Monsoon session washed away !

The monsoon session of Parliament this year has lived up to its name. Its been a wash out, and the rains which revived in the month of August has nothing to do with it. The coalgate scam, which has rocked the nation, has rocked the nation's top governing body as well. When the session started on August 8, there was some hope of major reforms coming through, such as a strong Lokpal, but what started with the violence in Assam just continued with the 1.86 lac crores coal scam, Sri Lankan Tamil's issue and ended up with SC/ST quota issue over promotions in government offices. As a result Parliament functioning continued to be stalled and never recovered from there.

 

The main issue of contention was the opposition's demand for the resignation of the ever silent prime minister. The PM had remarked that his silence was golden but the opposition demanded answers from him. The coal ministry which was under him when the coal block allocation was done for free , had cost the country's Exchequer thousands of crores, as alleged. Congress defended themselves saying there can be no loss when the coal still had not been mined out but it was very poorly received. They issued a challenge to the opposition to a debate in Parliament but all that people witnessed were shouting, huffing and puffing and even came to blows being exchanged. The government tried to wiggle out of a corner by introducing the SC/ST Quota Bill for job promotions and move the focus else where. This, however did not deter the opposition and they stood adamant at their earlier stand.

Out of the proposed 30 bills, only four bills where passed during this monsoon session, which included the Protection of Women Against Sexual Harassment at Workplace Bill and the AIIMS Amendment Bill. Of 15 bills listed for introduction, just five were actually inducted. The Lok Sabha functioned for just 24 hours out of the scheduled 108 hours and the Rajya Sabha was no better at 26 out of 90 hours. At a time when the country's economy is faltering and internal security has taken a beating, these types of actions by the country's MPs are completely uncalled for and shows their real intent of gaining political mileage. They do not seem to care for the nation and its people and have interest only in propagating their personal agenda. The general public must realise this and refrain from voting for these corrupt people in the next general elections.

Indian hockey - an topsy turvy ride

Indian hockey in recent times, has come no where near the golden run it enjoyed in the pre independence days. Most of us hear or read about the Indian hockey team's dismal performances of late but many of us do not know the extent of success which Indian hockey witnessed and their mind boggling achievements in the period from 1928 - 1956. As a tribute to that golden period, I would like to list down some facts regarding our national game which should bring a sense of pride for all sports loving Indians.

1. India won 6 consecutive gold medals in the Olympics in the period 1928-1956 which is considered as the golden era of Indian hockey.

2. In this period, India played 24 matches, won all 24, scored 178 goals against 7 goals conceded.

3. Indian has won a total of 8 Olympic gold medals for hockey, the other 2 being in 1964 at Tokyo and 1980 in Moscow.

4. India's goal keeper Richard James Allen did not concede a single goal at the 1928 Olympics. In 3 Olympic events from 1928 to 1936, he conceded only 3 goals.


5. The 24-1 drubbing of USA in the 1932 Olympics was and is the highest victory margin in international hockey history. Roop Singh scored 10 goals in that match, which is a record.

6. India defeated Germany 8-1 in the finals of the 1936 Berlin Olympics, with Hitler in attendance. With India leading 6-0, Hitler stormed out of the arena midway in disgust and then some German players indulged in violent tactics to stop the Indian juggernaut. Dhyan Chand was injured in the process but still India managed to win the match comfortably 8-1 and claim their 3rd Olympic gold.

7. A statue has been erected at Vienna in honor of the great Dhyan Chand, which shows him with 4 hands and 4 bats, symbolizing that no one with 2 hands can play the way he did!

8. In 1948, India played with a new look team as the country went through a partition post independence and some of the star players migrated to the other side of the border and played for Pakistan. Nevertheless, the result was the same and India stormed into the finals and defeated England 4-0 to win yet another gold medal.

9. The medal haul did not stop and India won its 5th consecutive gold at the 1952 Olympics in Helsinki. The win was special for Chinnadorai Desamuthu as he became the youngest gold medal winner at the age of 19.

10. The story was no different for the Melbourne Olympics in 1956 and India won its 6th gold medal. It was a sweet victory as it vanquished its arch rival, Pakistan in the final. However the Rome Olympics in 1960 saw a reverse in fortunes, as Pakistan defeated India and stopped the golden march of the Indian team.

11. The 2 arch rivals met for the 3rd consecutive time at the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo where India prevailed oer Pakistan and regained the championship.

12. India displayed a below par performance in the 1976 Olympics at Montreal and had to return empty  handed. It however managed to get into winning ways again and won the gold medal at the Moscow Olympics in 1980. 

After all these historic performances, India saw a big decline in performance and of late has been faring very poorly. In the 2008 Beijing Olympics, for the first time in history, India didnt even qualify for the tournament. In 2012 they managed to qualify but had a disastrous time in London as they lost all their matches and was left languishing at the bottom of the standings.

Rapid steps need to be taken to arrest this slide further and the entire hockey administration needs to be cleaned up from the roots. Ex players can fit into these roles which would augur well for the sport and improve the standards to what is required to compete at the international level. State of the art equipment must be brought in to instill supreme fitness to the players and this must start right at the domestic level. Above all, the players must be motivated enough to gather the will and determination to play to win and not play just to play.