Background

Sports are the lifeblood of society. They increase nationalism for the state, support economies, and determine the credibility of countries. With the 2^nd most population in the world and as a rising major world power, India consistently takes hits to their credibility with increasing sports corruption. In light of the Sochi Olympics just last winter, the International Olympics Committee (IOC) banned the three sole Indian athletes, Himanshu Thakur, Nadeem Iqbal, and Shiva Keshavan, from walking under an Indian flag during the opening ceremony. They banned India from participating in the opening ceremony because of corruption in the Indian Olympic Committee. Corrupt practices like these are preventing India from becoming a reliable country in the world.

Problem

With constant betting and fixing in the Indian Premier League (the cricket organization), N. Srinivasan, considered an influential cricket officer, decided to resign as the Indian board president on March 27, 2014. Earlier in the year, the Supreme Court had launched an investigation on a scandal involving Srinivasan’s son. Last May, Gurunath Meiyappan, his son, has been arrested for illegal gambling regarding cricket. Also, they found a business connection between Meiyappan and Srinivasan. Because the Supreme Court did not want to take a public relations hit, they asked Srinivasan to step down from his position at BCCI.

Solution

India, recognizing that corruption is a large problem in sports, has started to implement numerous policies to end it. Just recently, the Central Bureau of Investigation (the FBI of India) has created a special unit to investigate and deter sports corruption.

In a recent press conference, Director, Ranjit Sinha, announced, “The CBI will investigate the cases of fraud, fixing and illegal betting in sports.” He continued to add on to say that “With the setting up of the sports integrity unit, India would join the very few nations in the world to have a dedicated set-up as part of its federal investigative agency to investigate sports frauds.”  Ultimately, India is taking large steps in the field of sports corruption.

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