Why did Sreesanth cheat?

If the title of the blogpost gives you the impression that what follows is an investigational account of the nexus among bookies, players, politicians etc., then you are bound to be disappointed. So, in order to set the context, let me outline what this post is all about. This post captures my understanding of what behavioral economists have to say about “cheating”. The learnings are mainly from an online course from Dan Ariely (Duke University) titled “A Beginner's Guide to Irrational Behavior”. So, let’s begin the journey of analyzing Sreesanth’s fall from grace. 

Mr. Prime Minister, I will try my level best

A couple of hours ago, I happened to watch our Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh, address the nation. Given the spate of criticism faced by the government in the wake of corruptions and controversial reforms, the public at large felt an address to the nation was long due. Even his self-proclaimed “khamoshi” (silence) that was meant to save the “aabroo” (dignity) of the corruption laden nexus of corporates and politicians, wasn’t successful at all.

These are some of my observations from the PM’s address to the nation. Before you proceed, I would request you to either go through the text of the speech or the video so that we can have a more meaningful discussion.

How to clean the IPL mess?

A lot is being said about IPL nowadays so I thought why not join the bandwagon. After all, IPL which was supposed to be a mix of cricket and glamour, has instead become a topic taking black money, conflict of interests, match fixing, abuse, molestations too into its fold.

As is the case (discussed in one my earliest post as well) that those who run the IPL i.e. organizers (IPL committee), the regulators (read BCCI but don’t ask me if they are too different from the IPL committee) and the sponsors (including the advertisers, broadcasters and team owners) are too intertwined and thus this combination has become just “Too big to fail”.

Telecom Industry: 3 cheers to 2G verdict?

So, finally the cat is out of the bag. Through a drastic as well as unprecedented judgment,   the Supreme Court has cancelled all the 122 2G licenses issued in January 2008. Some may say that the crook corporates got what they deserve, whereas others might say that it wasn't fair to paint everybody with the same brush. Let’s try to discuss the major fall outs of this landmark judgment.

The positive side of "Rs. 32"

The Planning Commission of India finds itself in a spot after submitting before the Supreme Court that the poor are those who, per day, spend less than Rs. 25 and Rs. 32 in rural and urban areas, respectively. While it’s always debatable whether the right methodology has been adopted or how valid these numbers are, but this "Rs. 32 debate" does have some positive significance as far as our macro policies are concerned. Let’s discuss the two major ones. 

How Anna moved the nation?

It’s ironical but true. It took a 74 year-old to mobilize one of the youngest nations (in terms of demography) in the world that too using the methodology of satyagraha which till the recent past was touted as being out of sync with modern India. In fact many felt “Gandhigiri” was more the "in thing". A nation that saw cricketers and movie-stars being identified as “youth icons” certainly was suddenly enamored by a Gandhian.  The Sydney Herald calls him “The New Gandhi”, The Times quoted, “Anna Hazare: How One Activist Brought the World's Largest Democracy to Its Knees” and so on. After all it was unthinkable that a metro centric- mobilization would reach such humongous proportions. So, how did Anna manage to strike the chord? 

Telecom Industry in India: More players may lead to higher tariffs?

Telecom industry has been instrumental in revolutionizing the lives of common Indians. The mobile phone and now the internet has been in focus of late at almost every level be it policy, corporate, consumer etc. But the industry is going through turbulent times. The 2G scam, the steeply priced 3G spectrum, tax claims… the list is endless. It doesn’t make for a good reading as telecommunication will go a long way in determining our future growth rate as we are in the information age. 

Let’s have a look at some of the problems plaguing the industry. Let me divide the problem into two parts based on the technology involved; 2G and 3G. 

2G: If you look at problems in this space, the 2G scam comes to your mind straightaway. Undoubtedly it’s a blot on the Indian face. And its findings will certainly leave many embarrassed but let’s not waste our time over these facts related to the scam. Instead, let’s concentrate on the other major issues related to 2G. The one that comes to the mind is “too much competition or should I say too many players”. While FCFS basis used to allocate spectrum helped keep the cost down hence low tariffs but it allowed too many players to enter the fray. 

Bihar: The road-map to prosperity

For the past few weeks, I have been going through various panel discussions, books, blogs & news articles, both national and international that had some relevance or relation to Bihar. Through this blog dedicated to Bihar, my focus will be on laying out a roadmap for a prosperous Bihar. I will include the findings from the above exercises as well as inputs from discussions that I had with my Bihari as well as non-Bihari friends. Let us now start our expedition.

A peep into "Peepli-Live"

"सरकार मरने का पैसा देती है!” This line pretty much forms the basis of the storyline of Aamir Khan produced film: Peepli Live. In other words, "a farmer in need of money would prefer to commit suicide if the government gives him muaawzaa (compensation)". You all might be wondering if I am trying to do a movie-review in this blog. Well my answer would be a Yes as well as a No. Yes because I will discuss the different realms touched by this movie and a No because this blog is not a commentary on the quality of filmmaking or acting or for that matter the music of this movie.

The Anonymous Whistle-blowers

During our college days, we all have either experienced or heard about ragging. But occasionally some of us have been rescued by the timely intervention of anti ragging squad. No, I am not going to discuss ragging in this blog as I am still not sure what is the exact definition of ragging? Rather I will discuss something that has really put me in moral dilemma. I would like to share it with you to see if we can find a solution. Going back to the earlier example, the anti-ragging squad is usually tipped off by one of the juniors i.e. the sufferers. In order to avoid the wrath of the seniors, that junior informs the administration more often than not anonymously. He does this to avoid being ostracized by seniors or sometimes even by some juniors (some consider it as fun). Juniors undergoing ragging do shower silent praises on such a person. After all he is nothing less than a savior for them. He does what most wanted to do but didn’t have the courage to do so.

The Past, The Present & The Future of Asia.

We all love keenly contested battles. Isn’t it? Such contests can take place on the sports ground, in the academic setup, on the battlefield etc. The one such battle that I am going to talk about, is taking place on the global scale. It’s the battle to become the next economic superpower of Asia. In this blog I’ll discuss the three countries that look set to stake their claim for the Numero Uno tag. The great thing about this contest is that we could have three different leaders at three commonly classified points of time i.e. the Past, the Present & the future. So, let me break the suspense on the trinity (if there was ever one). They are Japan, China & India. Let’s us analyze their strengths, weaknesses and the possible road ahead.

Can you Spot Match-fixing?

After raising some of the issues related to our student lives, this time I would focus on a topic that I would, honestly speaking , not have wanted any further discussion on. The topic is “match fixing”. Back in the early 1990’s when I devoted considerable time analyzing even remote things associated with cricket; I was really shocked when a series of well known cricketers were implicated in it. It was disturbing to say the least as I really loved the game and still continue to do so (though the time devoted has come down considerably)    

But it seems that greed is too humane a tendency to buckle down against feeling of patriotism, professionalism or ethics. The incidences over the years have thrown some interesting features about this phenomenon or should I say menace. Let us discuss a few of them.  

First is the variety of ways in which bets can be placed or different ways in which outcomes can be influenced. Those familiar with betting on soccer games especially during the recent FIFA world cup must be aware of odds being placed on more than just the final outcome of the match. It could be number of corners, red cards, yellow cards, goal difference etc. Similarly other sports also provide enough opportunities as well as ways to bet. I will discuss two types of fixing that normally take place in cricket and try to see if both of them finally converge at some point or substitute the other in different formats. 

Too Big To Fail

I have always wondered, why things are so hard to change even when we are at a consensus that they must. Take the case of corruption, inefficient bureaucracy, casteism, communalism... the list is endless. The reason is that they have become "too big to fail (TBTF)". Take the case of government office saddled with corruption. Though a lot of people are at a receiving end due this menace but they are mostly the external stakeholders of this system. On the other hand, those benefiting from it, the peon, the kirani babu and the bada saheb can directly affect this system and most importantly, they are a sizable lot characterized by greed. In order to satiate their insatiable desire, they go out of their way to guard their territory.