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A continuing failure of India's electoral democracy as well as China's one-party rule is the tolerance of rising levels of political and administrative corruption at all levels, rues T. N. Srinivasan in ‘ Growth, Sustainability, and India's Economic Reforms ' ( www.oup.com ).
The scams in India being currently investigated reveal a very disturbing pattern, he notes. “Unfortunately the assumption of a supervisory role by the highest court, the Supreme Court of India, in the investigations is not desirable from a long-run perspective of the democratic system. The failures are of the politico-administrative and social system and the corrections also have to come from the same system.”
As for China, the author observes that the dismissals of corrupt officials and even executions of some without a modicum of a fair trial with opportunities for the accused to defend themselves are part of its authoritarian system. Among the many suggestions offered is the need for a credible commitment to completing the reform agenda; such as, in the form of a special budget abolishing non-merit subsidies and changing other subsidies. Far larger than the explicit ubsidies as a share of GDP are tax expenditures, that is exemptions from, and/or lower rates relative to normal rates for particular purposes as tax incentives. Persuasive arguments presented in a concise manner.
Cricket needs variety
Does cricket belong to the international stars, the journeyman players, the officials, the fans who make possible the lifestyles of the rich and famous, or to all of them? Posing this question rhetorically, Suresh Menon rues in ‘ Champions! How the World Cup was won ' ( Harper ) that the stakeholders are in the millions, yet the power is concentrated in the hands of a few whom the international body dares not to displease. “Players, who bring the thousands into the stadiums, have no say in the development of the game. They are treated like prize cows, moved around from fair to fair, while the organisers make the money.”
The book lauds an apex court decision upholding a high court verdict that cricket officials are public servants and can be tried under the Prevention of Corruption Act, and aptly refers to a finding of the income-tax authorities – that the BCCI spends just eight per cent of its revenues on the promotion of cricket.
Menon warns that if we do not learn to be magnanimous and accommodating, we will lose both our own audience and cause a split in the cricketing world, with Australia and England and South Africa deciding, for example, that they can form a circuit without India.
A chronicle that cricket enthusiasts may love to read.
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