Why not nationalise cricket administration -Governance Now

Why not nationalise cricket administration

Like Bollywood, cricket has an ugly underbelly. It is administered by a an ultra-cash-rich organization that is essentially private.

Ashish Mehta | January 7, 2019 | Delhi

#Indian cricket team #RTI Act #BCCI #cricket #IPL #CAG

Illustration: Ashish Asthana

Other than climate and of course politics, cricket is the most popular topic of conversation among strangers. Bollywood too does not cover as much geography as the game inherited from the colonial masters does. Like Bollywood, cricket has an ugly underbelly. It is administered by a an ultra-cash-rich organization that is essentially private. The Board for Control of Cricket in India, a nonagenarian club controlled by moneybags and politicians with no cricketing experience, “control” the game.

When the Indian squad plays against Pakistan, it is a matter of high passions – it’s called “war without shooting” – and in 2011 even the prime ministers of the two neighbours sat down to watch the proceedings, but at the end of the day it’s a private team, not an Indian national team.

Think

BCCI is a private club that claims to represent the nation and makes astronomical income
. . .
The board can take any decisions it may deem proper: it is not answerable to people or people’s representatives
. . .
The board cannot be audited by CAG; it is not under the RTI Act

The BCCI, for whom the team plays and who gets the moolah at the end of the game, is a private club registered under the Tamil Nadu Societies Registration Act. It was formed in 1928 to meet the requirement of the International Cricket Council, so that an Indian team can play against teams from other nations. For all other sports, there are federations (again, monopolised by aging politicians) which are governed by the sports ministry. Cricket is a case apart.

That was the case even during the good old days, and it is more so after the advent of the Indian Premier League (IPL). Astronomical sums earned through sale of TV rights and other commercial aspects have made the BCCI extraordinarily rich. Since this is a cricket-crazy nation, other playing nations’ cricket admin bodies (or other sports bodies within India) are far poorer.

The BCCI has finally no responsibility. Be it the selection of players, or coach (why Ravi Shastri in place of Anil Kumble), or the head of selection panel (why they have usually far less experience than most current players), or even the empanelled commentators (why Harsha Bhogle is no longer among them), its decisions are beyond questioning. It answers to none; fans can fume but to no avail.

The Lodha committee has revamped its internal administration, but it is still BCCI, a private club. Though it claims to represent the nation – though legally speaking it cannot, but when it comes to responsibility of a public institution, it claims to be a private body. There have been repeated demands of opening up its finances to a CAG scrutiny, and bringing it under the gamut of the RTI Act, to make it answer people’s questions. It has refused. In 2018, following an application by a Delhi-based petitioned named Geeta Rani, CIC has asked the BCCI why it should not be declared a ‘public authority’ under the RTI Act. The same petitioner has also approached the Madras high court in end-December seeking to restrain BCCI from representing the nation.

The government of India has a sound legal position to take over the administration of a sport that millions of people take most seriously.

Reality check

Like the rise of IT industry in India, it must be the absence of government and the whole bureaucracy that has helped developed the game of cricket. At the BCCI a lot needs to be fixed, and it has to be made answerable, but bringing the game administration under the government would be a solution worse than the problem.

(This article appears in January 15, 2019 edition)

Comments

Other News

Caring for cancer patients: the expanded network of facilities

Health is a State subject, and the primary responsibility for providing healthcare services, including cancer care, rests with the respective state governments. However, the Department of Health and Family Welfare provides technical and financial support to States and Union Territories across the country

Capabilities, aspirations of India’s youth limitless: Modi

The capabilities and aspirations of India’s youth are limitless, prime minister Narendra Modi said in his remarks to the media at the start of monsoon session of the parliament on Monday. "In the past month, the country has achieved many milestones, filling citiz

India gets the first hydrogen train

Prime minister Narendra Modi on Friday laid the foundation stone and dedicated to the nation various development projects worth around ₹14,700 crore in Jind, Haryana. The PM positioned the city as a shining reflection of the good governance model. Emphasizing that the entire Haryana

Climate change is stealing sleep

Climate change has at least doubled the temperature-related sleep loss across 1,338 major cities worldwide over the past five decades, highlighting an emerging but often overlooked public health consequence of rising global temperatures. A new study by Climate Central estimates that between 2020 and

Cabinet approves Mobile Phone Manufacturing Scheme

The union cabinet chaired by PM Narendra Modi has approved the Mobile Phone Manufacturing Scheme (MPMS) with a budgetary outlay of Rs 62,500 crore. It aims to further scale up the production, deepen domestic value addition, strengthen supply chain resilience, enhance global competitiveness. It

Building infrastructure is only half the job

Recent stories of stolen railway wires, disappearing communication towers and missing public infrastructure are often treated as bizarre law-and-order failures of India. Yet they raise a more fundamental question. Why does the State often discover the disappearance of a public asset only after it has alrea