Its time to introspect

Indians were given a whitewash at the hands of English and am sure heads will start to roll. It is at these times, people tend to take decisions in haste and take all the wrong decisions. There are some repair work need to be done to this Indian team, but do not forget that the repair should be done in the planning as well. The FTP should be planned in such a way that the team gets at least 45 days of break before a major tour starts and have at least 2 or 3 warm up games before the test match starts. Well it is easy to scribble here than to plan but the board must look in to this seriously.  With regards to selection of team, its high time the committee looks in to the fitness level of the players. They should have the guts to drop even the best performing player if he is not fit enough to play. The Zaheer Khan incident ll certainly bring down the morale of the team. Similarly Sehwag was not even half fit for the match and I found no reason on why he was flown to England for the last 2 tests.  The selectors also need to groom in new talents by giving them opportunities at the highest level.  Only in WI tour, I felt the selectors did a very good job but that was due to unavailability of seniors. They should groom the likes of Piyush Chawla, Cheteshwar Puraja, Rohit Sharma and other budding talents. The selectors should have the confidence in these people and give them an extended run in the tests. It is not enough if the players are selected only for the one dayers. After all one day international is anybody’s game where the fortune changes in a matter of minutes. Test cricket is the highest form of game and people should believe in that. Players who have excelled in test cricket have also excelled in other forms of cricket, but its not the other way around. The likes of Dravid, Tendulkar, Kumble they are all the legends of the game who have excelled in all the 3 forms of the game. Raina played some cruicial innings at the world cup, Yuvraj was the player of the tournament but when in England, it was Dravid all the way. He opened the innings, had come 1^st down, kept wickets and still was the leading run scorer for India. Infact he scored more than 50% of the runs scored by India in the whole series. Raina looked completely out of sorts when he was bowled a bouncer. Think of Raina in the early 80’s when WI was packed with fast bowlers. He would have never played cricket in life. One more problem this series has shown is the lack of all rounder. India really felt the absence of a genuine all rounder in the first test. That is where top teams like South Africa, England and Australia really outshine India. India really need to groom Irfan Pathan for the future as he is the only person I know capable of filling the all rounder spot.

It is time to introspect the problems Indian cricket is facing which was not long ago were the world champions and No 1 test team. This series should be an eye opener for the officials and most of the players are nearing their end of career this is the right time to groom younger generations which is certainly going to be good for the future of Indian cricket. Certainly there is no dearth of talent in India, we need to properly guide them and shape them to face the future.

The 4 pillars - need urgent attention

India is a developing country, one of the fastest growing economies, one of the biggest economies in the world, world’s largest democracy. Being an Indian, I feel proud whenever I see these things in the media. However I feel lots more need to be done for India to be called truly a developing nation.

Education Reforms:  This the foremost reform that the government should address.

• Just implementing RTE is not good enough, providing quality education at the primary level is the most important thing.
• There should be a school every 1KM (depending on the population) which provides at least till 6^th standard.
• There should not be more than 30 students in class. This helps the teachers in assessing the students individually.
• Do not burden the children with exams. A project is a better way in assessing the students at this level.
• Provide proper infrastructure for children to play. Children need to go out and play for the betterment of the physical fitness and mental relaxation.
• Provide good exposure for children on subjects other than academics. This ll help children of economically weaker sections.
• Increase the wages of teachers. This is the most important of all the things. There is no other way we can attract bright and young professionals for teaching other than by increasing the pay. They are the most important people in the world and they should be treated on par with other professionals. I am sure there are thousands of quality teachers who couldn’t take up the profession because of the pay. This results in people with lesser qualification to take up the teaching profession.
• Remember, India is the land which made two of its teachers as the President. So I hope the government ll certainly look in to this issue.

Police Reforms: The next in the line which requires urgent attention is the police reform.

• Again, the first and the foremost thing are to increase their pay and provide better environment. An average salary of 15 to 20K per month is certainly not enough in the age of rising inflation. No wonder why police asks for bribes. On top of it, a traffic constable standing under the hot sun in Chennai is certainly a daunting task. I am sure better work environment and pay ll reduce the bribe they take from common man.
• Make sure people do not fear police. A common perception nowadays that a police can register a false case against anybody if they don’t toe their line. Only if this perception goes, people ll be ready to come out and fight against the day to day problems they are facing. I am sure there is some solution for this to happen and it’s the duty of the government to find a suitable solution.
• Monthly or quarterly appraisal is certainly the need of the hour, esp Tamil Nadu police who have this habit of having a big tummy soon after joining the profession. These days most of the criminals are physically fitter than the police.
• Police are the protector of the law and if we cannot keep them happy, it ll become a serious problem in the future.

Electoral Reforms: The next in the line of reforms which needs government’s attention

• Put a cap on the usage of money during elections. If this does not happen, then all the black money ll be easily converted to white money.
• Basic qualification for the candidates standing in the election. I am sure no explanation is needed on why we need this reform.
• Conduct in Parliament should be one of the main criteria for people looking for re election. A good conduct is absolute necessary and should be one of the main qualifications while filing the nomination papers. When, conduct certificate is more important in schools and colleges is it not necessary for the same in Indian Parliament and assembly when the members stoop to very low level so often. It is like degrading the dignity of the house.

Agricultural Reforms: With the introduction of food security bill, the demand is just going to shoot up and if the issue on supply is not addressed properly it ll be a major disaster for India. It is high time, the government bring in 2^nd green revolution before crisis sets in. Since I am not an expert in agriculture I certainly cannot suggest anything to the government. So I leave it to them to take whatever steps they need to increase the supply.

Cheers please...

Not long ago, I cheered for the UPA when it was elected for the second consecutive term to form the government. I cheered not because I am a Congress supporter (neither do I support them) but because of the clear mandate of the people which brings in the stability at the center. The left withdrew their support from the UPA and I was expecting more on reforms from the UPA 2. I should certainly say with a sad face that UPA 2 has failed miserably. The 2 year old government is like a food without salt and spices. It is bland. They are surrounded by every kind of scams that is possible be it the spectrum scam, CWG scam, Adarsh housing scam, land grabbing scam.. the list simply goes on. Tihar jail has become synonymous to 5 star prison which houses some of the most high profile people.  On the economic front too, the country grew at a slower pace when compared to few years ago. A much of it is attributed to recession but the government has done little enough to curb the inflation which is at a staggering high of 9%. The biggest of all is that the PM, Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi chose to remain silent on every issue and it required the Supreme Court to monitor the investigations on the multiple multi crore scams. Come August 15^th, Dr.Singh will hoist the tri color for the 8^th time and we ll be hearing yet another optimistic speech from him. However it is always less done than said in India. We say a lot but do little. There seems to be a wave of pessimism across India about its future. This too shall pass away is what keeping things going for the Indians.

Wait..am I going too much pessimistic about India. Well these are the times India needs it people to be optimistic. Whatever happens there is no place on earth which is full of life like India. Though surrounded by troubled neighbors, India is relatively peaceful. There is no other place in the world, which is so unorganized, yet very much organized. India is the land of A.R.Rahmans, Saina Nehwals, Sachin Tendulkars  who always find a way to come out of adversity. There is nothing to be worried about India just like its cricket team which is going through a tough time in England. At the end of the day, it ll come out of all the obstacles it faces.

Its Independence day, time to cheer up as all is not gloom in India.

Jai Hind