SPORTS PGS

icc strategy for global growth - strengthen, grow, and protect cricket

By SreeLaTa S. yeLLaMrazU

The International Cricket Council today unveiled its global growth strategy which places women’s cricket firmly at the heart of its long-term ambitions. The strategy which has been developed in partnership with ICC Members is aimed at strengthening, growing, and protecting the game with the vision of more players, more fans and more nations enjoying cricket.

The strategic pillars of strengthen, grow, and protect will be underpinned by digital transformation of the sport to support Members to connect directly with fans and build capacity.

ICC CEO Geoff Allardice said: “Our strategy is focused on more players, more fans and more nations enjoying cricket and we believe by working closely with Members we can build on the strength of what we already have but also grow the game in new markets.

“I am particularly excited by the commitment of everyone in the sport to investing in and growing the women’s game. Over the last four years we have invested in ICC women’s events and witnessed 86,174 people in the MCG to watch the final of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2020 which is the best illustration yet of our research that tells us that two thirds of cricket’s 1 billion plus fans want to see more women’s cricket

“Digital transformation will play a crucial role in delivering the success of our strategy as we look to attract and engage more fans and build digital platforms that enable our Members to create direct relationships with 300 million fans by 2032.”

STrengThen

To strengthen the sport and drive greater engagement from what already exists, the ICC will deliver competitive cricket with context for all Members, invest in and grow women’s cricket, build cricket among Associate Members and deepen fans’ connection through digital transformation, including the ongoing development of ICC. tv, the direct to fan platform and with the development of a mobile game. more people and more places, the ICC will focus on getting more people playing and engaging with cricket through its criiio entry level programme and enhanced education programmes for coaches, officials, and curators. Female participation will be prioritised as will key identified new markets to drive targeted growth, the first of which will be the USA. Olympic inclusion is also considered a central plank of growing cricket globally.

PrOTeCT

Protecting the integrity of the sport and inspiring trust among fans is the third pillar of the strategic framework. Providing an environment that is safe for all participants and brings to life the spirit of cricket will be a key area of focus along with the continued commitment to leading the way in delivering a corruption free sport. Additionally, the ICC Cricket 4 Good programme will be developed to harness the power of more than one billion fans to build a better future.

In addition to the framework, six strategic priority projects have been highlighted in the strategy as the sport looks to build and consolidate on recent success.

ICC Chair Greg Barclay said: “This strategy is for the whole sport, and it will enable us to strengthen what we currently have, particularly around the women’s game and ensuring we’re delivering competitive cricket with context for all our Members. It also provides us with the opportunity to look at growing the game and getting more people playing and engaging with cricket through new markets and Olympic inclusion.

“Finally, it identifies the importance of protecting the integrity of our game and inspiring trust among fans and using the power of cricket to build a better future. This framework is something on which the whole sport is aligned and I’m looking forward to working in partnership with our Members to create a successful and sustainable future for cricket.”

tHe Jenkins review Has 28 recOmmendatiOns tO fix parliament’s tOxic culture – will Our leaders listen?

By SOnia PaLMieri*

in the wake of Brittany Higgins’ shocking allegations about being raped in a ministers’ office by a colleague, Prime Minister Scott Morrison initiated multiple inquiries.

Arguably, the most significant was the independent review into parliamentary workplaces, headed up by Sex Discrimination Commissioner Kate Jenkins and supported by Labor and the crossbench.

The review has been underway since March, speaking to current and former MPs and employees at parliament house and its associated workplaces - such as electorate offices and the press gallery. On Tuesday, the 450-page report, Set the Standard, was released.

As Jenkins observed, parliament house should be something “Australians look to with pride”.

This report represents a wholesale change strategy, and calls for leadership and accountability across a diverse parliamentary “ecosystem”. This new roadmap is grounded in the testimony and experiences of more than 1,700 contributors, including 147 former and current parliamentarians.

whaT DiD The rePOrT FinD?

The report included a survey of current parliamentarians and people currently working at parliament house (such as staffers, journalists and public servants). More than 900 people responded.

It found more than 37% of people currently in parliamentary workplaces have personally experienced bullying in a parliamentary workplace. As one interviewee noted:

Frequently, like at least every week, the advice was go and cry in the toilet so that nobody can see you, because that’s what it’s like up here.

It also found 33% of people currently in parliamentary workplaces have personally experienced sexual harassment in a parliamentary workplace. As one interviewee reported:

Aspiring male politicians who thought nothing of, in one case, picking you up, kissing you on the lips, lifting you up, touching you, pats on the bottom, comments about appearance, you know, the usual. The point I make with that… was the culture allowed it, encouraged it.

The report notes a devastating impact on people as a result of these experiences. This included an impact on their mental and physical health, confidence and ability to do their job, as well as their future career, “these experiences also caused significant distress and shame”.

The DriVerS BehinD ThiS BehaViOUr

A critical part of the report looks at the drivers which contribute to misconduct in parliamentary workplaces. Participants also described risk factors which interact with these drivers to endanger their workplaces.

The DriVerS inCLUDe:

Power imbalances, where participants described a focus on the pursuit and exercise of power as well as insecure employment and high levels of power and discretion in relation to employment gender inequality, including a lack of women in senior roles lack of accountability, including limited recourse for those who experience misconduct entitlement and exclusion, or “a male, stale and pale monopoly on power in [the] building”

The riSK FaCTOrS inCLUDe:

Unclear standards of behaviour, leading to confusion about the standards that apply a leadership deficit, such as a prioritisation of political gain over people management workplace dynamics, a “win at all costs” and high-pressure and high-stakes environment social conditions of work, including “significant” alcohol use and a “work hard, play hard” culture. employment structures and systems, such as a lack of transparent and merit-based recruitment.

reCOMMenDaTiOnS

There are 28 reCOMMenDaTiOnS in The rePOrT.

They include a statement of acknowledgement from parliamentary leaders, recognising people’s experiences of bullying, sexual harassment and sexual assault in parliamentary workplaces, targets to increase gender balance among parliamentarians and a new office of parliament staffing and culture.

The report also wants to see the professionalisation of management practices for parliamentary staff and a code of conduct for parliamentarians and their staff. An independent commission would enforce these standards.

The report also calls for a new parliamentary health and well-being service.

where TO FrOM here

Two key press conferences – from Morrison and Jenkins – accompanied the release of the Set the Standard report. But the change expected by the report requires much more than words – it requires concerted action.

Parliament now needs to endorse and implement a number of key accountability mechanisms to ensure that, as an institution, it ensures all building occupants are safe and respected at work. These include the office on parliamentary staffing and culture and independent parliamentary standards commission.

In addition, the report calls on the parliament itself to continue reflecting and thinking through appropriate changes. For example, the parliamentary work schedule is shown to drive a workplace culture that values “presence and endurance” over remote working and flexibility. Sitting in the chamber at 9pm does not necessarily equal productivity, particularly when it is propped up – among political staffers – with alcohol.

There is no simple solution here. Some argue long hours in parliament house mean longer periods away from parliament, in the electorate, with families. Others argue the work day should end – as it does in other workplaces – before dinner. Jenkins recommends parliament does its own review of the sitting schedule. Hopefully this will create “buy in” from parliamentarians, but reviews like this have been undertaken before (and have not led to cultural change).

For this report to lead to meaningful change, everyone in all the many, varied parliamentary workplaces has to take responsibility for the systemic inequality that drives toxic workplace behaviour in the building.

Responsibility is not equally distributed though. Morrison may call for a bipartisan approach, but he currently leads the government responsible for instigating the inquiry and implementing its recommendations.

His challenge will be in convincing the electorate he means it when he says he wants to fix this “very, very serious problem”.

If you or someone you know is impacted by sexual assault, family or domestic violence, call 1800RESPECT on 1800 737 732 or visit www.1800RESPECT.org.au. In an emergency, call 000. International helplines can be found via www. befrienders.org. • Gender Policy Fellow, Australian National University Source- The Conversation,

November 30, 2021 (Under Creative Commons Licence)

bOOk On bHil rebels Offers OtHer side Of HistOry, neglected by 'natiOnalist' HistOrians

BY VIDYa BHuSHaN RaWat*

one of the major accusations against Indian historians is that of neglecting and ignoring the role of the marginalised in the freedom struggle. most of the time, we are ‘informed’ that there were some ‘heroes’ and ‘villains’ of the freedom movement, all of them belonging to the same stock of caste as well as ‘power’ positions as their opponents.

In the process, Dalits and adivasis have been relegated to the back pages of history, one reason why narratives and issues found in folklores and live stories become an important tool to understand them. Keeping this in view, subhash Chandra Kushwaha, an important chronicler of history, has studied the bhil tribe in his book ‘bhil Vidroh: sangharsh Ke sava sau saal’ ( bhil revolt: One hundred Twenty five years of struggle, published). published by hind yugm and in hindi, the study is based on historical documents in various archives both in India as well as abroad.

Kushwaha has covered the period from 1800 to 1925, when international newspapers would report events in India, as well as various documents available in various archives. It is not that the history of bhils has not ‘existed’ prior to this, but documentation pertaining to this period has till now not been explored in the archives. he also analyses folklores, spoken to people and visited places, including monuments and structures, listening to traditional songs and understanding the bhils’ celebrations or festivities.

The bhils have been victims of our hierarchical caste system and were brutalised and criminalised by the kingly clans of rajputs prior to arrival of the british, explains the author. bhils were the owners of Khandesh as well as Central India, but were pushed to the forests by the ‘rajput invaders’, as suggested by by Captain e barnes and Thomas emily young in ‘The Journal of society of art’ on february 8, 1907. quoting barnes and young, Kushwaha says that Jhabua till 1550 was a bhil kingdom and was passed on to the rajputs by akbar.

Kushwaha has built his narrative chronologically in order to help understand the areas where the bhils lived. The chapter on the bhils of Khandesh shows how both the mughals as well as the marathas fought to control the bhils. with the ascendancy of bajirao as peshwa in 1798, Khandesh saw the downfall of various bhil Jagirdars, and anarchy grew thereafter. The peshwas reportedly were a brutal force who criminalised bhils. equally brutal were the marathas.

Discussing the bhil-rajput relationship, he statesthata ‘bhilala’ community of bhils emerged out of relationship between rajputs men and bhil women or vice versa. bhilalas considered themselves superior to others – though the bhils don’t think so.

The british felt that the brahmin rulers of western India made the bhils what they had become at that time due to their brutalisation and criminalisation. by 1818, the anarchy reached its peak when the british took control of the Khandesh and had to face “80 notorious gangs” (as per the book) with over 5,000 followers.

The british knew it well that it would be difficult to control the anarchy in Khandesh unless the bhils were taken into confidence. They realised that the chaos and anarchy in the bhil zone is basically because of the criminalisation process started by the peshwas and the maratthas. hence, the british focused on the ‘policy of reclamation’, not on the policy of extermination, as was during the previous regimes. by april 1827, the Khandesh bhil Corp was born, as “peace” was allegedly restored in the region. Kushwaha dwells on the policy of the british in Central India, giving detailed examples of how robbery and looting in the region was rampant. The british felt that the bhils could be useful for them as they were brave and loyal.

The chapter on bhil rebellion in Khandesh and madhya bharat gives the reasons why the bhils turned into gangs of looters and rebelled, as the old kingdoms left them unattended during the time of massive drought and famine, killing hundreds of people, compelling them to fend for themselves.

The bhils became rebels because of their socioeconomic conditions and exploitation. They were widespread deaths, yet they never lost fighting honorably. In 1823, as many as 172 bhil prisoners out of 232 who died during a journey to Khandesh, which reflects upon the behaviour of the police towards them.

BHIl REVoltS

The first bhil revolt took place in 1804 against the peshwas who had brutally criminalised the bhils. prior to the british takeover, the bhils fought against the local chieftains and the caste prejudiced rajas and majarajas, who were exploiting them.

The book documents important heroes of bhil rebellion in the early 19th century such as nadir singh bhil, gumani nayak, Cheel nayak, Dasharath and Kania, hiriya bhil and bhari bhil. It details numerous stories ranging from the mulher (nasik, maharastra) battle of 1825 to the rebillion of Kunwar Jeeva Vasava in 1846. It also explains how the english tried to divide bhils on religious lines, as muslim bhils were found to be more aggressive and rebellious.

The adivasis were fighting to protect their own land from the outsiders, and for them whether it was Indian outsiders or the british, it did not matter. however, the fact is, the british too wanted to exploit their natural resources. The british wanted to exploit the forest resources and wanted to push their ‘citizenship agenda’ everywhere. The census operations started for the purpose of identifying people and resources, so that everything is documented.

In 1852, land survey was ordered in the Jal gaon area, as the east India Company wanted to push through its new revenue model, and the forest was an income generating or revenue generating model for them. hence, there was massive revolt against the british in 1853 and 1858 against the exploitation of the local resources.

The rest of India, too, witnessed revolt against british policies, but adivasis and Dalits were also maltreated by those who were claiming discrimination from the british. Dalits and adivasis were exploited by feudal lords, who treated them worse than the animals. Kushwaha has referred to this his twolandmark works, ‘Chauri Chaura revolt and freedom movement’, now available in english, as also ‘avadh Kisan Vidroh’ (in hindi), both of which give the other side of the history which has been neglected by historians. all these movements subsided in the nationalist war cries of gandhiji and the Congress, which assimilated them and converted the entire issue as the fight against the british raj. Ignoring the local feudal caste culture was the biggest drawback of the national movement, though gandhiji symbolically tried to address the issue of untouchability, albeit without attacking the caste system.

The second part of the book focuses on rajputana, revakanta and mahi Kanta agencies, giving us details about the geographical location of the region, followed with an analysis of rajputs and the bhils of rajputana. rajputs and bhils had complex relationship, and perhaps historians can work further on the issue, particularly in rajasthan, where the rajputs are very particular about their historical heritage and mention maharana pratap as an extremely benevolent ruler and a friend of the bhils. revakanta was an agency in gujarat, as was mahiKanta in bombay presidency, where the bhils lived in large numbers and revolted against the british policy of acting against the bhil Jagirdars. The british military action in 1820 hardly got any success. The rebellion could be contained only to some extent in December 1823. a separate chapter deals with the icons or heroes of the rajputana, revakanta and the mahi Kanta bhil revolt, beginning with the baroda bhil revolt in 1804. The first among the heroes was Jagga rawat who rejected the domain of the rajput kings and was arrested on february 27, 1826 and was kept in jail till 1830, though not much is known about his condition thereafter. another interesting documentation is that of the banswada rebellion (187275) led by Dalla, Deva, Onkar rawat and anupji bhil. a pact in 1868 between the banswada state and the british got the british the right to suppress the bhils and exploit the natural reserves in the area.

There are interesting descriptions of the mewar bhil revolt of 1881 and the heroic fight of govind guru at mangarh Tekri in the Dungarpur province in 1913, and how the british finally neutralised the bhils in the region. The bhils rebelled against exploitation and refused to do slave labour. There was campaign against alcoholism as well as for vegetarianism, monogamy and against dowry.

taNtYa BHIl

In the part third of the book, there is a biographical sketch of Tantya bhil, who was referred to as the great Indian moonlighter by the foreign media. he was a rebel with a cause and his ferociousness got him the robin hood-type image. he was a messiah of the poor. born in 1842, Tantya saw exploitation from the childhood, as his ancestral property was illegally grabbed by the local feudal lord whose caretaker was killed by Tantya. Tantya was arrested in 1873 and got one year imprisonment. he continued his fight against the exploiters and went in and came out of the jail many a time. from 1878 to 1888 Tantya had over 400 cases of dacoity against, him but he was never caught. police always disturbed his relatives and other family members. Tantya was finally arrested on august 11, 1889. On October 19, 1889, Tantya was sentenced to death by sessions judge lindse niel in Jabalpur. On December 4, 1889 Tantya was hanged to death inside the jail. Kushwaha is writing a separate book on Tantya bhil.

Kushwaha, who has worked on adivasi issues passionately and voluntarily for the last so many years, documenting things from various archives and libraries, can a starting point for the researchers in universities to follow it up and dig up the adivasi history further. we need more such initiatives, particularly from the adivasi communities and their scholars, to take this further towards a logical conclusion.