There is a new cricket league that has high hopes of bringing cricket to a wider audience. But it's not without controversy.
Cheerleaders are taking Indian cricket by storm, but some are wondering if this conservative South Asian nation is ready for dancers with bulging breasts and gyrating bellies parading in packed stadia.
Many foreign cheerleaders have been imported to India with this month's inauguration of the India Premier League (IPL), a shortened form of traditional cricket that transforms the game into a more glitzy U.S.-style sponsored sport event.
But some outraged politicians say it is an affront to Indian culture while a few of the cheerleaders themselves complain lewd comment and insults from spectators is making their job a misery.
Here's the story. Here's another story. I've recently wondered if culture, like the economy or a language, is to what extent a culture should be actively managed by government. I'm no anthropologist, but it seems that a region's culture is the long-run accumulation of practices, traditions, etc. that came about little by little for this reason and that.
HT to the comments at this TSE post.