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last word The youthful two-time BJP MP from Hamirpur and a rising star in the BJP firmament finds himself in the dock on charges of violations surrounding the HPCA allegedly committed during his father’s tenure. The Vigilance Bureau and other government agencies have already started a probe. Having played the game himself, Anurag has taken pride in putting Himachal on the international cricket map through the imposing HPCA-built stadium in the foothills of the Dhauladhar. Cricket lovers in the state lapped up the opportunity to watch international cricket matches and IPL fixtures at the stadium with international-class facilities. Thirtynine-year-old Anurag wears many hats. His meteoric rise in politics may partly be attributed to his lineage, but there is no doubt that he has carved a niche for himself within the party as national president of the BJP’s youth wing, Bhartiya Janta Yuva Morcha (BJYM), and through his forays into cricket administration.
In his defence A go-getter, Anurag is admired for his dynamism. He hogged the limelight when he led the BJYM’s ‘ekta’ rally from Kolkata to Srinagar. His involvement in cricket might have remained his priority, but as far his political innings is concerned, he remains in the shadow of his father, who is considered far more down to earth than his high-profile cricketer-turned-politician son. Predictably, he accuses the government of political vendetta and has appealed for support from cricket lovers to join him in his fight to get back the stadium from the government. “The stadium belongs to the people of Himachal: Raise your voice and stop this injustice,” is his appeal on the social media. His defence is simple: “The HPCA brought Himachal on the international cricket map, a feat we could not have dreamt of a few years ago. What we are getting in return is an FIR and inquiries.” He says he will face every inquiry and come out victorious. The HPCA is virtually Anurag’s baby as he claims credit for adding financial muscle to the association with its budget shooting from a mere Rs 20 lakh to over Rs 30 crore and fixed assets of almost Rs 100 crore. As the HPCA grew and created cricket infrastructure in the state, Anurag’s influence in the BCCI also rose and he became a joint secretary of the world’s richest cricket body.
Not in place However, the association is now under the scanner for creating a company by the name of Himalayan Cricket Players Association (HPCA) in Kanpur in 2005, when the HPCA as a society already existed in his home state. Later, this company (registered under the Companies Act) was shifted to Chandigarh and merged with the HPCA, changing the status of the sports body to that of a company. The HPCA has also been accused of promoting cricketers from outside the state who were made to play in the Himachal team, ignoring local lads. Similar accusations are levelled on the issue of granting membership and voting rights in the sports body, which compared to any other sports body in the state, has grown tremendously in stature as well as in assets. Liberal grant of government land to the HPCA at several places in the state for constructing stadium when his father ruled the state also drew criticism. The grant of land for the stadium and construction of a five-star hotel at Dharamshala has led to the registration of an FIR against the HPCA, which is also being accused of the Forest and Revenue Act violations. The locking of the stadium is undoubtedly a loss for cricket fans who have nothing to do with the politics behind it. With the takeover of the stadium, there is uncertainty over the holding of IPL matches at Dharamshala. A lot will depend on the stance of the BCCI.
Testing times As Anurag prepares for a long-drawn legal battle to regain control over HPCA properties, on the political front too, the going is not going to be easy. The Congress is eager to capture the Hamirpur Lok Sabha seat held by him. One thing is certain that he will have to depend on his father’s political clout to ensure victory in parliamentary elections. His last two wins came when his father was the Chief Minister. These are tough times for the young politician, both on the cricket as well as political field. A case has been registered not just against the HPCA, but he also faces an FIR along with his younger brother for purchase of land in Dharamshala from a landless person who had been given land by the government. As a feisty politician and a cricket administrator, Anurag will have to put his best foot forward to tackle the barrage of bouncers from the state government.
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Years ago, Dungarpur visited the National Film Archive of India in Pune and was shocked to see the state of affairs there. He felt something had to be done to preserve Nair’s legacy. It was because of him that Dadasaheb Phalke is recognised as the father of Indian cinema. Nair tracked down whatever remained of Phalke’s films and put them together. Celluloid Man depicts how Nair built the institute in a country where archiving is of no importance. “But the film is more than a tribute to a great archivist; through it, we see the history of Indian cinema unfold; we learn about India’s lost films and see how important it is to preserve and restore our cinematic heritage,” say critics. Dungarpur says he was always interested in preservation. “I had read an interview of Martin Scorsese about the II Cinema Ritrovato festival in Bologna, Italy, where they screened restored films. I attended the festival and was inspired to meet Nair. I had to do something to preserve our cinematic heritage. The meeting brought back old memories of the time I had spent at the Film Institute in Pune, when Nair had shown us so many wonderful films. Thanks to him we began to love and live for films.” Dungarpur saw the vault. “The films were kept in poor conditions — temperatures were not right and there was nobody to look after them. I learnt Nair was not allowed to enter the archive and I was questioned how I took him to the vault.” “It made me angry. I thought I could shoot a bit of footage about the condition of the archive and share it with the Press or the government for corrective action. I was denied permission to shoot at the archive. I had to shoot at the film institute. “After nearly five months, I tried to shoot at the archive with Nair Saheb and I was asked to leave the premises immediately. It was only on the intervention of the higher authorities that I finally got permission to shoot at the archive,” he says. India does not have a culture of preservation and restoration. This applies not just to films, but almost every aspect of arts and culture. Films in particular are looked as a business or entertainment, not as an art form or a reflection of the times we live in. The documentary’s release date (May 3, 2013) coincided with the day the first Indian film — Raja Harishchandra — was released
in 1913.
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WHY does the tiger keep disappearing from forests despite the huge efforts and money being spent on preserving it? Poaching, you may answer. That’s right, but you may personally be equally responsible for the majestic animal taking a beating. How? Answers to that — and endless other questions like how are deer related to langoor vis-a-vis food or how many of the Tibetan antelope chiru need to be killed to make one ‘shahtoosh’ shawl — were available personally to a motley crowd of people from a banker and photographer to policeman, all of who had the opportunity to put a finger on the pulse of forests for 10 days in October. The Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun — the country’s premier organisation in the field — had organised a training programme on wildlife conservation for “professionals without any formal training in wildlife biology or conservation”. Sounds innocuous enough, but the effect it had on the 15 who attended it was ‘life altering’, as some of them put it. The first such programme was conducted in 2012, after the WII Board of Directors realised there were a large number of people out there who sincerely wanted to work for wildlife conservation, but knew very little to do something meaningful or even spread the good word. Despite the faculty ‘warning’ participants at the outset that the purpose of the programme was not to give them certificates that may fetch them employment or careers, by the end of the course there was hardly a participant who did not want to give up his current job and jump fulltime into conservation. And the change in outlook was no surprise. As you landed at the campus on the outskirts of Dehradun, you found yourself in 300 acres of veritable forest. The welcome dinner was sumptuous, but what seemed to whip up appetites was the keen animal talk the participants and faculty members hurtled into right away. Most of what the amateur conservation enthusiasts had to say was perhaps amusing at best for the faculty, but the latter made sure they were there with them at every meal to keep the appetite going. The first five days were a rush of PowerPoint presentations on nearly every aspect of wildlife conservation — why do we need biodiversity; the amazing story of tiger reintroduction to Panna Tiger Reserve; history of forest management; forensic examination of wildlife products and how to tell genuine from fake; elephant ecology; laws to protect wildlife, et al. What someone may see as ‘classroom’ sessions actually turned out to be stormy debates where the wildlife ‘newbies’ questioned every theory propounded by the faculty, who are about the last word on wildlife in the country. Details came out on how the nearly 70 hydel projects proposed in Uttarakhand would hit wildlife, and had therefore been objected to by an environment impact assessment report done by the WII. Why is a wildlife corridor so desperately required between the eastern and western parts of Rajaji National Park in Uttarakhand, and what is delaying it. What is happening to sea turtles and their population or which species survive in the alpine heights and how can be found out on the Net too, but when you discuss firsthand with people who have spent nights counting and marking thousands of Olive Ridley Turtles on the eastern coast of India is when things really sink in and stay with you. But this was only the cake, the icing was yet to come. That was camping in Rajaji National Park for the next five days — living, walking, smelling, and surviving the very tracks that the tiger and elephant tread. This was where the debates concluded in the classroom turned physical. Not many had come prepared for this, but what ensued was at least four 15-20 km treks through the 820 sq km of a forest that no common visitor is allowed to enter. This is where you saw firsthand how grazing by cattle belonging to tribes living in forest areas simply chews off last of the precious territory that remains for wild animals. How tigers fight for territory, spraying and scratching trees for marking. How langoors drop tree leaves on the forest floor, which gives food to deer who otherwise cannot reach it. Then there were the ‘good stories’, of how land marred by the weed lantana was returned to grasses that herbivores can feed on, and in turn sustain the carnivores. You saw the mounds of elephant dung, a virtual forest digestive system at work, along with termite. The perpetual cycle of death and birth is what people saw happening up close in the forest. As for the question how are you responsible for tigers losing out, well, we all are continually increasing the pressure on land that needs to be shared with wildlife, which, along with the forests, holds infinite untold secrets that can make human life better, with miraculous medicine, health and environment solutions. To share this space, we will need to be convinced ourselves first, and then go out and tell the world the same, empowered with scientific arguments. That is precisely what this WII programme provided. Watch out for the announcement of the 2014 course
(www.wii.gov.in).
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Arun Jaitley,
bjp leader Salman Khurshid, external affairs minister Chandresh Kumari Katoch, culture minister Nitish Kumar, bihar chief minister
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THE high voltage midnight drama surrounding the takeover of the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association (HPCA) stadium and hotel by the state government on October 27 has brought into limelight Anurag Thakur, the ambitious son of former Chief Minister PK Dhumal. 
Cancelling the Patna rally would have encouraged terrorists and sent out a wrong message to the people. So, we decided to take a conscious risk of going to the dais and continuing the rally. The rest we left to luck.
Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde has a life beyond Patna. The law and order situation was the responsibility of the state government and if it was to ask Shinde or the ministry to take over something, he would have been available on phone.
I am not into any kind of dream business. If someone comes and tells me tomorrow that I had a dream that some treasure was buried at a place, why will I start an excavation? If there are gold mines at a place, the mining department should be told.
In a democracy you can campaign for the defeat of your rival, but to call for their liquidation smacks of belief in fascism and a mindset that idiolises Hitler. This is not acceptable.