Reverse gear!

Two reports in the newspapers today grabbed my eyeballs. I skimmed past the humungous coverage given to F1: it did not interest me as much as a small story on our sports minister, Ajay Maken, being denied a ticket for the inauguration of the obscenely expensive sport that India (or even our planet) obviously cannot afford to host, given the huge appetite for fuel that it has. The other one was on Wipro’s Azim Premji planning a network of free primary and secondary schools in our country’s remote districts.
Ajay Maken is trying to be for the sports ministry what Jairam Ramesh had been for environment ministry and is now for urban development ministry: a minister with a conscience.
A few months back, Maken had tried to bring forth a new sports bill that would bring the sports federations, including the super-rich Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), under the ambit of the Right to Information Act (RTI).
Predictably, the Cabinet did not clear the Bill that was essentially meant to increase transparency and introduce accountability of all sports bodies. How could it when it had its ministers heading the federations and boards?
Today, when the media, corporate giants, celebrities and F1 enthusiasts are focussing on the flag that will be waved to ignite the event that is to take place on the swanky Rs 2000-crore Buddh International Circuit, our sports minister will be laying the foundation for the Rs 5-crore synthetic track at P.T. Usha’s academy in Koyilandi near Calicut.
The F1 organisers decided to snub the sports minister because he refused a Rs 100-crore tax exemption for the sport that is guaranteed to rake in billions. Isn’t the demand for tax waiver for a sport like Formula One itself a bizarre one? Especially when we are going to witness unbridled flow of money and liquor from corporate coffers; when we are going to see film promotions on cars; when we get to peek into those lavish after-parties (thanks to the paparazzi hunting down the celebs). So the very suggestion of a tax exemption is rather infuriating.
The other news story on Azim Premji planning free schools was a novel gesture in a country plagued by the heady concoction of population, poverty and corruption. The lack of basic education and health care in a country which is hosting a multi-billion-dollar sporting event is a trifle difficult to digest. Sorry for bringing in the formula one again and again into the thread of argument. But, when a country is unable to even whet the basic calorific appetite of millions, and offers an unrealistic Rs 32-a-day as a level to measure poverty figures, it does seem lopsided food for thought.
At least, Premji has lead by example for corporates to come out of their ivory towers and spare a thought for a country starved of basic necessities for survival. Even a few crumbs from them could go a long way to redefine corporate social responsibility, and not let us believe that it is an oxymoron!