01-06-2021 The Asian Independent

6 01-06-2021 to 15-06-2021 ASIA
www.theasianindependent.co.uk
Indian administrators must change
mind-set towards women's cricket
New Delhi : In 2012, the Indian
Sports Ministry asked all the national
sports federations (NSFs) to make provision
for "at least 10 per cent of its total
membership" to women, besides the 25
per cent membership and voting rights it
envisaged for the government-nominated
athletes on the executive committees
of the NSFs.
But the Board of Control for Cricket
in India (BCCI) would have none of it -
- it can only afford to snub the sports
ministry, like it did.
In a 39-page, strongly-worded reply
to the Ministry, the BCCI straightaway
rejected the instructions.
"Cricket for women is no doubt conducted
under the aegis of the BCCI, but
(it) has never attracted even a fraction of
the popularity associated with the men's
team," it wrote.
"Our members would never accept
such an illegal imposition of women
having membership and voting rights
over cricketing matters concerning the
men's team. In fact, this provision is
downright absurd as far as the BCCI is
concerned. The end result of these
changes would dilute the voting rights
of the existing members by 35 per cent
(25+10 per cent) and that is reason
enough to drop these provisions," the
Board added.
Needless to say, the BCCI never
implemented the Ministry's instructions
-- and got away scot-free.
Here's another example. Just a few
years ago, when I asked a former president
of the Indian cricket board during a
formal interview about the lack of facilities
for Indian women cricketers, he
chose to go "off the record" and poured
out, what I felt, were his true feelings
for women cricketers.
What he told me "off the record" was
candid as well as disconcerting. More
importantly, his "off the record" reply
gave a peep into the mind-set of Indian
cricket administrators vis-a-vis women
cricketers. "See, the Indian (male) players
are getting the facilities after several
decades; the women's wing wanted this
within two years," he stated, off the
record. "They want to be treated on the
same lines as (Mahendra Singh) Dhoni
and (Sachin) Tendulkar. Within bounds
and reasons, they have been given all --
they have been holding camps, using the
NCA (National Cricket Academy). They
want to tour; they are allowed. We cannot
duplicate the men's wing for them.
The men's wing got it after many years
after delivering so much on the field.
Please understand that," he said.
The reply came as a revelation of the
mentality of the BCCI -- of what they
think about women cricketers.
As a disclaimer, let me point out that
this is not to belittle the superb achievements
of the men's team over the years
and decades, nor am I trying to make a
case that women cricketers should
immediately - and at all costs -- be
given all that their male counterparts are
receiving. The point here is that the
BCCI is rich enough to narrow the vast
gap between the wages of the two genders
-- provided the thinking of its
administrators changes, if it hasn't so
far, since the former president gave me
a peep into his mind.
The BCCI's 2018-19 balance sheet
showed that it was worth a colossal Rs
14,489.80 crore. Obviously, there is no
dearth of money; it has to be the mindset,
which must change.
As the Indian women's team is set to
embark on a tour of England in a few
days, not much may have changed within
the BCCI with regard to women
cricketers. A sample of this can be had
from the vast disparity in the annual
retainership for male and female players
announced recently.
The annual retainership/contract for
players is just the latest example of the
huge gulf between the pay scale of the
male and female cricketers. A male
cricketer in the A+ Grade receives Rs 7
crore, those in the A bracket get Rs 5
crore, cricketers in the B category
receive Rs 3 crore, and cricketers in the
C Grade get Rs 1 crore annually.
For women, there are only three
grades, and the retainership amounts are
Rs 50 lakh, Rs 30 lakh, and Rs 10 lakh.
Yes, you read it right - Rs 50 lakh, Rs 30
lakh, and Rs 10 lakh.
The total amount the BCCI has earmarked
for the 28 male cricketers for
the 2020-21 annual retainership is Rs 96
crore, while the corresponding grand
total for the 19 contracted women cricketers
is a mere Rs 5.10 crore -- a colossal
difference of Rs 90.90 crore.
Similarly, there is a huge gulf in the
match fees of Indian male and female
cricketers.
Also, the women's teams play much
less international matches than the
men's team - therefore, much less
income in terms of match fee. Imagine,
the Indian women's team last played a
Test match in 2014. They will now play
one in England.
Those who try to defend the vast disparity
in payment often argue that
women players don't attract revenue via
sponsorship and other endorsements, so
they deserve less pay. My counter is:
Did the BCCI over the years and
decades try to take women players (and
administrators of the national women's
cricket body when they were a separate
entity until 2006) into confidence and
market their game along with men's?
Did they treat female cricketers at par
with their male counterparts in many
other respects? The answer is: No.
Had the BCCI administrators over
the decades honestly planned about the
betterment of the women's game, they
could have bundled the sponsorship
deals, combining men's and women's
cricket. That never happened.
The hard truth is that the BCCI
extremely reluctantly merged the
national women's body, which was an
independent body until 2006. The BCCI
was one of the last national men's
boards to merge the women's wing on
the instructions of the International
Cricket Council.
And then people with a certain mindset
have been ruling the BCCI since.
Evidently, there are different yardsticks
for men's and women's game.
Indian women cricketers, present and
past, saw a ray of hope when Sourav
Ganguly was elected BCCI president in
October 2019. Former India captain
Shanta Ramgaswamy was among those
who saw light at the end of the tunnel.
"As Sourav is there as BCCI president
and when he says that he wants to
do something for first-class cricketers, I
suppose he includes women players
also. So, that's a good sign. Hopefully,
half of our work will be done. What we
need to do, he himself is proposing. If it
happens, it will be a shot in the arm for
all women cricketers who slogged all
their lives to help sustain this game,"
Ramgaswamy, who is now in the BCCI
apex council as a representative of the
Indian Cricketers' Association, had told
me after the 2019 BCCI elections.
Alas, not much has happened since
October 2019. Probably Ganguly alone
can't do anything without his colleagues
changing their mind-set vis-a-vis Indian
women's cricket.
Mumbai : Actor Abhishek
Bachchan has called his father,
Bollywood icon Amitabh
Bachchan, good company to
have, sharing that when the
father-son duo was hospitalised
due to Covid last year, it was
wonderful to wake up and go see
his father, a 78-year-old back
then with severe comorbidities,
have the fighting spirit to battle
the virus.
"Everybody has their own
unique experience with Covid, I
think people react to it differently.
It was not a nice experience
for me because you know I had
a family that was inflicted by
this as well. If you are in a situation
where you are under medical
supervision, you are very
powerless," said Abhishek, during
a social media live motivational
podcast with international
speaker Anand Chulani.
"Your life is being run by the
medical teams so you are not
really in control of your faculties
Abhishek on dad Amitabh Bachchan:
He is good company to have
in that sense and you don't really
have any power over what
you do. You are not too sure
what is going on as there is a lot
of uncertainty about how things
are going to pan out. The initial
nights when I was in hospital, it
was tough to sleep because I
didn't know really what awaited
me on the other side," Abhishek
added.
He stressed that keeping a
positive mindset is the only
thing that is in one's control and
it could get challenging at times.
He said his father got him
though his sleepless nights in
the: "Initially, my father and I
were in the hospital together. A
week later my wife and daughter
were hospitalised.
Thankfully, they
only had to be there
for about a week
then they came out,
and my dad and I
stayed on for a bit
longer because we
hadn't tested negative."
"Well, he is good
company to have,
so it was wonderful
to wake up and go
see my father who
last year was 78
years old, a man
with severe comorbidities
but him
being positive and
having that fighting
spirit to get through
this."
Abhishek added: "At
that point of time my
energies were obviously
directed towards him
and him becoming better
because you fear for
your parents, it's actually
of a sensitive age
group."
Seeing Big B's fighting
spirit was inspirational
to Abhishek. "I
mean he is also a great
friend of mine, so it was
good to shoot the
breeze with him and
you know when you are
a COVID patient although you
can interact with other patients,
there is nothing else to do, you
just have to wait around. So,
there was some good banter that
went on, I mean he is a good
roomy in that sense," he said.
Reflecting on how Covid has
shaped his life, he said he is the
same person and he would like
to believe that even in times like
these he always stays positive.
"The one thing that the last
one year has taught me is you
got to value your relationship
and value the fact that you have
a happy and healthy family
around you. There was a point in
time I was frustrated during the
lockdown but then my wife put
things into perspective for me
and told me how for the first
time in many years I could sit
back, not be working round the
clock and enjoy the company of
my family in the safety of my
home. That by itself, is a blessing,"
he added.