Moneybags galore

A crore of rupees in Australian dollars equates to about AU$250,000, given the current rupee and Australian dollar exchange rate. A few years ago, the launch of the Amitabh Bachchan-hosted TV program Kaun Banega Crorepati had the whole nation agog not only at the prospect of a mega star on the small screen, but also at seeing $250,000 given away to a show contestant. Even Oscar winning films have been spawned on this theme.

But over the past few days, it seems that the value of money has shown a new dimension in India where a crore of rupees to a certain privileged set of Indians, holds limited value. The ostentatious display of money speaks volumes of the haves and have-nots in society and what the new India shows to its own citizens and people around the world.

The two incidents which have caught the public eye is the garland of thousandrupee notes given to Mayawati Naina Kumari, the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh. Though the exact value of the garland is not known, people estimate it in the region of a whopping Rs4 crores or $1,000,000. That a politician blatantly displayed this sort of arrogance in a state which is said to be home to 8% of the world’s poor has further given ammunition to the country’s elite who often disagree with Mayawati’s strand of politics. Dubbed as the Queen of Dalits for her political prowess, the dalits she represents are the former untouchables who are among India’s poorest and most deprived people. But while the intelligentsia criticise her, it seems that those who vote for her look up to her as an icon who has dared to stand

BY PAWAN LUTHRA

up to the establishment and carve a niche for herself - as a dalit and as a womanwho now controls the largest state in India and by default sends one of the largest delegations of lawmakers to New Delhi and India’s parliament.

Bucking the establishment with its show of money is also the Indian Premier League (IPL) and its chairman, Lalit Modi. Over the years, the financial control of the cricketing establishment has shifted from the West to the East. India with its financial muscle has bulldozed its way into the establishment and created a position for itself. While the cricketing traditionialists do not like it, they cannot ignore it as the juggernaut of Indian cricket steamrolls its way across the cricket playing world. So much so, India structured and presented to the world a new 20-20 cricket competition in 2008. Establishing an Indian Premier League (IPL) allowed the idea and concept to have legitimacy and establish a stream of revenue for the organisers and owners of the various IPL franchises. Such was the lure of the rivers of gold in this tournament, the International Cricket Council has been able to accommodate a gap in the world cricket match schedules to allow players (Indian and international), lucky enough to be bought by one of the franchises, to be made available for these games without having the conflict of playing for their country at the same time.

In 2010, the latest IPL franchise for the city of Pune has been sold to Sahara Adventures Group for US $370 million. Another franchise for the city of Kochi was sold for US $373 million. (It is worth noting that only last year, one of the world’s best known football clubs, Manchester City was sold to the Abu Dhabi United Group for US $330 million). Players also make good money as the average bidding price per player was around Rs 17 crore or $4,250,000 by teams and a player who plays all 14 matches will make around Rs. 7 crores or $1,750,000 this year.

The IPL has its own glamour cheer squad – Shah Rukh Khan, Preity Zinta, Shilpa Shetty, Juhi Chawla along with high profile businesses like the Sahara Group, Kingfisher Group, Videocon, Emirates etc. To date the politicians have been kept out of the fray. One suspects that it is a matter of time before we do see the politicians front up more blatantly with a desire to be involved intimately with a game estimated to be watched by over 20 crore people in 2010.

Over time, one suspects two garlands may be needed - one for Modi and yet another one for Mayawati. Their area of exploits may be different but they have personified greed and success in a most interesting way.