England Tour of India: First New Normal Cricket In India Since the Pandemic!

Undoubtedly the most cricket-crazy nation of the world, India had to go without official cricket for nearly a year due the COVID-19 Pandemic that raged in the country till September 2020. Three away cricket series against South Africa, Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka had to be cancelled. The much awaited T20 cricket bonanza, the IPL, had to be shifted to the United Arab Emirates thanks to an empty slot left by the indefinitely postponed ICC World Cup T20 slated for 2020. For India, the IPL had been the start of the New Normal Cricket during September-November 2020 followed by its historic tour of Australia 2020-21, both under secure bio-bubble environment. Now, with the England cricket team touring India, the first official cricket Series is about to unfold from tomorrow, the 5^thof February 2021, at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai: the first of the four-match Test Series between England and India.

 

In view of the pandemic that still has not said quits, new normal arrangements are in place creating a tight bio-secure environment. Although the COVID-19 protocols of the Government of India have allowed 50% of capacity spectators in the stadium the Tamil Nadu cricket authorities had decided to vote for full safety holding the first Test behind closed doors, no spectators allowed. However, after consultation with the BCCI, the state authorities have now allowed half-capacity spectators for the second Test to be held at the same stadium from 13^th February.

 

To maintain a strict bio-bubble the BCCI has restricted the venues to only three: the first two Tests of the World Test Champion Series to be held in Chennai; the next two Tests and the five-match T20 Series to be held at the Motera, Ahmedabad; and the three-match World Cup Super League ODI Series to be held in Pune. The third test in Ahmedabad is going to be a pink-ball day-and-night match, starting from 24^th February 2021. Really a power-packed tour with the good news that half-capacity crowds will be allowed for all the matches from the second test onwards. The matches will be telecast live on Star Sports and live streaming will be available on Disney-Hotstar. The euphoria of the Indian cricket fans after the home team’s stupendous Melbourne and Brisbane victories and the historic fight-back draw in Sydney, all under a stand-in captain Ajinkya Rahane and depleted squads, is set to explode.

 

India, after the 2-1 Test series victory against Australia in Australia, starts as hot favorites. Their top players, namely R Ashwin, Jasprit Bumrah, Cheteshwar Pujara and Ishant Sharma, have fully recovered from injuries, and therefore India will have the services of all top players including Virat Kohli coming back as the captain. The day Team India conquered the Brisbane fortress the Indian squad had been announced for the first two tests. In view of the pandemic an 18-member squad had been selected with the exclusion of a still recuperating Ravindra Jadeja. Then, of course, their near-invincibility at home.

 

On the other hand, England is hardly a pushover. They have also come here after sweeping the test series against Sri Lanka in Sri Lanka 2-0, and they have tremendously consistent players in captain Joe Root, leading batsmen Rory Burns and Jos Buttler, ominous all-rounders Ben Stokes and Moeen Ali, top-class fast bowlers Jofra Archer, James Anderson and Stuart Broad and capable spinners Dom Bess and Jack Leach. The England team had earlier won a test series in India in 2012-13 and crushed India in their tours of England in 2011, 2014 and in 2018.

 

There are more stakes involved in this Test Series as far as the World Test Championship (WTC) is concerned. This series between Indian and England is almost sure to decide the second finalist for the WTC Final in June this year at Lord’s in England, both of the teams having played 5 of the 6 Series allowed and New Zealand having already qualified with 70 points. India on top with 71.7 points needs to win at least two tests to qualify while England on 68.7 points will need to win three tests. Australia, even though they are in the third position with 69.2 points, is almost out of contention as their series against South Africa has been postponed indefinitely. India enjoys the greatest of chances to qualify at the moment. However, cricket being a game of glorious uncertainties we can only hope for the best. But some superlative cricket is definitely in store for all cricket lovers.

Indian Farmers’ Crisis: Two Months And The Republic Day Aftermath!

Perhaps the Indian agitating farmers, protesting for more than 60 days, made two strategic mistakes at two crucial junctures. First when the Supreme Court of India stayed the Farm Laws till further orders and constituted a panel to carry forward the discussion. The farmers rejected this saying that all the four members of the panel were in support of the three Farm Laws, and that they wanted to talk with the Government only and wanted solutions through this. Perhaps, they could have perceived the stay on the implementation of the laws as a moral victory, and felt the opportunity in this, because the opinions of the panelists were not going to be the final say with the Supreme Court observing.

 

Second when the Government of India proposed what they had termed as the best offer: willing to stay the three laws for a period 18 months and carrying on the process of discussion, looking for required amendments of some provisions and so on. The farmers rejected this too saying that they would not stop at anything short of a repeal of the laws and a legislation to guarantee Minimum Support Prices. Perhaps, they could have reasoned that one and half years was quite a long time, and that the interim period was full of opportunities at finally arriving at the laws they would not object to.

 

The sole factor responsible for the stalemate has been the ever-growing trust deficit between the farmers and the government. The farmers did not want to put trust on the government due to many reasons, and they were also apprehensive of losing the momentum of the painstakingly built-up movement once they agreed to the proposals or rather falling into the trap supposedly set by the government.

 

The BJP-led National Democratic Government at the centre has always been used to more of cracking down on democratic movement than respecting the same over the last few years. The methods used to crack a movement are familiar to many, and in trying to crack the Farmers’ Movement most of the ‘time-tested’ methods are used: that the laws passed by the Parliament will be very beneficial for the farmers; that the agitation represented only two states of India and the rest of the farmers are always in support of the laws; that parallel farm unions are meeting the government to urge them usher in the reforms; that the opposition political parties are misleading the farmers; that terrorist elements have infiltrated the agitation and the enemy nation beyond the border is trying to take advantage of this to create disturbances; and that finally after a successful crack, labelling all agitators as anti-nationals or traitors or terrorists.   

 

What happened in the national capital on the 72^nd Republic Day, 26^th January 2021, in the wake of a tractor rally by the agitating farmers that was granted permission to enter Delhi after the Supreme Court refused to interfere, was a blot in the entire history of independent India. The utter chaos, the sporadic violence unfolding across the streets, the breach of the historical Red Fort and the injuries suffered by the policemen were unprecedented and must be condemned by all. Insult to the national flag cannot be condoned under any circumstances either. However, another chaotic drama unfolded immediately afterwards with the crosscurrents of photos/videos in the social media and on the television screens: one group saying the farmers had insulted the national tricolor and were actually terrorists while the other group alleging the opposite saying that the peaceful agitating farmers were not part of the violent acts, and that it was a conspiracy of the national ruling party to break the movement.

 

Well, the government, enjoying the support of a brute but abundantly clear majority, achieved what was required to put the agitation to an end irrespective of the contrasting narratives in circulation. FIRs and lookout notices were pressed in for most of the farmer leaders, and more forces, the police and paramilitary, were posted at all of the three protest sites bordering the national capital Delhi which are Ghazipur, Singhu and Tikri. The Yogi Government of Uttar Pradesh issued an ultimatum to the farmers at Ghazipur, ordering them to vacate immediately, and the forces even staged a flag march there in the dead of the night of 27-28^th January, 2021. Water and electricity supplies were cut off. Similar moves were also noticed at the Singhu border which has been the epicenter of the movement since the last two months.

 

The two-month-old farmers’ movement seemed doomed and actually cracked open with several Unions withdrawing from the protests and hundreds of farmers returning to their villages. But then, everything changed which essentially meant that the government’s perception about the ‘movement’ was wrong. One front-running leader of Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU), Rakesh Tikait, surrounded by security forces and deserted by many farmers during the same night of January 27-28^th at Ghazipur, cried out conspiracy and became tearfully emotional. He declared an indefinite fast, and said he would drink water only from his village.

 

His interview given to the media went viral instantly. And, his brother-leader in Uttar Pradesh along with thousands of farmers expressed shock, anger and sadness. They started garnering support immediately and started sending enforcements of farmers carrying the essentials including drinking water. Thus supported, Rakesh Tikait defied the Yogi government ultimatum with more and more farmers rejoining, even the returning farmers coming back. The plan of the Yogi government could never be carried out even as water and electricity supplies were restored the next day.

 

One more shocking event of mob violence happened at Singhu border on 29^th January which made the ‘conspiracy’ angle much more plausible. A group of more than 200 people, claiming to be locals and wanting farmers to end stir in view of they insulting the national tricolor, carrying the national tricolor were allowed to cross at least three heavy barricades and to come face to face with the agitating farmers, calling the latter names in the most horrific way. The mob started pelting stones at the farmers ransacking their tents and belongings as the police looked on. Only when the situation got out of control with some the mob swinging swords the police cracked down, and at least two of them were seriously injured. Fortunately, this time the policemen were not attacked by the ‘farmers’.

 

The Farmers’ Movement, instead of getting cracked open, has got a second lease of life, perhaps even stronger than before. The cultivators are the providers of food and they constitute the bane of the Indian economy. In the long run all stakeholders have everything to lose only if they try to divide or alienate them or calling them ‘traitors’, or ‘terrorists’ or ‘anti-nationals’. Good sense seems to have prevailed over the Government with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, for the first time, reaching out to the farmers saying that the ‘best offer’ still holds and that resolution must be reached through dialogue only. The concerns of the farmers must be put at rest first, reforms can come after that. 

OTT Webseries Blues In India: Tandav Just A Beginning Of The Tandava?

It seems, reasonably enough, that the outrage was waiting to happen. The growth of the Over-the-top media services platforms (OTT) that distribute video streaming over the internet, has been tremendous in the last eight years in India; in 2018 its market worth was more than INR 21.5 billion which has grown to INR 35 billion in 2019 and it is around INR 40 billion now. The market worth is expected to grow at the exponential rate of 45% to reach around INR 138 billion in 2023 and over 158 billion in 2024. The platforms enjoy a viewership of more than 1.7 billion subscribers currently which is likely to rise to a whopping 5 billion this year, making it the second-biggest OTT market after the US. Except for Reliance Entertainment’s launch of BigFix in 2008, the biggest of the 40-odd OTT platforms like SonyLIV, Disney-Hotstar, Netflix, Amazon Prime, Voot, JioCinema and Zee5 started operations in India during 2013-18.

 

Initially, the OTT platforms were streaming released feature films, documentaries, short films and the like, but over time they have launched themselves into their own video productions of movies, shorts and most importantly, the Web Series, and then streaming those to their subscribers who can enjoy in their smartphones, laptops and desktops. Here lay the catch: there have been established regulatory bodies for print and electronic media; for advertising spots; and for the visual media comprising of feature films, documentaries and any other theatre-releases; however, for the OTT platforms, called Digital Media that includes social media and all other online expressions, there were no regulatory bodies, and this gave them a distinct advantage over others.

 

After watching the streamed videos, particularly the Webseries with up to 9-10 episodes, one feels, again reasonably enough, that what the filmmakers cannot afford to do in the to-be-certified film productions, they can do it in the most self-indulgent ways in the OTT productions. This means: they can allow their actors to mouth all of the slangs/abuses in wanton abundance, they can show explicit sex scenes in graphic indulgence and can also have violence beyond measure, in full gory details. This huge advantage was bound to raise concerns and alert the vigilante hardliners, sooner or later.

 

While the other forms of media, despite being regulated, have been facing attacks from the hardline groups and the fringe elements, the Webseries productions, despite showcasing much bolder content, continued to enjoy some kind of immunity except for the occasional PIL. This scenario is perhaps explained by the fact that the OTT platforms mostly cater to the urban users having the required facilities, and the viewing being primarily personal with headphones plugged in. Thanks to the Digital India connectivity campaign, the emergence of the Jio mobile-phone and internet services, and the consequent crash in mobile and internet charges all over, the subscriber-gates also opened up to the huge sector of rural India.

 

Naturally then, the Government of India started thinking about bringing the enormously growing digital media as a whole under its regulation. The mandarins of the OTT management sensed it too, and they worked out a self-regulation formula, coming together, sometime in early 2020. But the Government rejected this proposal, and eventually in November 2020 the Government of India, through a Gazette notification signed by the President of India, brought all of digital media under its control, that is, under the ambit of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. After volleys of protests and concerns, the picture is still not clear as to how this regulation would work out in practical terms.

 

And finally, all hell broke loose as the Hindutva groups protested vehemently against Amazon Prime Video’s new Webseries, Tandav (Catastrophe), objecting against some scenes in the Series supposedly making a mockery of Hindu Gods. The Government of Uttar Pradesh went to the extent of lodging FIRs against the producers of Tandav, and threatening even arrests. The national ruling party, as usual, came out in full support of the chorus for action with some of its leaders pledging to bring those producers to book, at any cost. The producers were also summoned by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting for explanations. The stirrings transformed into a full Tandava as objections were also raised against Amazon’s most popular Webseries ‘Mirzapur’-seasons 1 and 2, after months of the streaming.  

Whatever be the premises of the objections, it must be pointed out here the concerned Webseries Tandav is a very poorly-made and ridiculous one, and it doesn’t even deserve controversy and free publicity.  

We can give two laughable examples here: first, the Prime Minster of India as portrayed in the Series, is dining alone in the huge hall without even a single uniformed attendant around, and obviously there were no security guards or reception lounges outside as her political rival barges in, sits beside her, snatches her plate and starts eating it himself while delivering the dialogues; second, one lady carrying a bag of INR 10 million in her car, enters the most protected VVIP area of the supposed national capital, gets down from the car with the bag, walks to a street-dustbin and pushes the bag in, then she walks into another campus, confronts one more dustbin, turns it down spilling over the items, selects her designated item and leaves in her car, and while she has been doing all these actions not a soul was visible around the big area, forget about security personnel or other cars. To such numerous other scenes, objections can be raised too, by even neutral connoisseurs of art and cinema. But why at all? The best thing is to let a bad work of art sink without a bubble.

 

However, that is not the sense that is prevailing now. Amazon Prime and all the crew members of Tandavapologized unconditionally, and even the disputed scenes have already been deleted. But no! the self-styled protectors of religion and culture would see them arrested and punished lest others dare to! In a society that is already polarized and deeply divided, this does not augur well for the future of the art and creativity of the country. Unfortunately, this Tandava, not at all related to the revered Lord Shiva, is only set to intensify further. It is high time the Government of India comes out with specific details of the intended regulatory measures.