Vision Statement for Indian Cricket

An industry needs to be professionally managed.

The BCCI, therefore, resolves to repudiate its present constitution, which was framed for, intended for, the amateur era. And to introduce a fresh constitution, the salient points of which will be as under:

a) The board will be headed by a CEO, who will be a full-time, paid, professionally-qualified employee with outstanding management skills

b) The board will be staffed by an executive committee comprising a secretary, a treasurer, and heads for the marketing, finance, and infrastructure departments who will, in turn, be paid, professional, full-time employees

c) The various departments and professionals mentioned above will be headquartered at an official office of the BCCI. To this end, the board will purchase, equip, and staff a full-fledged office. The officials of the board will be expected to function out of that office, and all records of the board will be maintained at that office. All meetings relating to the board's functioning will be held in the office premises - thus, we plan to insure against situations where monies belonging to the board are recovered from the homes of employees; where more money is spent on holding meetings in five-star hotels than on coaching and promotional activities

d) The performance of all employees of the board will be reviewed annually. Any and all employees will be held strictly accountable for results in their respective departments, and failure to produce results will result in summary dismissal.

e) Recognising that the media is the link between the board and the players on the one hand, and the public on the other, the board will appoint a full-time media liaison officer, whose duty it will be to brief the media on matters that concern the board's various activities, thereby enabling the public to stay informed about any and all of our activities.

f) Once the constitution is drafted, it will be put before the public, through the medium of newspapers, television, and the Internet, for mass ratification. Feedback from the public will be sought, and relevant feedback will be incorporated into the constitution before the document becomes official.

g) The financial pattern of the board will be restructured by experts (this writer claims to no such expertise, and unlike the BCCI, is wary of attempting something he is not qualified to do). The governing principle, though, will be very simple - the board will maintain a contingency fund of Rs 50 crore in a centralised account, plus funds as per professionally prepared estimates for operating expenses, benevolent fund payments, et al. All other monies earned through the game will be ploughed back into the game, in order to constantly improve and upgrade infrastructure right from the grassroots level up. The game earns the money - it is only fair that the money is used to the betterment of the game.

h) At the outset, we had indicated that our primary goal would be to restore the public's faith in Indian cricket administration. Towards this end, the constitution will specify that the BCCI's accounts will be audited annually. Further, that all official records - audited financial statements, minutes of BCCI committee meetings, et al - will be maintained at the BCCI headquarters, and will be open for inspection by any member of the media or the public at any time.

Our goal is complete transparency. The BCCI will not, under its new constitution, hide anything - because it will not have anything to hide.

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