grodscorp@grods.comHowzat?
 | Posted by Bridgit Gread on Thursday 21 February 2008, 7:54 pm Categories: Society, Sport Tags: capitalism, cricket, India, poverty |
The Indian Premier League (IPL) is a new six-week cricket competition scheduled for April. Not sure of the details but there’s eight teams, all based in Indian cities but containing a mix of foreign and local players. Each team is owned by a corporation or consortium which has purchased a franchise; the eight franchises total in excess of $US720 million. A ten-year deal to broadcast the IPL has cost two media outlet an astonishing $US1.026 billion. Players are ’auctioned’ and purchased by the team franchises for extraordinary amounts, e.g. Mahendra Singh Dhoni $US1.5 million, Andrew Symonds, $US1.35 million, Sachin Tendulkar $US1.12 million.
Meanwhile, the World Food Programme reports:
Nearly 50 percent of the world’s hungry live in India, a low-income, food-deficit country. Around 35 percent of India’s population - 350 million - are considered food-insecure, consuming less than 80 percent of minimum energy requirements. Nutritional and health indicators are extremely low. Nearly nine out of 10 pregnant women aged between 15 and 49 years suffer from malnutrition and anaemia. Anaemia in pregnant women causes 20 percent of infant mortality. More than half of the children under five are moderately or severely malnourished, or suffer from stunting.
At least all those anaemic, stunted and malnourished Indians will be able to watch some good cricket as they wither away.
Thursday 21 February 2008, 8:14 pm #The Editor
It’s the trickle down theory. Massive spending on cricket trickles down to the cricket-loving populace through, um… Ask Prodos — it’s capitalism or something.
Thursday 21 February 2008, 8:25 pm #Bridgit Gread
Yep. Indian cricketer receives $1 million for playing a few games; employs maid and houseboy at $1.35 for a 60-hour week. Everybody wins.
Thursday 21 February 2008, 9:13 pm #Mikey
No they won’t. Cause most of them don’t have a TV.
Thursday 21 February 2008, 10:12 pm #Damian
Good post, Bridgit. Not much more to say, is there?
Thursday 21 February 2008, 10:38 pm #Chuck A. Spear
It will trickle down to the kid I saw a few years back with one bristle on his tooth brush. Maybe he will be able to afford a 42nd hand one with 2 bristles.
Who cares anyway if there is no food to clean one’s teeth with.
Thursday 21 February 2008, 10:44 pm #Wah
Bridgit, these are filthy rich businessmen spending this money. If they didn’t have a cricket competition to spend it on, they would blow it elsewhere though it’s hardly likely it would be at the Sisters of Charity in Kolkata.
India is the waking giant of the world’s economy and hopefully the numbers you’ve presented will come down. One of the barriers is the insiduous caste system, which will always prevent people from improving their lot in life,
Thursday 21 February 2008, 10:48 pm #Damian
…these are filthy rich businessmen spending this money. If they didn’t have a cricket competition to spend it on, they would blow it elsewhere…
So it ain’t their actions per se that are bad, it’s the system that allows them (nay, encourages them) to act that way. Is that too “hard left” for this blog? I didn’t actually say capitalism.
Thursday 21 February 2008, 11:18 pm #Bridgit Gread
A shame there’s not an Indian Bloggers League, featuring similarly obscene amounts of cash. The Editor could sell his soul.
Friday 22 February 2008, 12:12 am #Chuck A. Spear
My soul is up for bidding. I will pay anyone to take it off me.
Friday 22 February 2008, 2:26 am #Ray Dixon
A shame there’s not an Indian Bloggers League…
There almost is. Indians - the ones who can afford it - are into two things big time, blogging & cricket. Especially ‘blogging about cricket’. It’s more than a religion, it’s a science to them. See wordpress’ cricket tag, it’s dominated by Indians and it’s mind boggling.
Hopefully Wah is right about the hundreds of millions of those who are excluded from India’s new wealth. They’ve got a long way to go though. Eg: Tata Motors has released a ‘people’s car’ for the masses. The tiny Nano seats 5 (??) and costs just $2,500. There are only 2 problems:
1) The car will fall to bits on the crap roads in the ‘outer regions’ (i.e. any area more than 20kms outside a major city)
2) No one in the target market can afford that sort of money anyway
They’ll end up exporting it to countries slightly better off - like Australia. I’ve got my order in.
Friday 22 February 2008, 7:36 am #Damian
Ray: “Hopefully Wah is right about the hundreds of millions of those who are excluded from India’s new wealth. They’ve got a long way to go though.”
Aye, and they will find the going even harder as the price of food continues to rise as a result of the new rich wanting to eat meat instead of grains.
Friday 22 February 2008, 7:44 am #The Editor
I will never, ever sell out. EVER!
By the way, did I mention that the next Let’s Cook! With Craig will be brought to you by Heinz?
Friday 22 February 2008, 10:04 am #Guy
Nice post, and a point made that is quite hard to argue with.
Friday 22 February 2008, 2:33 pm #krypto
sure they’re starving but can they play SPORT!!??!! That’s what’s important here.
God bless capitalism huh?
Saturday 23 February 2008, 9:07 am #The Editor
Andrew Bolt has kindly explained how this trickle down effect has worked.
Saturday 23 February 2008, 10:30 am #John Surname
It honestly surprised me that Indian businessmen had this much money. How many Australian business men would be willing to spend $1.6 million on acquiring a cricket player for six weeks? None, I reckon.
Saturday 23 February 2008, 4:27 pm #krypto
I think youd be both surprised and disgusted John
Sunday 24 February 2008, 1:49 pm #Bridgit Gread
Andrew Bolt has kindly explained how this trickle down effect has worked.
Well I stand corrected - India is a capitalist paradise where everyone’s on the up and nobody goes hungry. I guess all those reports of poverty and malnutrition are a WFP/WHO/UNESCO conspiracy. Feel free to pump another $2 billion into a cricket series.
Sunday 24 February 2008, 3:11 pm #krypto
oh yeah those untouchables in Calcutta-they’re really committed to the lie though huh?
Monday 25 February 2008, 4:49 pm #Kevin From Bathurst
I think the caste system has more to answer for than capitalism. Bridgit, I’d like to talk to you about reincarnation…