Thursday Brief

Two news items which caught my today are totally on two different topics, one is about law and order and other is about cricket

1 In a bid to reduce the crime rate, the Mumbai Police have started taking good behaviour bonds from habitual offenders, and are also invoking stringent sections of Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) wherever necessary.

“People, who operate small gangs in small  areas are real menace. They did not even hesitate to kill people just for sake of maintaining their supremacy in the area, as a reason we have decided to come down heavily on them, said a police office. Invoking MCOCA means they won’t be able to procure bail easily and would be behind bars for year or two or at times even more,” said a police official

The Mumbai Police have also intensified their drive against the habitual offenders who possess equal risk. The police have taken over 1,000 bonds of good behaviour making the accused to promise not and the people who were likely to breach the peace have been made to sign the bonds, said a police officer. For every violation of the bond, the accused would be asked to pay hefty penalty or he could be sent to jail as well or both, added the officer. The Bond amount ranges from Rs 25,000 to Rs 50 lakhs

Most of the bonds have been taken under the section 107 ( security for keeping peace) of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) there number is around 750 while another 250 have been taken under section 110 (security for good behaviour from habitual offenders).

As per Mumbai Police Commissioner “ We have involved the entire poloce force in this exercise. Our aim is to make Mumbai crime free. This assurance is taken  from habitual offenders, robbers, forgers, kidnappers, extortionists, drugs and foreign exchange violators.

In  my opinion this is a great initiative by Mumbai Police, hope this helps them in reducing the criminal activities in Mumbai.

2 As Indian cricket fans across the globe rejoice India’s historic victory at  Brisbane to seal a Test series win against Australia in Australia, former great and legend Rahul Dravid has been rightly remembered by many. On Twitter and other social media platforms, many have said that ‘The Wall’ also deserves the plaudits equally as does the backroom staff led by coach Ravi Shastri.

The win came because of inspired performances by young guns like Rishabh Pant, Washington Sundar and Shubman Gill, all of who have played under Rahul Dravid at the Under-19 level. Dravid, who was a rock in the Indian middle order during his playing days, is heading the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru where he grooms Indian players who play for the India A team and U-19 level.

While Pant and Washington had played in the U-19 team in 2016, Gill who made a vital 91 opening the innings during the chase, had played in the 2018 team managed by Dravid.

The win  is significant in many respects with the team battling the odds as many of its frontline players were laid low due to injury and couldn’t play in the match. India’s regular captain Virat Kohli had already flown back after the first test for the birth of his child and the team was being led by Ajinkya Rahane for the remainder of the series.

After the third test in Sydney which saw India earn a creditable draw due to the gritty efforts of Hanuma Vihari and Ravichandran Ashwin, it was later revealed that both these players were battling injuries and they were forced to sit out of the fourth and final test. Besides, India’s star pacer Jasprit Bumrah was also ruled out along with Ravindra Jadeja dealing further blows to India’s chances.

However, the Indian team showed great character and determination to come out all guns blazing with the limited resources at their disposal to ensure a memorable victory, which will go down in the annals of Indian cricket as one of the greatest of all time.

The way Rahul Dravid has brought the change in the working of NCA is remarkable. At NCA weekly report of player cover their skill development, technique and physical fitness. For under 19 player this includes how the batsman has played certain shot this week as compared to last week, how far this shot had travelled, whether he was hitting the right angles. How many times he missed and mistimed etc.

The biggest change in policy for selection of player for team A came in 2016 when Naman Ozha (33 years) for selected for tour Australia, was asked to sit out, because Dravid felt in team A only young players will be selected, and he was replaced by young Sanju Samson. The objective was to unearth players and groom them.. This Australia tour has proved the work put up by Rahul Dravid is  bearing fruits.

Even there are many players in IPL who have also come out from NCA, and are performing well.

So Rahul Dravid, who has worked hard with selfless motives would be so proud of these players.

Waiting for your views and comments.

Anil Malik

Mumbai, India

21^st January 2021