T20 Cricket: Good and Bad at the same time?

Champions League T20 or Twenty20 is a typical international cricketing event of three hours with each innings lasting around 75–90 minutes having a 10–20-minute interval. This is much shorter than previously-existing forms of cricket. In total 12 teams participate of with ten of them being the permanent members of ICC, while the remaining two are chosen by the Board through qualifying matches for the final event. However, in 2014 16 teams participated in it.

Since its inception the game has been very successful, resulting in its spread around the cricket world.  The inaugural ICC World Twenty20 was played in South Africa in 2007. Every two years an ICC World Twenty20 tournament is to take place, except in the event of an ICC Cricket World Cup being scheduled in the same year, in which case it will be held the year before. In cricket, the concept of franchises or clubs hasn’t really caught on before the advent T20. For the fans, cricket has mostly been about national passion and they are used to the national rivalries, having been fed on nation versus nation confrontations for years now.

Twenty20 cricket is claimed to have "raised the bar" in terms of fitness levels for all players, demanding higher levels of strength, speed, agility and reaction time from all players regardless of role in the team. This might lead to fatigue and tiredness among players. Indian Premier League was the dawn of a new era in T20 cricket.  Unlike football, it is still more about the cricketers than the team itself. If a cricketer of any team (upon whom audiences & other team members can support) fails to give his best, then the whole team suffers for this.

However, the biggest problem of the CLT20 seems to be the scheduling of the tournament also. Players hardly get time for rest to give their best in the 20-20 overs. A continuous pressure of various matches before and after T20 disturbs their concentration. So, to some extent T20 is causing a great massacre of cricket, as a result of which cricket gradually is loosing its charm. There are no specific formats of batting. Runs play major roles, a match is a success if it possesses maximum number of runs.

The format of ICC World Cup T20 is first World Cup starts with round robin, which is followed by Super 8s & then the Semi-Finals & the Finals which detect the winner. Since 2007 five seasons of T20 was successfully played till now. This year INDIA hosted the event & the finale was held on APRIL 3, 2016 AT EDEN GARDENS between ENGLAND & WEST INDIES

                                                            Aindrila Chatterjee

                                                              ( PG MEDIA 2015-2017)

  

JNU: Anti national slogans intolerable

 “You will never have a quiet world till you knock the patriotism out of the human race”- George Bernard Shaw.

The hue and cry raised all over the country by incidents that began in Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) is not just unfortunate but also raises many questions. Anti national slogans were raised at the programme which was organised in the university to mark the anniversary of the hanging of Afzal Guru. Its video clippings spread over social media like wild fire and also across every nook and corner of the country. People of all sections of the society and country felt outraged. Slogans of breaking up India and destroying India and “Pakistan Zindabad” cannot be defended by any amount of convoluted logic. Any concerned citizen of the country will react in an outraging manner.

The university has been at the centre of a heated debate on “nationalism” versus “freedom of expression” after the student union president Kanhaiya Kumar was arrested. Kanhaiya Kumar who heads JNU’s student union was charged with sedition for his role in an event. The campus is now witnessing a show down between those fighting for freedom of dissent and freedom of expressions, versus those who believe that people expressing anti-India sentiments should be charged with sedition. Freedom of speech is not the ability to say whatever you feel like, when you feel like, where you feel like. Protesting or propagating that you wish someone dead or are looking forward to see a group of people dead is not freedom of speech.

I am not against having people screeching at the top of their lungs like petulant children over non issues. After all, having such obnoxious people is just something we need to accept in having the right to say whatever they want in return. With that said, I do believe we need to hold people accountable whenever they spread misinformation, lies and blatant anti national statements. We simply shouldn’t ever tolerate such kind of acts even if we have the liberty of freedom of speech. Everyone should be held accountable for what one says.

The people who raised the slogans of breaking up and ruining the country and then slip into arguments of freedom of speech forgot that only if the country survives, then only will their democratic rights and freedom of speech prevail. Unity in diversity is the hallmark of a country. That is exactly why so many different thought systems have flourished here. Who will save India from these ideas or these nationalists if they have no love for the country?  They will simple have no place to stay in India.

Aaheli Ghose

( PG MEDIA 2015-2017)

T20- Changing Dynamics of Cricket

              Ever since the Inaugural Edition of The Indian Premier League (IPL) in 2008, T20 cricket has caught the imagination of cricket fans worldwide and particularly in the Indian subcontinent, where cricket is considered to be a religion for the majority of the population. The Inaugural ICC World Cup Twenty20 was played in South Africa in 2007 with India winning and ever since the popularity of this form of the game has seen an upward graph in India.

              To begin with listing the pros of this form of the Gentleman’s game; Indian fitness coach Ramji Srinivasan declared in an interview with the Indian fitness website Takath.com, that Twenty20 had "raised the bar" in terms of fitness levels for all players, demanding higher levels of strength, speed, agility and reaction time from all players regardless of their role in the team. Former Australian wicketkeeper Adam Gilchrist pushed for Twenty20 to be made an Olympic Sport saying "It would be difficult to see a better, quicker or cheaper way of spreading the game throughout the world."

              Such is the adulation for the game that it creates a concert-like atmosphere providing nail-biting action and entertainment not only for those who see the matches in the Cricket Stadiums but also those who watch it at home on TV. Such is the quality of coverage that many now claim that watching the match on TV is a better experience that even watching it in a stadium. It is proving to be a huge money-spinner as a part from the revenue earned by the ticket sales for each match, the live telecast rights of the series also fetches crores of rupees.

              Cricket is no longer played for just fun and glory, but it has proved to be a big business altogether. Twenty20 premier leagues are owned by a multinational cartel of sports syndicates regulated by the International Cricket Council (ICC). The tournaments have a high-volume, high-intensity business model heavily financed by corporate sponsorships, franchises, and equity ownerships. Production costs include contracting the rights of players, technical experts, technology-based equipment, and financing salary streams. Revenue flows accrue from gate receipts, bidding proceeds, exclusive broadcast rights, and investment royalties.

              On the other hand, T20 has also attracted a fair share of criticism, the most acute of which being that it steals the lime-light from other sports in India such as ‘Hockey and Kabaddi’ which are already being heavily ignored by the masses in India.  Apart from that, even though it was supposed to boost performance of players in International ODI and tests but players seem to increasingly face burn-out as a result of increase in number of matches played, draining them of energy and undermining their performance. The huge sums of money involved made it a happy breeding ground for massive corruption in Cricket administration such as the IPL scandal involving Lalit Modi. T20 has its benefit, hence the messiah of Cricket but at a high cost.

            Thus to conclude, in the words of one the greatest cricketers of all time, Sachin Tendulkar, “T20 has changed the dynamics of cricket, the way it is played. For example, nobody thought that batsmen could play reverse sweeps off fast bowlers to short third-man stands. It has changed cricket big time.”

Aakruti Shah

( PG MEDIA 2015-2017)

New Alliance in WB-Not an Option but Necessity

Somenath Chatterjee, former Speaker of Lok Sabha and a veteran former communist leader said, ‘It is essential for all opposition forces to come together in bringing about a change in the government in West Bengal.’ Hence we get a newly allied CPM-Congress party against Mamata Banerjee's All India Trinamool Congress (AITC).

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Mathematically it’s known when two negatives bond, one positive is created. But according to our versatile NarendraModi, in politics mathematical orders don’t work instead the chances are more exponential. The recent alliance may possess a threat to the colossal armada of Trinamool Congress but the question is how catastrophic or insignificant would it be. It’s a do or die situation for CPIM & Congress as their base and image both has been lost in the battle over power.

History tells us that Congress was the undisputed name at the capital whereas CPIM was the same at Bengal with a long tenure of being at power with the majority of the population in their favour until the recent shakedown of the central poll of 2014 and the state poll of 2011.

But there is a pre synopsis to this alliance. Back in 1960s and in the beginning of the 70s the communists planted the seeds of antipathy towards the Congress and in the years following 2000, Trinamool had allied with the Congress against CPIM. It’s clear that there have been some serious conflicts of interests and bonding of interests which ultimately gave birth to this alliance and to be honest politics has always been the game of snake and ladder where yesterday’s friend become today’s foe and vice-versa.

Almost 7 decades after the communist party was found, the West Bengal party unit has become desperate with the alliance of Congress to topple the Trinamool Congress govt from Writers’ and Nobanno. The philosophy lies in the tactical measures to be taken by the arch rivals of yesteryear who are clearly strategizing to eat up the pie with the aim of surpassing the vote percentage in the composite form. In case if this turns out to be the reality the vote share of TMC would definitely go thin with its geographic presence in Bengal also in the loop side; with a huge presence in southern West Bengal but a weak presence in central and northern West Bengal provided that there would be some action from the house of BJP too.

The essence of the reality can be summed up in one sentence of its own. The communists do not have a ghost of a chance to win and so does Congress, hence the remedy is to join hands and fight for the common goal. However, the result of this could be disastrous for Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. But as per the voting results of the 2011 assembly elections and 2014 Lok Sabha elections, we have seen that Trinamool has won the maximum number of seats in both the elections and in turn increasing the chances of them bagging the maximum number of seats this time as well. 

Now all we need to do is to sit and watch whether this new alliance will seriously bring any change in West Bengal, or else the only visible problem thereafter would be the sharing of seats which lies inevitable in the near future. 

Monalisa Mitra

( PG MEDIA 2015-2017)

Sting Operation : A piece of Sensational news

Sting Operation is the most critical but effective part of the media world. A sting operation is a complicated confidence game planned and executed with great care. The word “sting” derives its origin from American usage to mean a police undercover operation designed to ensnare criminals. The word “sting” is a synonym for the expression “set a trap to catch a crook”. In more refined terms, it can be called Investigative Journalism or Undercover Journalism. Sting operation is an information-gathering exercise; it looks for facts that are not easy to obtain by simple requests and searches or those that are actively being concealed, suppressed or distorted.

There are many cases of some important sting operation not only in India but also all over the world. Let us look at some of them-

1. Cobra Post sting operation:

The online magazine Cobra Post, over a period of several months, conducted a sting operation on three big banks – HDFC, ICICI and Axis alleging how these banks are involved in channeling huge amounts of black money into the banking system as laundered white money. Employees of these banks were caught on camera offering to convert black money into white money.

2. Tehelka Operation West End:

One of the most famous sting operations in the history of government of India is the “operation West End” carried out by Tehelka magazine in 2001. The operation was carried out to expose the deep rooted corruption in India’s Defence ministry. Many arms dealers and defense ministry officials were caught on tape accepting bribes. The expose led to the resignation of Defence minister

3. Star TV exposes of Manu Sharma in Jessica Lal murder case:

Sting operation by Tehelka magazine first and later by Star TV played a significant role in conviction of Manu Sharma in model Jessica Lal’s murder case. After Manu Sharma was set free when witnesses turned hostile, the agencies carried out a sting operation in 2006 to expose how witnesses were persuaded to speak in favor of Manu Sharma. The tapes played vital role in getting the case reopened, which finally led to Manu’s conviction.

4. Watergate Scandal (USA):

Watergate scandal that made Richard Nixon the first American president to resign was a result of a sting operation by two budding reporters of Washington Posts. The scandal that changed the political history of US was based on the burglary in the office of Democratic Party in Watergate complex. The sting operation, carried out by two reporters of Washington Post revealed that American President was a part of break-in at his opponents office.  Later when the scandal broke out, the video tapes that had the crucial discussion of President Nixon with his close officials revealed his involvement in burglary and paying the team a hush money to be quiet.

5.  Sar-e-Aam (Pakistan):

The most watched crime show of Pakistan Sar-e-Aam carried out a sting operation to expose the corruption in Pakistan Railway. This whistle-blowing program of ARY News hosted by Iqrarul Hasan had conducted a sting operation wherein railways’ officials took bribe and allowed smuggling of weapons via train from Lahore to Karachi.   The video was filmed to unveil the disoriented security arrangements in Pakistan Railway s but it seems like that this episode of Sar-e-Aam has blown the lid of a big corruption scam in the respective department as the repercussions of the sting operations are critical.

According to me sting operation is the right process of exposing a criminal in the public eye. This process has now got its popularity high in the media world. For the proper development of society this sensational investigation process is much required. Anyone can temper this process on his or her demand so the media and government should look after this in strict hand. Also they have to make sure that the evidences are authentic before it is broadcast. Thus, Sting Operations are an important part of the media world.

Shilpa Mandal

( PG MEDIA 2015-2017)

An Introspection of India's Social Security

In India the modern social security measures were planned and implemented after independence. They were too meagre and limited to the organised sector workers only, which constituted about 8 per cent of total workforce, despite a majority of the workforce comes in the unorganised sector. Importantly, the need to ensure social security for all, especially those in the unorganised sector, is an overarching concern recognised in the Eleventh Five Year Plan (2007-12). The constitution of India provides strength and spirit to the social security for organised and unorganised workers through its Directive Principles of the State Policy.

Social security legislations came into existence as a part of industrial policy after large scale industrialisation. Some social security benefits in the form of Acts for the organised workers working in the big industrial units were also enacted during the British period. But major social legislations were passed only after Independence. Thus, while a large proportion of the organised sector workers have been be benefiting from legally mandated and budget provided social security benefits since independence, but most of the workers in the unorganised sector have been left out.

According to the World Labour Report 2000, the public sector expenditure on social security in India was as meagre as 1.8 per cent of the GDP, whereas it was 4.7 per cent in Sri Lanka and 3.6 per cent in China. The eligibility criterion is also too tight as they exclude many a vulnerable persons. The below poverty line (BPL) criterion is a minimalist and inappropriate approach to extend social security to the unorganised workers. About 55% of the population does not come in the category of the poor in India but is highly vulnerable. Not only this, most of the unorganised workers suffer from the lack of awareness about social security and social welfare measures. It has been argued that globalization has adversely affected social welfare programmes of the state. The state often promotes rather than accepts globalization. This is why it is bound to impact on the policy regime and welfare character of the state.

Social welfare and social security are deeply linked but they are pursuing different ends. Social security refers to a state of mind as well as an objective fact. It is mainly directed towards providing income security as a preliminary to a state of social and psychological well-being. Social welfare, on the other hand, is broadly understood as ‘the end product of possession of goods, positions in life and supply of services to help him to live in wholesome contentment and communication with others in the group’.

Narrowly speaking, social welfare refers to a set of institutional or personal services provided either by the state or voluntary organizations to prevent the incidence or to reform or rehabilitate the victims of disabilities, or disorganization or delinquencies or destitution and so on.

Aparajeeta Sen

( PG MEDIA 2015-2017)

Social Security: Leaving the informal Sector untouched

India’s social security system is composed of a number of schemes and programs. Generally, India’s social security schemes cover the following:

·         Pension

·         Health insurance and medical

·         Maternity

·         Gratuity

·         Disability

While a great deal of the Indian population is in the unorganized sector and does not have an opportunity to participate in each of these schemes, Indian citizens in the organized sector (which include those employed by foreign investors) and their employers are entitled to coverage under the above schemes.

 The applicability of mandatory contributions to social insurances is varied. Some of the social insurances require employer contributions from all companies, some from companies with ten and more employees, and some from companies with twenty or more employees, and some from companies with twenty or more employees.

Pension

The Employees’ Provident Fund Organization, under the Ministry of Labor and Employment, ensures superannuation pension and family pension in case of death during service. Presently only about 35 million out of a labor force of 400 million have access to formal social security in the form of old-age income protection. Out of these 35 million, 26 million workers are members of the Employees’ Provident Fund Organization, which comprises private sector workers, civil servants, military personnel and employees of State Public Sector Undertakings.

Four main types of pension (all monthly) are offered:

•           Pension upon superannuation or disability;

•           Widows’ pension for death while in service;

•           Children’s pension; and

•           Orphan’s pension

In addition, there are separate pension funds for civil servants, workers employed in coal mines and tea plantations in the Assam, and for seamen.

Health Insurance and Medical

India has a national health service, but this does not include free medical care for the whole population. The Employees’ State Insurance Act creates a fund to provide medical care to employees and their families, as well as cash benefits during sickness and maternity, and monthly payments in case of death or disablement for those working in factories and establishments with 10 or more employees.

In case of sick leave, the employer will pay half salary to the employees covered under the Employees’ State Insurance Act.

Disability

The Workmen’s Compensation Act requires the employer to pay compensation to employees or their families in cases of employment related injuries resulting in death or disability.

In addition, workers employed in certain types of occupations are exposed to the risk of contracting certain diseases, which are peculiar and inherent to those occupations. A worker contracting an occupational disease is deemed to have suffered an accident out of and in the course of employment and the employer is liable to pay compensation for the same.

Maternity

The Maternity Benefit Act requires an employer to offer 12 weeks wages during maternity as well as paid leave in certain other connected contingencies.

Every woman shall be entitled to, and her employer shall be liable for, the payment of maternity benefit at the rate of average daily wage (the average of the woman’s wages payable to her for the days on which she has worked during the period of three calendar months immediately preceding the date from which she is absent on account of maternity), including the day of her delivery and for the six weeks immediately following that day.

Gratuity

For establishments with ten or more employees, the Payment of Gratuity Act requires the payment of 15 days of additional wages for each year of service to employees who have worked at a company for five years or more.

India has a very basic social security system catering to a fairly small percentage of the country’s workforce. Traditionally, Indians relied on their extended families for support in the event of illness or other misfortunes. However, due to migration, urbanization, and higher social mobility, family bonds are less tight and family units much smaller than they used to be.

India’s growth story of the last two decades has had one recurring theme: that the pattern of economic growth is accentuating insecurities. Yet, there continues to be a deep divine over whether the gains from the growth ought to be ploughed back to achieve social security for everyone. Social security has come to be linked to be job benefits, trying it to one’s status as a worker in the formal or the informal economy when, fundamentally, it originates from the notion of ensuring everyone protection against vulnerability and deprivation.

India does not yet explicitly recognize a national minimum social security cover. A close look at India’s record in providing social security shows that while only a fraction of citizens enjoy any “protection” at all.

In provisions aimed at “promotion”, social security through nutrition, work, entitlements for all, recent evidence gives reasons for cheer, but even these are being threatened with fund cuts and further shrinking.

Arpita Raut

( PG MEDIA 2015-2017)