CIC miffed with BCCI for its logo

The Central Information Commission (CIC) is miffed with the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) for the logo it is using which dates back to the British era. The logo depicts a star in the middle which is a representation of the “Star of India” honour which the British awarded to deserving Indian princes in the colonial era. Posing a question to the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) and the ministries of sports and law, the Commission asked why the Cricket Board is continuing with the colonial legacy.

The Commission stressed that the logo is similar to the star which sat on the order of the mantle in the British era. “After the First War of Indian Independence in 1857, to consolidate its sovereignty over India, the British Crown created a new Order of Knighthood to honour loyal Indian princes. No such honours were given after 1948. Did anybody notice that the BCCI is still hanging on to this colonial legacy, ‘symbolically’, and our team flags this logo even today,” the CIC said.

It is an embarrassing lapse on the part of BCCI to overlook the logo. The board should incorporate a logo which epitomises India, much like the tricolour or the Ashoka’s Chakra with the four lions on it, the CIC said. Questions were also raised by the CIC to the concerned authorities about the BCCI and other sports bodies not coming under the RTI ambit despite this plan being discussed in the Lok Sabha to introduce a bill.

Commissioner’s question

Mr Sridhar Acharyulu, Commissioner of CIC, threw a barrage of questions to the PMO regarding the logo and other transparency lapses in the cricket board. He said,” why the BCCI is still using the logo designed by the British Raj in 1928 which resembles 90 per cent the symbol of star of India given by the British Raj to the loyal princes….”