Congrats Abhinav Bindra :)

I was on phone with my friend when he said "India ko Olympics mei gold medal mila hai"… I was surprised… I opened rediff to grab in more news... It was "Abhinav Bindra"… I had heard of him but wanted to know more... did a quick google to dig in more information about him... He definitely has done us proud by winning the first individual Gold Medal ever for India and the first in 28 years.

Later that evening; I was browsing through the news channels and I got goose bumps, chills running down my spine and tears in my eyes when I heard the Indian National Anthem been played at the Olympics. It was the first instance in my lifetime that I was watching an Indian standing on the winners podium... At that time I was truly on cloud nine and perhaps that's exactly how every other Indian felt at that time.

But this morning while I was driving to the office; I heard in the news that the Cash rewards extended to the Bindra were to the tune of Rs 1.66 crore; accompanied with many other goodies. Monday would've been the proudest day in the India's first Olympic individual gold medalist Abhinav Bindra's life when he was showered with the rewards. Checkout this list –

Punjab Government - Rs 1 crore
Haryana Government - Rs 25 lakh
Maharashtra Government - Rs 10 lakh
Madhya Pradesh Government - Rs 5 lakh
Chandigarh Administration - Rs 5 lakh
Chhattisgarh Government - Rs 1 lakh
The Indian Cricket Board (I don't know why they had to felicitate him???)- Rs 25 lakh
Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav announced a free lifetime pass for travel, by AC first class for the shooter.

However, I do not agree with the State Governments giving him a cash prize. This is our money. Tax payer's money… and the Govt. have no right to hand over any of this to him. Being the winner that Bindra is, no doubt he deserves to be worshipped and idolised, but showering him with gift and cash in this manner makes no sense to me when there are still many hurdles India has to cross to become a fully industrialized nation… to remove the tag of 'Third World Country' from her forehead.

However if this money was spent on training him, things would've been looked at with a different respect and in an altogether different light. Spend this money to make 100 other Olympic winners, and if the government does want to reward him, then why not give him a good government job?

Our hard earned money should be utilized in developing the nation, not in filling the pockets of an Olympic gold medal winner. Don't get me wrong, I'm not against the Olympic winners, I just want to see many more Bindras who are trained with the help of the tax money and not another rich Bindra who is rewarded an exquisite mansion to sleep in and lavish gardens to sip the tea in, while other Olympic aspirants are fighting their battle alone.