern economics in India couldnt escape the law - having been proved corrupt, spent time in Prison - despite the fact that he did it only for the party. Thus corruption eventually surfaces in India. the guilty are punished most often. The governemnt moves on. Year after year.
S&P speaks of a silent PM,a strong Sonia and thus a government not moving leading to a downgrade of our rating. Howeverm, Wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan that cost the US exchequer more than just a couple of Billion US$ a day, never did seem to catch their attention. Yet a brief dip in an Indian economy ( while the rest of the world is reeling in dire straits), immediately triggers the alarm. "Indian growth is shrinking" . "The Indian miracle is failing" - Headlines read "S&P and Fitch downgrade Indian credit rating to Negative from Stable!!!"
Eeekkkks . Heelllp.
"Hello. I live in India. I am Indian. ..and I am unable to see this catastrophe happening" Says the average Indian, reading these critical "Doom of the Indian Boom" headlines. As I look around, the Chai kada wallah, the Vada Pav wallah, the Dabba wallah, the Panwallah, Rickshawwallah....and the several millions of Indian business "wallahs", who don't import, who don't export...
Nothing, for them seems to have changed. Certainly not for the worse.
Oh! Ofcourse, Ask them and complain they will for sure!!
Is it the end of the road for them? Is it doomsday for them? No way" they've seen worse.
And I thus think - Does India need this credit rating. I think foreign investors have been hypnotised that they need a rating to go in and invest. Do the real investors heed the ratings. Markets are what investors look for. The biggest and most vibrant market is IN INDIA. Despite S&P, despite FITCH,mdespite MOODYs' moods... those who look for markets will come.
The ones that stay away from an emerging India, could be the losers.
What if S&P stayed out of India. I would wonder that they would survive.
Our economy may dive, but will survive without a bailout. We may just need our population to take in a whiff of air. And our economy will thrive and not just survive. I don't think theirs will.
NOTE : I'm neither an economist nor an expert.... and neither am I qualified to comment on world economies and policies. However can say this- what I've said above is what I and a number of normal people around the world feel about specialists from the WB, IMF , credit rating agencies .... They're quite incapable of looking at a truly global world. The new world financial order involving India, China, Brazil and Africa will have different parameters to rate economies of the world.
I announce, " I hereby am downgrading Fitch, S&P, and all those credit rating agencies.
They're Blind or Shortsighted. They're ignorant of new world situations. They couldn't see the disasters of the failure of Western economies. They never did see the emergence of a new world economic order. They didn't see the Euro crisis or the disasters of the US Wars. And they downgrade an economy that works and survives purely by itself. Just on local consumerism! Duh?
We don't deny that corruption hurts growth. That it needs to be weeded out. But India has been growing at over 5-6 and even at 8% DESPITE all these anomalies for years. The local markets are the ones that drive an Economy like India. .. If anyone has noticed, eventually our system roots out the corrupt... The Satyam scam brain is behind bars, the Mining dons, Reddy bros are in " tole" as the French would say it, a Yeddyurappa is out of office, a Lalit Modi is on the run....etc etc. Even an ex PM, the true founder of modern economics in India couldnt escape the law - having been proved corrupt, spent time in Prison - despite the fact that he did it only for the party. Thus corruption eventually surfaces in India. the guilty are punished most often. The governemnt moves on. Year after year.
S&P speaks of a silent PM,a strong Sonia and thus a government not moving leading to a downgrade of our rating. Howeverm, Wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan that cost the US exchequer more than just a couple of Billion US$ a day, never did seem to catch their attention. Yet a brief dip in an Indian economy ( while the rest of the world is reeling in dire straits), immediately triggers the alarm. "Indian growth is shrinking" . "The Indian miracle is failing" - Headlines read "S&P and Fitch downgrade Indian credit rating to Negative from Stable!!!"
Eeekkkks . Heelllp.
"Hello. I live in India. I am Indian. ..and I am unable to see this catastrophe happening" Says the average Indian, reading these critical "Doom of the Indian Boom" headlines. As I look around, the Chai kada wallah, the Vada Pav wallah, the Dabba wallah, the Panwallah, Rickshawwallah....and the several millions of Indian business "wallahs", who don't import, who don't export...
Nothing, for them seems to have changed. Certainly not for the worse.
Oh! Ofcourse, Ask them and complain they will for sure!!
Is it the end of the road for them? Is it doomsday for them? No way" they've seen worse.
And I thus think - Does India need this credit rating. I think foreign investors have been hypnotised that they need a rating to go in and invest. Do the real investors heed the ratings. Markets are what investors look for. The biggest and most vibrant market is IN INDIA. Despite S&P, despite FITCH,mdespite MOODYs' moods... those who look for markets will come.
The ones that stay away from an emerging India, could be the losers.
What if S&P stayed out of India. I would wonder that they would survive.
Our economy may dive, but will survive without a bailout. We may just need our population to take in a whiff of air. And our economy will thrive and not just survive. I don't think theirs will.
NOTE : I'm neither an economist nor an expert.... and neither am I qualified to comment on world economies and policies. However can say this- what I've said above is what I and a number of normal people around the world feel about specialists from the WB, IMF , credit rating agencies .... They're quite incapable of looking at a truly global world. The new world financial order involving India, China, Brazil and Africa will have different parameters to rate economies of the world.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)