By Ranjit Devraj

NEW DELHI, Apr 25 (IPS) - Allegations that India’s junior foreign minister Shashi Tharoor had swung
outsize ‘sweat equity’ for a female friend in a newly floated professional cricket
league franchise may have cost him his job, but it may also expose the multi-
million dollar India Premium League (IPL) as a massive money-laundering
enterprise.

Tharoor, a former United Nations under-secretary general, denied in a
speech delivered in Parliament on Tuesday that he had done anything
”improper or unethical,” adding he was resigning so as not to ”embarrass” the
government of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

But the heat generated over the issue resulted in parliamentarians from both
the treasury and opposition benches demanding that the government
thoroughly investigate the IPL and its ability to attract hundreds of millions of
dollars from shell companies at auctions of franchises and in advertising and
telecast rights.

During the debates in Parliament around Tharoor’s resignation, Laloo Prasad
Yadav, leader of the regional Rashtriya Janata Dal party, alleged that the IPL
thrived on ”the laundering of black money stashed away in Swiss banks.”

Gurudas Dasgupta, a long-standing member of the Communist Party of
India, said the IPL exploited a passion for cricket among Indians but had
turned the game into organised gambling. He referred to reports of large
amounts of money flowing into the IPL from tax havens such as Mauritius and
Dubai.

Top members of the ruling Congress party seemed to agree. ”The IPL is
nothing but glorified gambling with black money,” said Vayalar Ravi, a
member of Singh’s cabinet and Minister for Overseas Indians.

Such was the clamour for investigations into the workings of the IPL that
Indian Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee was compelled to make a solemn
promise in Parliament that a thorough probe would be launched by the
income tax department and that ”no one would be spared.”

On Wednesday, income tax officials carried out simultaneous raids on IPL’s
offices in several cities across India and those of its franchisees such as the
Kolkata Knight Riders owned by the film star Shah Rukh Khan.

Tax officials have been questioning IPL commissioner Lalit Modi, described as
the ‘wunderkind’ who brought together high-profile politicians, film stars,
world cricketing legends and big money to create what may be the world’s
most lucrative professional cricket league.

With such a powerful lineup, will the government carry its investigations into
the workings of the IPL to its logical conclusion? ”No chance of that
happening,” said Vineet Narain, a veteran crusader against the phenomenon
of ‘black money’ (cash transactions hidden from the government) that
greases the workings of political parties in India.

”As we have seen with other scams of this magnitude, politicians and
businessmen can be expected to close ranks and ensure that the income tax
investigations reach nowhere,” Narain told IPS. ”The IPL, in fact, is the latest
and slickest way to launder black money stashed away by politicians and big
wigs in tax havens abroad.”

Black money has long been considered the lifeblood of politics in India,
where the system requires political parties to keep large numbers of workers
on their payrolls but cannot be legally funded to pay their salaries.

Jayprakash Narain û founder of the Hyderabad-based non-government
organisation devoted to eradicating corruption in public life û said nothing
short of ”systemic reform” can break the close links between black money
and India’s political parties.

”Perhaps more than anywhere else in the world, politicians in India work by
mobilising large numbers of people for mammoth rallies that are expensive
and that can be paid for only by raising money through dubious means on
being elected to power û and this process is perpetuated in a vicious cycle,”
Narain told IPS over telephone from Hyderabad.

On Wednesday the main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) mounted a
massive rally in the national capital to protest against rising prices, which BJP
leader Lal Krishna Advani blamed on ”rising corruption within the central
government leadership.”

According to Narain what is particularly unfortunate about the IPL scam is
that it has shown up top politicians chasing after a brand of cricket
associated with glamorous Indian film stars, the world’s top cricket heroes
and all-night parties while the country grapples with mass poverty.

One name that keeps popping up in the context of both rising food prices
and big-time cricket is that of Sharad Pawar, union agricultural minister and
the man slated to replace Britain’s David Morgan as the president of
International Cricket Council in June this year.

The IPL was created as a unit of the Board of Cricket Control in India while
Pawar was chairman from 2005 to 2008.

As leader of the National Congress Party, a key constituent of the ruling
United Progressive Alliance, Pawar wields enormous clout in the Manmohan
Singh government.

”The arithmetic in the Lok Sabha (lower house of parliament) is such that
government cannot afford to antagonise Sharad Pawar and also hope to see
through a slew of important legislation in the current budget session of
parliament,” Vineet Narain said.

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By News Bureau

Melbourne: Mr. Suresh Kalmadi, Chairman of the organising committee for the New Delhi 2010 Commonwealth Games, will be visiting Australia next week, coinciding with the arrival of the Queen’s Baton Relay, the Australian Commonwealth Games Association said on Monday.

Mr. Kalmadi will travel to Sydney, Melbourne and the Gold Coast, where he will attend a number of functions associated with the arrival of the Baton in Australia, the ACGA said.

The New Delhi Games, from October 3-14, will comprise 19 sports, making it the largest Commonwealth Games to date.

Australia is likely to send its largest ever contingent to participate in the Games, with more than 425 athletes and 175 officials, the AGCA said.

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Queen Elizabeth II, Indian President Prathiba Patil, Indian Sports Minister M.S. Gill and CWG2010 Organising Committee Chairman Suresh Kalmadi at the launching of the Queen’s Baton Relay 2010 in London on Oct.29, 2009.
PHOTO: CWG2010

LONDON, October 29, 2009: A delightful India aroma wafted across the Buckingham Palace this morning as the Queen Elizabeth II launched the Queen’s Baton Relay 2010, 339 days before the start of the XIX Commonwealth Games in Delhi, by placing her message to the athletes in an exquisite jewellery box in a handcrafted Baton.
A brief but delightful Indian cultural pageant preceded the formal ceremony in the packed forecourt of the Palace before Commonwealth Games Federation President Mr Michael Fennell carried the Baton to the Queen so that she could place her message in the Baton. The Queen then handed over the Baton to President Smt. Pratibha Devisingh Patil.
The President then passed on the Baton to Sports Minister Dr. M.S. Gill who gave it to Organising Committee Chairman Suresh Kalmadi who in turn handed it to the first Batonbearer, Abhinav Bindra. The Olympic air rifle champion then set off on a walk to the Palace Gates where he was met by Lord Sebastian Coe.
Bindra and Coe ran three laps of the Queen Victoria Memorial as the Baton changed hands and involved the likes of Kapil Dev, Sania Mirza, Dame Kelly Holmes, Vijender Kumar, Sushil Kumar, Milkha Singh, Misha Grewal Soni, Monty Panesar, Sue Gilroy, Karnam Malleswrari, Dilip Tirkey and Gurbachan Singh Randhawa.
The last two then drove off in a Delhi2010 branded London Taxi to signal the start of an amazing journey that will see the Baton travel 190,000km before it reaches the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Delhi during the Opening Ceremony of the Games on October 3, 2010. It will have visited all 71 nations and territories of the Commonwealth.
- Media Release

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From Our Correspondent

New Delhi: Australia has decided to help revive Indian hockey. Visiting Australian Foreign Minister Stephen Smith announced that starting next year, two players — a male and female — and a coach will get free training at the Institute of Sports and Hockey Facility in Perth. The Minister was talking to reporters during a visit to the National Stadium and Talkatora Swimming pool here.

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By our correspondent

New Delhi: India’s President Prathiba Patil will be present on 29 October, 2009 in London when the Queen’s Baton is launched by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II . The President has accepted the invitation of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II to attend the Relay launch. Olympic Gold Medalist Abhinav Bindra will receive the Baton from the Queen as the first Baton bearer of the Relay, says a media release of the Games.

On arrival at the opening ceremony, the baton will have travelled in excess of 190,000 kilometres passing through 70 nations and territories over a 340 day period; this will make the Delhi 2010 Queen’s Baton Relay one of the longest relays in the history of the Commonwealth Games. The relay will conclude with the final Baton bearer entering the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium during the Opening Ceremony of the 20th Commonwealth Games on 3 October 2010.

The Queen’s Baton Relay is one of the great traditions of the Commonwealth Games. Queen’s Baton Relays have been the curtain raiser to every Commonwealth Games since 1958.

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Melbourne News Bureau

Melbourne: Australia’s free to air Ch-10 and Foxtell will telecast the next years Commonwealth Games in Delhi. This was disclosed by Mr. Suresh Kalamdi, Chairman Organising Committee Delhi Commonwealth Games, in an exclusive interview to the Melbourne based Neeraj Nanda, Editor, South Asia Times.

The interview published in the July edition of South Asia Times also discloses that TV New Zealand, New Zealand, South Africa Broadcasting Corporation , South Africa, Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation, Cyprus, Broadcasting Organisation of Nigeria, Nigeria, Asia-Pacific c Broadcasting Union (ABU) have also been granted the rights to telecast and talks are in progress with the Namibian Broadcasting Corporation for the same.

The total value of the contracted rights is US $42.87 Million. In India the rights for TV and Radio have been granted to national broadcasters Doordarshan and Akashwani, the interview discloses.

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Mr. Suresh Kalmadi Chairman,CWG 2010 Organising Committee (with T-shirt & hat) with media persons at the Games Village construction site, Delhi.

By our correspondent

New Delhi: India is gearing up to host the 2010 Commonwealth Games in New Delhi. Construction of the Games Village and other infrastructure projects are moving at a fast pace. With less than 500 days left for the Games, people connected with the preparations are confident that all the necessary needs of the Games will be ready as scheduled and security procedures in place.
Chairman Organising Committee ,Commonwealth Games 2010, Mr. Suresh Kalmadi, said recently that “the first task of the organisers would be to ally security concerns of participating countries….. We will put up a Beijing-like security bandobast (arrangement in Delhi.”
Mr Kalmadi is also wants Congress leader Rahul Gandhi to get involved with the games. “We want him (Rahul) to get involved in the Games like his father, who was involved in the 1982 Asian Games. We will ask him if can lend his support to oversee the Games preprations.”
Mr Kalmadi recently visited the Games Village construction site and addressed the media. He assured that “There is no need to worry regarding the progress of the Games projects as most will meet their December 2009 deadline.
About the security issue, Mr. Kalmadi said, “the turmoil in neighbouring countries has made it necessary for India to be extremely careful.” And further said that India was aware of global security standards and many foreign consultants are helping us in this matter. He disclosed that 44 per cent of work at the Games Village is complete and the project will be completed by December this year.
The Fifth Coordination Committee Meeting of the Commonwealth Games 2010 held here from 11-13 May , expressing satisfaction with the preparations of the Games. The members assured the Organising Committee CWG 2010 Delhi that they would extend all the guidance and support required to make the Games successful.
Seventy one countries and 8000 athletes are expected to participate in the Commonwealth Games 2010 to be held in October next year.

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Dr. M. S. Gill talking to media persons at the Winsdor Hotel, Melbourne on 26 March, 2009

By Neeraj Nanda

Melbourne, March 26: India is all set to host the 2010 Commonwealth Games in New Delhi. Brushing aside security concerns, India’s Minister for Youth Affairs and Sports, Dr. M. S. Gill today minced no words saying that we will give all the necessary security to host the games. He also said, “nobody should flutter unnecessarily’ on the question of security for the games. Dr. Gill was talking to media persons here during an official visit to Australia. The Minister met Victorian officials and Ministers during his visit here.
Dr. Gill also disclosed that with the games one and a half years away, the Indian government does not mind completing the games facilities even if the cost doubles. The government, he said, had spent Indian Rupees 9000 crores for the games.
About security, Dr. Gill expressed the opinion that after the Lahore terrorist attack on the Sri Lankan team, a concern has been raised about the games security. But “India has the capacity and will to manage the security of the games. We will give all the necessary security for the games”, he said.
Commenting on the IPL shifting out of India, Dr. Gill said, “BCCI is so rich and it looks after itself. In fact, cricket looks after itself as it is also commercial and not just cricket. It is an industry”.
He further said that IPL shifting was because of its clash with the Indian general elections. “With 170 million voters the elections the great election mela needs proper security, “he said.
An IAS from the 1958 batch, Dr. Gill has worked in various capacities in India. He was elected to the Rajya Sabha from Punjab in April 2004. Earlier, he was the Chief Election Commissioner of India (CEC) from 1996-2001, conducting three parliamentary elections which saw the introduction of Electronic Voting Machines in India.
(Read full report in the hard copy of South Asia Times April 2009 issue)

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2. The driver speeds the team bus to the Gaddafi Stadium where the players are airlifted by helicopter to safety.
3. Gunmen escape in the direction of Liberty Market. Ammunition and weapons, including a rocket launcher, found.

- BBC, 3 March 2009

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