Display of IPL wealth amidst extreme poverty a shame, says World Vision chief

The recent Indian Premier League (IPL) auction has clearly exposed the rich-poor dichotomy in India, says the head of a leading Christian humanitarian organisation in the country.

There is a huge disconnect between the face of India that IPL seems to project to the world with all its glitz and glamour and the real face of India where millions continue to live in extreme poverty, observes Dr. Jayakumar Christian, national director of World Vision India.

"A couple of weeks back, when India's 'aam admi' was forced to scrape his wages to buy a few rotting onions, a few business men and movie stars were busy buying cricket players for millions of dollars for the Indian Premier League," he rues.

"When a popular cricketer wasn't 'bought' by anyone, the headlines termed it 'Shocking News'," he notes, asking "have we as a nation become so 'characterless' that the exclusion of one player is more 'shocking' than the process of auctioning human beings itself?"

The league for Twenty20 cricket competition is scheduled to begin in April 2011. The auction last month allowed every franchise to spend a maximum of USD 9 million in picking players for IPL's season four.

"As I followed the 'auction' I was reminded of the thousands of children in this country who are 'sold' into forced labour, bonded labour and sexual exploitation every single day into slavery. There are no bidders, no base price, and no media coverage," grieves Jayakumar.

"The IPL fanfare auction was an embarrassing alternative to the economic slavery of our children. While our cricketers were getting angry when they were not 'bought' our children were weeping because they were bought -into slavery - an abuse of their God-given potential."

The Indian Premier League 2011's brand value is estimated to be $4.13 billion. Says Jayakumar, "In a country where more than 37 million people live with less than Rs 40 a day, where one in every three malnourished child in the world is from this country, where thousands of children go to bed hungry because they can't afford to buy food, the display of IPL wealth is a shame".

He asks if the nation has "become completely numb to the existence of 836 million".

"Are we going to be mere spectators of this great tamasha called 'Indian Premier Embarrassment' or will we take a stand for our children?"

He warns, "It is time to make an ethical choice that reflects our character rather than the markets.