[Reader-list] First posting

[Mario Rodrigues]

THE POLITICAL SOCIOLOGY OF GOLF IN SOUTH EAST ASIA

The golf scene in India has exploded over the last
decade with a phenomenal increase in the number of
courses, golfers and tournaments. Indian golfers are
also making waves on the international circuit. 
But golf has become more than a game today. It is now
a business, industry, career and lifestyle option.
This study will examine the political, economic and
social impulses that have unleashed the golf
revolution in India and also the countours of its
expansionism in South- and South-East Asia.   

But golf has also become a dirty four-letter word in
recent times. Golf courses, which are often connected
to lifestyle projects, involve  appropriation of large
tracts of land, often in controversial circumstances,
by powerful business & political elites, displacement
of marginalised peoples from traditional habitats,
destruction/alteration of the environment, pollution
due to the excessive use of pesticides and depletion
of water reserves.  This study will focus on some
controversial golf projects in India where such
violations have allegedly taken place.

The study will also look at attempts to promote golf
tourism by the state and central governments in tandem
with the tourism industry. It will also peep into the
mystical world of celebrity & corporate golf and that
of caddies as well and explore the interaction between
these disparate classes. In the course of this study,
I propose to meet & talk to the professional various
actors in the golf drama at select golf locations in
India to weave together a sociological, economic,
political & environmental canvas of the golf scene in
South Asia.    
Ends

I am a journalist working for the Mumbai Bureau of The
Statesman. Besides writing any number of stories on
various subjects I have also contributed to books on
China, Goan music and Indian football. I have also
authored the book “Batting for the Empire: A Political
Biography of Ranjitsinhji” published by Penguin in
2003.



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