India’s defence minister Rajnath Singh, along with the chiefs of three armed forces announced the launching of the Agnipath scheme on June 14. As per this scheme, youth will be recruited for the armed forces for a period of four years. These recruits will be called Agniveers.
Enrolment under the scheme will be open for both men and women for the four-year period. This period will include training of six months. The scheme was approved by the Union Cabinet on June 14.
The scheme Agnipath – allows patriotic and motivated youth to serve in the Armed Forces. Around 25% of the recruited Agniveers will be enrolled in Armed Forces as regular cadres post the four-year service.
However, sources made it clear that the Agniveers who leave after four years will not get ex-servicemen status. This means that there shall be no entitlement to gratuity and pension benefits.
Year
Customised Package (Monthly)
In Hand (70%)
Contribution to Agniveer Corpus Fund (30%)
All figures in Rs (Monthly Contribution)
1st Year
30000
21000
9000
2nd Year
33000
23100
9900
3rd Year
36500
25580
10950
4th Year
40000
28000
12000
Total contribution in Agniveer Corpus Fund after four years
Rs 5.02 Lakh
Exit After 4 Year
Rs 11.71 Lakh as SevaNidhi Package (Including, interest accumulated on the above amount as per the applicable interest rates would also be paid)
One of the special benefits will be that now the army regiments will not be recruited according to caste, religion and region, but will be as a countryman. That is, youth of any caste, religion and region can apply for any regiment.
The AGNIPATH scheme has been designed to enable a youthful profile of the Armed Forces. It will provide an opportunity to the youth who may be keen to don the uniform by attracting young talent from the society who are more in tune with contemporary technological trends and plough back skilled, disciplined and motivated manpower into the society. As for the Armed Forces, it will enhance the youthful profile of the Armed Forces and provide a fresh lease of ‘Josh’ and ‘Jazba’ whilst at the same time bring about a transformational shift towards a more tech savvy Armed Forces – which is indeed the need of the hour.
The world marks International Day of Family Remittances (IDFR) on 16 June to recognise the importance of over 200 million migrant workers who sends money home. The day highlights the resilience of these migrant workers in the face of disasters, economic insecurity and environmental and pandemic-related challenges.
According to the United Nations, over 800 million people receive money as foreign remittances from their loved ones. Despite the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, people sent in over $605 billion as remittances to their families in low and middle–income countries in 2021.
Every year, the day is observed under some or the other theme, but this year the United Nations is continuing last year’s theme which is ‘Recovery and resilience through digital and financial inclusion.’
In February 2015 the International Day of Family Remittances was unanimously proclaimed by all 176 members of the International Fund For Agricultural Development (IFAD). The day is globally recognised and is considered a key initiative in the Global Compact for Safe Orderly and Regular Migration, which urges the reduction of transfer costs and greater financial inclusion through remittances.
Tokyo Paralympics champion Avani Lekhara has done it again. Following her sterling performance in Tokyo, she has now won gold at the Para Shooting World Cup as well. To make it even better, she did this with a world record score of 250.6 in the women’s 10m air rifle standing (SH1). Her feat was recorded in Chateauroux, France.
In doing so the 20-year-old broke her own world record of 249.6 to secure her a spot at the 2024 Paris Paralympics. Poland’s Emilia Babska bagged the silver medal with a total of 247.6, while the bronze went to Anna Normann of Sweden with 225.6. SH1 category is for athletes with lower limb impairment for competition in rifle events.
“Proud to bring home the gold in the R2 10M Air Rifle SH1 event with a WR score & India’s 1st Paris2024 Quota, at the Chateauroux2022. My 1st Int. event since the @paralympics. A big thank you to everyone who has supported me!” she tweeted.
India’s distance star Hari Chand dies at 69 One of India’s finest distance runners, Hari Chand, died on June 12. This has been announced by the Athletics Federation of India. He was 69. Chand won a ‘double’, the 5,000m and 10,000m at the 1978 Bangkok Asian Games.it was around his feat that India produced several long distance athletes who have brought medals for India.
He had shifted back from Delhi to his hometown in Punjab’s Hoshiarpur, citing heart problems. He was born in rural Punjab’s Ghorewaha and as a kid he would chase rabbits in the field. According to him this helped build stamina and passion for running. He once spoke about chasing a rabbit that was nibbling at the crop while he was on watch. He chased the rabbit all day, finally caught it and brought it back as a trophy.
At the 1976 Montreal Olympics, he ran a national record 28:48.72 in 10,000m. Though an eighth-place finish didn’t help qualify for the final, his mark stood for almost 33 years, until Surendra Singh bettered it in the final at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
Among the other brilliant distance runners of India, Bahadur Prasad in the 1990s and current versatile star Avinash Sable stand out. But none left a mark in a major Games like Chand did in Bangkok.
In the 1980 Moscow Olympics, he clocked 29:45.8 in the 10,000m heats and ran the marathon in 2:22:08, finishing 31st among 74 starters.
Turkey will now be official known as ‘Türkiye’ The Republic of Turkey will now be known as “Türkiye”. The United Nations has agreed to the change in name, following a request from Ankara. According to UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric, a letter had been received from the Turkish foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu addressed to Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, requesting the use of “Türkiye” instead of “Turkey” for all affairs.
Turkey began the move to change its internationally recognised official name in English to Türkiye in December after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan released a memorandum and asked the public to use Türkiye to describe the country in every language.
Erdogan also advised companies to use “made in Türkiye” for their exported goods, and instructed state agencies to use Türkiye in their correspondence.
New Industrial Biotech Park at Kathua in J&K Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) Lieutenant Governor, Manoj Sinha and Union minister Jitendra Singh recently inaugurated north India’s first Industrial Biotech Park at Ghatti, near Kathua.
With new biotech capabilities and innovation, J&K, bestowed with more than 3500 medicinal plant species, will be able to harness market advantages in the most effective way and help the farmers to generate more income, asserted the Lt Governor.
The Lt Governor said that another Biotech Park at Handwara, Kupwara is under construction and the park will cost Rs 84.66 crore, shared between Department of Biotechnology, GoI and Science and Technology Department of the UT government.
Meanwhile, Union minister Jitendra Singh said that the Biotech Park would act as hub for incubation of new ideas and will act as a robust platform to support the agri-entrepreneurs, startups, progressive farmers, scientists, scholars and students not only from Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh but also from nearby states of Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh.
He said that the biotechnology park at Kathua has a potential to produce 25 startups in a year which will be among its great contributions to this region.
India’s first AC railway terminal in Bengaluru is operational The ultra luxury Sir M Visvesvaraya Railway Terminal in Karnataka’s capital city Bengaluru has become operational. The flag-off of the Ernakulam Tri-Weekly Express marked this occasion. Railway officials say the air-conditioned SMV Railway Terminal is a Rs 314 crore project. It has solar rooftop panels and a rainwater harvesting mechanism.
The railway terminal at the city’s Baiyappanahalli area, named after Bharat Ratna Sir M. Visvesvaraya, is equipped with state-of-the-art facilities and claims to have an airport-like aura. The terminal is which is situated between Banaswadi and Baiyyappanahalli in the city. The other two major terminals in Bengaluru are Bengaluru City Railway Station and Yeshwantpur Railway Station.
Music maestro AR Rahman will represent India as ambassador of The Season of Culture, launched by Britain’s Deputy High Commissioner to India Jan Thomson and Director (India) of the British Council Barbara Wickham. This is to mark the 75th anniversary of India’s independence. The programme aims to strengthen India-UK ties in the arts, English and education.
Rahman said that as an artist, “it is a pleasure to be part of an innovative cultural program that supports creative excellence and artistic appreciation and brings diverse audiences together. ‘Today, creative expression and exchange can nurture young talent and create a global stage for fair and equitable access to the arts.”
There will be over 1,400 artists showcasing their collaborations to millions of people across India, Britain, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. Incorporated will be theatre, dance, visual arts, literature, music, architecture, design, fashion, tech-art and new media art.
Mukkavilli is India’s face at Global SDG meet Ramkrishna Mukkavilli, the founder and MD of Maithri Aquatech, has been chosen by the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC) as a Global Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) Pioneer for Water Stewardship from this country. UNGC has named 10 new SDG pioneers – business leaders who are doing an exceptional job to advance the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through the implementation of the UN Global Compact Ten Principles on human rights, environment, labour, and anti-corruption.
The global search focused on professionals working at any level in a company participating in the UN Global Compact with the winners selected coming from every continent. Their work spans various areas from climate mitigation and adaptation to circular economy and digital transformation.
Mukkavilli was previously selected as India’s SDG Pioneer by the UN Global Compact Network India (GCNI) earlier this year, for his work in building water security with nature-based water solutions across India and 27 countries spanning South East Asia, the Middle East, and Africa.
Indian-American Harini wins Scripps National Spelling Bee Indian kids’ dominance of spelling bee contests in the US is not new. Keeping up the tradition, Indian American Harini Logan, an eighth-grader from Texas, has won the title in the spell-off at the 2022 Scripps National Spelling Bee. Moreover, spelling 15 words correctly, Speller 76 Vikram Raju from Colorado took second place. He has one more chance left at the Scripps Cup in 2023.
The New York Times reported that a heart-stopping moment came for Logan, 14, when she was eliminated in the finals. But the judges later decided that the definition she had given for the word pullulation was acceptable.
Indian Americans have always dominated the competition. However, last year the streak was broken after 14-year-old Zaila Avantgarde became the first-ever African-American contestant to win the Scripps National Spelling Bee.
Odisha entrepreneur Rashmi Sahoo wins business award Rashmi Sahoo, Director of Ruchi Foodline, has won top honour at the third Times Business Award. She received the award for being a young and dynamic women entrepreneur. Rashmi was conferred the award by Bollywood actor and social activist Sonu Sood. Eastern India’s leading food brand and one of the most popular spices companies of Odisha, Ruchi is now India’s leading ready-to-eat brand.
Rashmi said: “The award will surely add more energy and enthusiasm in the entire Frozit team. We dedicate this award to the entire Frozit team, our customers and all food lovers.”
While working as director of Ruchi Foodline, she started and established Frozit which is Odisha’s first frozen food company. She not only revolutionized the food processing segment in Odisha but also changed the lives of thousands of women by providing them employment opportunities. Daughter of Masala King of Odisha, Dr Sarat Kumar Sahoo, she started Frozit around 12 years ago and since then she has taken the organization to new heights under the guidance of her father.
Mohinder Midha becomes first female Dalit mayor in London council An Indian-origin politician from the UK’s Opposition Labour Party, councillor Mohinder K Midha, has been elected mayor of Ealing Council in west London, becoming the first female mayor of a local London council belonging to the Dalit community. Midha was elected for the next year’s term of 2022-23 at a council meeting recently.
Midha, who was re-elected as a Labour councillor for the Dormers Wells ward in the Ealing Council in the May 5 local elections in London, had been serving as the Deputy Mayor for the council previously.
Having probed and measured the depths of space with huge success, India will now also dare to go really deep into the oceans. According to space and earth sciences minister Jitendra Singh, India is set to gain the distinction of concurrently launching the primary human space mission ‘Gaganyaan’, as well as a primary manned human ocean mission, called Samudrayaan, in 2023.
The Samudrayaan mission will be India’s first manned ocean mission. It is a part of the Deep Ocean Mission, according to Singh.
The Samudrayaan mission aims to send men deep into the ocean in a submersible vehicle for deep-ocean exploration and rare mineral mining. A trial will be followed by a mission that will send three people to a depth of 6,000 m in the sea in a manned submersible vehicle called MATSYA 6000 for deep underwater studies.
If India is successful with its Ocean Mission, India will join countries such as the US, Russia, France, Japan, and China who already have niche technology and vehicles to carry out subsea activities.
Singh said that this will be helpful in exploring the minerals and thermal energy in the depth of the ocean.
The space mission The Gaganyaan programme envisages undertaking the demonstration of human spaceflight to low earth orbit (LEO) in the short-term and will lay the foundation for a sustained Indian human space exploration programme in the long run.
The objective of Gaganyaan programme is to demonstrate indigenous capability to undertake human space flight missions to LEO.
Addressing the World Ocean Day celebrations in Delhi, Jitendra Singh mentioned trials for each the space and ocean manned missions have reached a sophisticated stage and the distinctive feat shall be achieved, most definitely, in the second half of 2023. “Sea trials of 500 m rated shallow water version of the manned submersible are expected to take place in early part of 2023, followed by the MATSYA 6000, the deep-water manned submersible that will be ready for trials by the second quarter of 2024.”
Similarly, for Gaganyaan, main missions just like the take a look at automobile flight for the validation of crew escape system efficiency and the primary un-crewed mission of Gaganyaan are scheduled in the second half of 2022 and that shall be adopted by the second un-crewed mission on the finish of 2022 carrying “Vyommitra”, a spacefaring human robotic developed by Isro, and at last the primary crewed Gaganyaan mission in 2023.
Singh additionally mentioned the Union authorities will quickly unveil the ‘Blue Economic Policy’ and added that an estimated 40 million folks shall be employed by ocean-based industries by 2030, an announcement from the ministry mentioned.
“The government had approved a deep ocean mission in June last year to be implemented by the earth sciences ministry at a total budget of Rs 4,077 crore for five years,” he mentioned, calling upon officers to develop area of interest applied sciences and collaborate with industries in finishing up deep-ocean exploration of the non-residing assets equivalent to polymetallic manganese nodules, gasoline hydrates, hydro-thermal sulphides and cobalt crusts, situated at a depth between 1,000 and 5,500 m.
Taking a cue from the unlocking of the space sector, the minister proposed to revive the business arm of the ministry of earth sciences. He mentioned that marine companies in India should attain their full potential as oceans present residing and non-residing assets, from fisheries to marine biotechnology, minerals to renewable vitality.
SOME FACTS What are the benefits as a result of undertaking the Gaganyaan programme? The Human spaceflight programme has both tangible and intangible benefits for the nation, which includes: i) Progress towards a sustained and affordable human and robotic programme to explore the solar system and beyond. ii) Advanced technology capability for undertaking human space exploration, sample return missions and scientific exploration. iii) Future capability to actively collaborate in global space station development & to carry out scientific experiments of interest to the nation. iv) Create a broad framework for wider Academia – Industry partnership in taking up development activities for national development. v) Ample scope for employment generation and human resource development in advanced science and R&D activities. vi) Unique opportunity to inspire and excite Indian youth and steer many students toward careers in science and technology towards challenging jobs that encourage knowledge, innovation and creativity. vii) The programme will strengthen international partnerships and global security through the sharing of challenging and peaceful goals. Having a vibrant human spaceflight programme can be leveraged as a potent foreign policy tool.
While the rest of the country was busy with the politics of religion and over some comments by a party’s spokesperson that had the Muslim population up in arms, way over to the east, in Assam, floods ravaged the land brutally. It was sad that the media concentrated on issued far removed from the daily issues and problems of the people and cared so little for anything that does not involve Delhi and ruling parties thereof. Of course, there is religion as well.
Such a situation had happened in Chennai too, when the floods had wreaked havoc in the state. National news channels and newspapers were busy reporting silly issues from Delhi and it was only three days into the disaster that anybody cared to look south. It is as if there is no India south of the Vidhayas.
Same is the situation with Assam now. The situation is horrible, with all major rivers in spate. Threatened are over 47 lakh people and some lives were also lost and more are expected to die. Of course there have been talks between Home Minister Amit Shah and state Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and the necessary relief process has been arranged, but the reaction could have been earlier. Things could have been better had the media even thought of looking beyond the borders of Delhi.
It is sad that while the media does not think twice about sending several reporters to way off Ukraine to cover a war that should not concern India, but does not have the wherewithal to cover disasters in India itself.
The state is being rammed by the floods and the number of people affected is 47,72,140. They are spread across 32 of the 36 districts. Deaths have come from landslides and such landslides have happened throughout the year. Figures are being released by the Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA).
People have died in Darrang, Nagaon, Cachar, Dibrugarh, Hailakandi, Hojai, Kamrup and Lakhimpur. They include police personnel as well. People have been missing in Udalguri and Kamrup and one each in Cachar, Darrang and Lakhimpur.
What is it about Assam and floods? According to the Water Resources department of the government of Assam, the state, with its vast network of rivers “is prone to natural disasters like flood and erosion which has a negative impact on overall development of the state. The Brahmaputra and Barak River with more than 50 tributaries feeding them, causes the flood devastation in the monsoon period each year. The flood and erosion problem of Assam is singularly different from other states so far as extent and duration of flooding and magnitude of erosion is concerned and is probably the most acute and unique in the country.
The flood prone area of the state as assessed by the Rastriya Barh Ayog (RBA) is 31.05 lakh hectares against the total area of state 78.523 lakh hectares i.e. about. 39.58 % of the total land area of Assam. This is about 9.40% of the total flood prone area of the country. Records show that the average annual area affected by flood is 9.31 lakh hectares. The flood prone area of the country as a whole stands at about 10.2 % of the total area of the country, but flood prone area of Assam is 39.58 % of the area of the state. It signifies that the flood prone area of Assam is four times the national mark of the flood prone area of the country.”
Basically want the official document says is that Assam is prone to floods. Hence the arrangements will have to be at that level and money has to be spent to let this not happen year after year. This has not happened. As a result, most of the rural areas of the state, and as detailed in the official dossier, suffer immensely.
There is enough past data to support this. The dossier continues: “During the post-independence period, Assam faced major floods in 1954, 1962, 1972, 1977, 1984, 1988, 1998, 2002, 2004 and 2012. Almost every year three to four waves of flood ravage the flood prone areas of Assam. Average annual loss due to flood in Assam is to the tune of Rs. 200.00 Crores and particularly in 1998, the loss suffered was about Rs. 500.00 Crores and during the year 2004 it was about Rs. 771.00 Crores.”
These are modest estimates where the actual damage may have been in many multiples.
Here is a table that shows the damage to crops etc. these are official figures.
That is not the end. There are flash floods too. Here is what the dossier says:
“The flood problem of the state is further aggravated due to flash floods by the rivers flowing down from neighbouring states like Arunachal Pradesh and Meghalaya. During the year 2004 and 2014 the south bank tributaries of Brahmaputra in lower Assam, experienced flash floods of high magnitude due to cloud burst in the catchment areas in Meghalaya. During the month of August, 2011, due to cloud burst in the catchment area of Arunachal Pradesh the river Gainadi and Jiadhal also experienced flash floods of very high magnitude. These flash floods caused large-scale devastation in vast areas including losses of human lives.”
The state, quite like Kerala, is flood prone. Hence development work has to be undertaken with this in mind. Also, it is imperative that national media pay more heed to happenings around the country and this is the only way a national temper may be created. It is essential.
It has now become imperative that national and regional political parties take their official spokespersons seriously and vice-versa. It must be noted that the media and the general public take the comments of these spokespersons very seriously, believing those comments to be the verbalisation of the actual thought processes of the party’s leaders. In any critical juncture, spokespersons have a critical role and in this they should know the horizons they can access. All should be made aware of the Lakshman Rekha they cannot cross.
More importantly, though, these spokespersons will have to be made aware of the laws of the land and the intricacies therein, plus the simple fact that whatever the stature of the spokesperson in the public domain, the final authority on matters of policy and the lines that the political party should take is left to the leaders, those who formulate policy.
In no case should these spokespersons be allowed to overstep their authority and make comments that are either not in consonance with the party line or go beyond Constitutional boundaries. No freedom of expression at any level exists for these spokespersons. Spokespersons are meant to simply propagate policies of the party he or she belongs to, and in doing so, she must not make comments that might cause his or her party any embarrassment.
Maybe it is possible that a set of general guidelines be formulated for spokespersons. This is not too far-fetched. A training process in this can be undertaken, in which not just political imperatives, but also the legal boundaries are clearly defined. Remember, religion is a touchy subject in India and off-hand comments can lead to major public problems. We have seen this on many occasions, and almost all parties have been at the receiving end of such reactions at some time.
The idea is to differentiate between an election-oriented speech by a political leader and a comment by a spokesperson. Even the leader’s speech has to abide by certain Election Commission guidelines. These same guidelines can be applied to the spokespersons. That would help create a better atmosphere.
As ladies representing the country in the international arena go, they do not come bigger than Mithali Raj. For cricket lovers, male or female, Mithali had come to represent a larger than life character, a motivator par excellence and a beacon of hope of r every woman who wants to shine in this game.
The veteran and multiple awardee, who had been playing at the national and international level for 23 years, announced on June 8 that she was retiring from all forms of international cricket. It is a loss for Indian cricket.
Mithali started playing for India in 1999 as a 16-year old and grew to become one of the all-time greats of the game. She represented India in 12 Tests, 232 ODIs and 89 T20Is in all, 195 of them as captain. She also led the team to the finals of two World Cups.
She made her ODI debut with a hundred in 1999. She has retired as the highest run-scorer with a tally of 7,805 runs with seven hundreds and 64 fifties in all. The last of her fifties came in her final outing for India, against South Africa in the World Cup in March when India were knocked out.
In her debut ODI match she scored an unbeaten 114 against Ireland. The trend has continued and she has been the mainstay of the India squad for 23 long years. And that is a great achievement, considering that she has had to fight with a set of suspect knees from an injury she suffered in 2009. The injury aggravated over the years and got so bad at one stage that there was a question mark over her career.
Mithali, however, possesses a never-say-die attitude and now, at 39 she has played several matches, enduring the pain. Her determination is evident in her going through six 50-over World Cups, leading the country to two finals, in 2005 and 2017. In both cases she was the captain.
In women’s Tests, she is India’s only double centurion, with her 214 against England in 2002 also being the second-highest individual score in the game.
Mithali, a right-handed batswoman, will go down in history for her incredible run-scoring feats, including a record 7,805 runs to date in ODI matches, She has scored seven centuries and a record 64 fifties in her ODI career.
In Tests, Mithali amassed 699 runs, in 12 matches, including a century and four half-centuries. And in T20Is, Raj scored 2364 runs at an average of 37.52 with 17 half-centuries and a high score of 97 not out.
She scored 2364 runs in 89 T20Is.
The formative years Like most women cricketers, Mithali also grew up facing boys in the nets. When she slacked during a catching session, the cricket ball was replaced with a stone. If one of her hands turned blue, it was tied up behind her back and Mithali had to complete the catching drills with the other.
“With a stone, you naturally use soft hands to catch it. At that time, I was angry with the coach. But today when he is not around, I know that if I have played through pain, it was only because of him. I have had a recurring knee injury since 2005. My knees used to swell up like potatoes.”
The dream of winning a World Cup remains unfulfilled as Mithali walks away from the game. But being an icon for over two decades, inspiring a generation of women to take up the sport and helping increase the visibility of women’s cricket are invaluable contributions.
The T20I format also saw her embroiled in a controversy in the latter part of her career when she was excluded from the eleven during the 2018 T20 WC. This was followed by a war of words with Mithali going up against the then-coach Ramesh Powar and captain Harmanpreet Kaur. She called time on her T20I career in 2019, and is still India’s highest run-getter in the format.
Mithali has been widely recognised for her contributions to the game in India and has received several civilian awards including the Arjuna award, the Padma Shri and most recently the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award in 2021.
Mithali’s retirement didn’t come as a surprise. There were calls for her to step aside after India didn’t qualify for the semifinals of the World Cup earlier this year. She had made up her mind that the 2022 World Cup would be her last. “It’s been 21 years of international cricket and I know 2022 is my swansong, the World Cup,” she had said last year.
The final phase of her career was controversial due to the fallout with coach Ramesh Powar during the 2018 T20 World Cup in the West Indies. She was not picked in the Playing XI for the semifinal against England, a game India lost. Her last innings for India was a 68 off 84 balls with eight fours against South Africa at the 50-over World Cup.
Mithali Raj released a statement on social media, saying: “Thank you for all your love & support over the years! I look forward to my 2nd innings with your blessing and support. I set out as a little girl on the journey to wear the India blues as representing your country is the highest honour. The journey was full of highs and some lows. Each event taught me something unique and the last 23 years have been the most fulfilling, challenging and enjoyable years of my life.”
June 13, 2022, Monday. It was a black Monday for the economy in India. The stock markets crashed to a historic low, wiping off Rs 7 lakh crore of investor wealth, the Rupee slipped to a historic low and the atmosphere was grim everywhere, except at the BCCI offices, where bidding reached the sky for its jewel in tgeh crown, the Indian Premier League (IPL).
The IPL’s media rights were being sold, and even though Amazon had pulled out of the race last week, Disney Star won the IPL Indian sub-continent TV rights for an unbelievable Rs 23,575 crore, while Viacom18 bought the digital rights with a bid of Rs 20,500 crore.
The valuations were near impossible, monies that boosted the board’s earnings nearly three times 2023-27. This has been the growth over the 2018-22 cycle.
As proceedings were completed on Tuesday (June 14), the collective media rights value rose to a massive Rs 45,950 crore, including bids for non-exclusive digital rights.
Disney Star retained the TV rights. The digital rights went to the Reliance Viacom 18 Bodhi Tree consortium, also comprising Uday Shankar and James Murdoch, who hold 40% stake in the company.
“Star has retained Indian TV rights of IPL for next five years while Viacom18 has got the digital rights. The combined per match value only from Indian TV and digital rights per game is 107.5 crore. With these bids, monopoly of one broadcaster in IPL ends,” said a senior BCCI functionary.
Sony brought IPL to Indian TV homes for the first 10 years from 2008, while Star Sports (TV) and Hotstar (digital) were India’s IPL platforms for the next five.
Package A (Indian sub-continent TV tights) for 410 IPL matches across five seasons from 2023 to 2027 has been sold for Rs 23,575 crore, which is effectively Rs 57.5 crore per game, the official quoted above said.
Package B (digital rights) fetched Rs 20,500 crore, making BCCI richer by Rs 44,075 crore after selling the two packages.
In terms of value, the TV bid was worth Rs12,525 crore more than the last cycle. Back then, it was Sony who had made the biggest bid worth Rs 11,050 crore but was outsmarted by Star India’s all-or-nothing approach and thus fell in the face of their consolidated bidding.
With an extra 110 matches being played in this rights cycle, the per match value has gone up by 56% from last time (Rs 57.5 crore per match from Rs 36.8 crore per match). “These are still very good numbers considering this space is not going to grow at the same speed as digital,” the official said. “This may be the last media rights cycle which saw enough interest. In another five years, TV value of this scale may not remain feasible.”
The biggest gains for BCCI came in the digital category. The Rs 20,500 crore value is a big jump from the Rs 3,900 crore top bid Facebook (now Meta) had made in the previous rights cycle. India has about 795 million broadband subscriptions and over 500 million smartphones, as per a Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry report of 2021. Forty million Indian households paid for 80 million online video subscriptions and 400 million subscribers consumed bundled content in 2021.
The bidders could not have missed these numbers. The report says the number of screens in India would reach one billion by 2024-25. But for Amazon opting out at the last moment, the final value in this category could have gone through the roof. It’s still an exponential rise in terms of per match value. Facebook’s highest digital bid was worth Rs13 crore per match in the previous cycle. That has risen to Rs50 crore per match.
South Indian sweets are a little different from sweets from other parts of the country. They do not have the overkill of sugar as evident in north India, and neither do they have a very strong milk/cottage cheese base as is common in the eastern parts of the country. There is a lot of thought put into such sweet and there is a delicate taste that lingers in the mouth.
One such is a delicacy called Mysore Pak.
Mysore Pak is one of the signature sweets of Karnataka. This sweet in commonly available across the state, but the authentic Mysore Pak is available only at a sweet stall located near the Devaraja Market in Mysore called Guru Sweets. This sweet stall belongs to the family of a chef who first discovered the Mysore Pak nearly 100 years ago.
Traditionally made of sugar, ghee, and besan, Mysore Pak comes in two basic varieties in several flavours, either in a crumbly, porous rectangular block or a soft, mushy variety.
Anyone with a sweet tooth knows that the much-loved Mysore Pak comes in two varieties: hard, porous blocks that restaurants and small stores sell from glass jars, and a wet ghee-infused version that dominates most cities today. Traditionally, it was served in weddings and other festivals across southern India.
History According to legend, Krishnaraja Wadiyar IV, the king of Mysore, was a food connoisseur. One day, as the king sat down to have his lunch, his royal cook Kakasura Madappa realised he had forgotten to prepare a dessert. When the king inquired about the missing course, Madappa quickly concocted an unusual mix of gram flour, ghee and sugar to make a soft fudge-like mixture. The king was ecstatic when he tried this hot sweet. When he asked for its name, the cook quickly named it Mysore Pak. Pleased with this delicacy, the king eventually asked Madappa to open a shop (the Guru Sweet Mart) outside the Amba Vilas palace grounds.
Soon, this royal sweet was officially designated as the ‘king’ of sweets in south India.
Paaka or extreme sweet refers to the sticky sugar syrup obtained by simmering sugar with an equal amount of water; specifically for Mysore Pak, the simple syrup heated to the softball stage. The syrup, used as the primary sweetening agent in various Indian sweet dishes like jalebi, badam puri, Mysore pak and others. The syrup is given taste with spice essences like cardamom, rose, honey etc. Paaka syrup preparation is a skilled art mastered by few cooks. Some of whom keep their methods secret.
This sweet Mysore pak improved as time went by. However, the original sweet made with the original recipe is still available at the famous “Guru Sweets” stores in Devaraja Market, run by Nataraj, great-grandson of the original inventor of the dish Kakasura Madappa.
Ingredients
•(1 Cup = 240ml )
• 1 cup besan or gram flour
• 1 ¾ cup sugar
• ½ cup water
• 1 cup ghee
• ½ cup oil (preferably peanut oil)
Recipe/Cooking method
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 25 minutes
Total Time: 30 minutes Total Servings: 12 pieces
Instructions Preparation 1. Pour 1 tbsp of ghee onto a small tray for setting the Mysore Pak. Set this aside.
2. With the help of a sieve over a large bowl, measure accordingly and add besan to the sieve.
3. Sieve twice, divide the flour into three parts and finally transfer them into small bowls. Set this aside.
4. On a burner, place a kadai (a deep cooking pot) and heat ghee and oil on low to medium heat.
Sugar Syrup For Mysore Pak 1. On another burner, place a wide deep pan. Pour and heat the sugar and water.
2. While stirring often, boil the sugar syrup until it reaches a medium consistency.
3. To check the consistency of the syrup, test a small portion of the syrup in between your thumb and index finger. If it’s perfect, you will be able to see a single string in between your fingers. Ensure the ghee and oil is hot.
How to Make Mysore Pak 1. On a medium flame, add 1/3rd portion of flour to the bubbling sugar syrup. Stir well until the flour completely blends well with the syrup.
2. Then add the next 1/3rd portion of flour. Make sure to not form any lumps and blend the flour well with the sugar syrup.
3. In 1 ladle, add hot ghee and oil to the pan. If the oil and ghee sizzle immediately, it means the ghee and oil is hot enough (which is what you need). Stir well until the ghee has been completely absorbed.
4. Keep adding the ghee in parts and continue stirring until the ghee is well absorbed every time. Make sure it is sizzling, every time the ghee is added.
5. When the Mysore Pak is almost finished, the mixture will turn quite thick with a lot of pores. Avoid adding any more ghee at this stage otherwise, the excess will ooze out. The mixture will leave the pan completely within a few seconds.
6. Quickly, transfer onto a greased pan and level the top. Keep this aside for 10 to 15 minutes and then cut into desired sized pieces.
7. Let the Mysore Pak cool down completely and store in an airtight jar at room temperature.
