There are hidden lessons to be learnt from the Bollywood blockbuster Lagaan, released in 2001. A village of peasants prays to the rains gods for good rainfall. But the gods fail to pay heed. The Hindu king who was controlled by British law expressed his helplessness. Reeling under a drought and forced by a foreign regime to pay taxes, the peasants revolt. Unwise tax laws of the Bristish brings almost all the farmers together in revolt. Then, the British authorities and the villagers strike a deal. If the British team wins against the village in a game of cricket, the villagers will have to pay three times the tax they are being charged. However, if the Britishers lose, they forego the taxes for three years. With no training and absolutely no gear, the village team prepares to challenge the British team.
The British team loses. The army cantonment that had challenged the villagers is disbanded. The villainous captain who orchestrated the unauthorised 'cricket deal' is made to pay the tax amount and is transferred to Central Africa as punishment.
Independent, India still fights for justice and cries for effective laws. Everybody here enjoys a ball by ball detailing of a cricket match. Careful audit on each and every run scored and saved shows how important transparency is for maximising the fun and happiness of the game. Recovery called “paisa vasool” is celebrated. No one can steal or hide the profit of the runs scored and saved. Lost matches with weakness and dropped catches are analysed. The show must go on. Can we apply hidden cricket transparency with peoples' participation to our daily governance ?
India today is crying to get free from corruption. People work hard but team rewards in shape of profits and security get stolen. In ancient India kings used to hide profit in temples in the shape of gold. Today corporate pay extra to CEOs who help them to hide money produced as profit in a Swarg called Tax Heavens. Corporate fix leaders to get their favours passed but keep the rest workers insecure. CEOs help investors to steal money from the 'wheel of production' and pump it in the 'wheel of speculation' or 'wheel of gamble' called share baazar. Share Baazar promises faster but unproductive growth.Government-Corporate-Bankers nexus in actual controls share market. This collaboration steals away the hard earned money of the majority 99%.Stealing and hiding the profit unlike in Cricket format is made possible with clever audit.No transparency and with no participation of real producers also helps. Profit monitoring team and production team is kept disconnected.
In cricket, rich and poor love to keep the minute by minute statistic of runs produced with 'profit and loss' in shape of possibility of win or loss. My game, my nation, my joy, my information, my sharing with all concerned is excelled and shaped. Sticking points remain collective ownership and holistic participation in this religion. Imagine a cricket match with 'no rules', 'no wide balls', 'no limited overs' and no cheering and no hooting crowds. Connect the dotes and we see a boring game.With no rewards and with no punishments. Carry it forward we see the pitch of Indian Ministry and Business work culture in India. Disconnected lobbies of excellence as small islands in a business team is essential. Disconnection is designed in the system and is not a default. This keeps the system weak and unsafe. Result ? Ask the home ministry to produce a list of 50 Pakistan trained terrorists as happened in the recent past and you shall find a goof up.
Right to recall the non performing player in a game is possible. Same rule cannot be applied in Business of law making in the Parliament. Right to vote is only after 5 years. During last FIFA in South Africa, we learned as to why a player is replaced if football gets stuck with his foot for more then 20-30 seconds. Fast sharing of football in the team is essential. Audience can build a pressure and force a change via selectors. Stakeholders in shape of audience and investers hoot and shout when the ball is lost in the crowd even for few seconds. Politicians shout and delay for all wrong reasons to block a bill in the Parliament. The recent victims are Lokpal Bill and Women Reservation Bill.
What goes wrong with the luck of a team ?
The space called 'luck' is reduced by practise, calibrations of skills and shooting of goals. The speed and demand to deliver every minute every second is so high that there is no time to fall back on business direction and services of experts during the real match. When democracy is strong and stakeholders as watchdogs are alert the luck is replaced by honest match winning skills. There is no twisting of rules and laws for personal gains. Fair wealth distribution based on skills can increase the income of 99% and the markets can survive.
Information in a business pitch is blocked by match fixing. Profit transformed in shape of dirty money or black money parked in tax heavens refuses to get recovered. Excuses are designed. Any country's finance ministry knows how many notes were printed by the Reserve Bank and how much is parked outside. Chances of corrupt match fixing is there but is very less or can be reduced. Pressure of 'rich and poor' stakeholders with modern technology helps build a simple system which controls and checks the transparency. Referee as a 'human control' can also error which people and player understand.
Politics and daily running of governance under ministry shall always remain boring if rules to control corruption are not fixed. From stadium to Sansad(Parliament) people need to collectively apply simple systems for a corruption free governance. If egg is broken by outside force, life ends and if broken by inside force, life begins. Let us act before it is too late.
