Political Diary

New Delhi, 25 September 2010

Games In Shambles

INDIA TRASHED, SHAMED

By Poonam I Kaushish

India hangs its head in shame. The country stands vilified and trashed as never before. What was touted as India’s ‘going out party’ on the world stage, a la what the Beijing Olympics was for China, has turned out to be nightmare. National pride, you must be joking. Even as we unveil a “reasonable” Games on 3 October with a song and a prayer, the country stands disgraced, humiliated with its reputation in mud.

Harsh words, indeed. But do you blame my anger? Pictures tell it all, of a “filthy and uninhabitable” Games village with pan-gutka stained corridors, beds stained with paw marks, cracked dirty basins, filthy loos, broken stairways, water-logged entrances, stray dogs, surrounded by dengue-threatening puddles et al hogged world headlines with top sports stars from Canada, UK, Australia, New Zealand and Kenya hastily withdrawing quoting “unhygienic conditions”.

More scorn was heaped by the CWG Organizing Committee blasé attitude. Shockingly, it shrugged all the squalor by stating “some ‘friends’ are too finicky, we have different hygiene and cleanliness standards and they have different ones.” Really? So much for putting our best foot forward!   

Now the icing on the cake. According to the Australian paper Daily Telegraph India bribed 72 Commonwealth countries over US$ 100,000 each, camouflaged as ‘athlete training schemes, to get the hosting rights for the CWG. Piping Canadian city Hamilton which had offered US$ 70,000 each at the final presentation in Jamaica. The bad blood over ‘India buying votes’ continues. Leading to the CWG now banning 11th-hour inducements as a consequence of the outrage over India's tactics.

Sadly, one is least surprised. Shameless corruption, enmasse loot, rank ineptitude and inefficiency have become the hallmark of the Rs 70,000 crore and counting CWG. The tell-tale signs: collapsing foot-bridges, stadiums with leaking ceilings, torturous delays, shoddy construction, pot-holed roads, garbage and rubble across the city. Clearly, we can do nothing right. So much for “mere dilli meri shaan.” Sic.

Worse, the CWG has become a joke. Look at the deluge of SMSs doing the rounds. While one reads, ‘Kalmadi tried hanging himself from a fan but the false ceiling collapsed’, another talks of ‘Prince Charles actively convincing the Queen to visit New Delhi. It might be his only chance to become King' and ‘the more countries pull out, the higher India is ranked in the final medals tally.’

Tragically, this is no laughing matter. The CWG gloom is visible all over India. Testimony once again, that corruption has become the raison d atre of our feudal democracy. Of all-round systemic failure and its all-pervasive loot. A sordid saga of corrupt, incompetent netagan and babus who have failed miserably and unforgivably.

Truthfully, we have never really prioritised national honour. Think. In a country where corruption has become the raison d atre of our feudal democracy what else can one expect but celebration of mediocrity at best and debility at worst?  The reason why we have failed to prioritize on what Asli Bharat not Brand India desperately needs. Basic roti, kapad aur makan and sadak, bijli, paani.

Can a country where 700 million earn less than Rs 20 a day, nearly one million die every year due to inadequate healthcare facilities and over 5.6 million children, more than half the world’s total, where infant mortality rate is very high and one in every five child is malnourished, afford to squander such momentous sums to massage the egos of our leaders. Can they turn a blind eye to the country’s stark socio-economic reality and negative social and economic costs?

Look at the irony. The country has frittered away over Rs 70,000 crore on the CWG yet has no funds for the destitute, diseased and hungry. Indeed, as we aspire to exercise our economic clout the country should recognize that India ranks 66 among 88 in the Global Hunger Index and 134 in the UN Human Development Index below tiny Bhutan and Laos.

Today, the nation stands cheated by a venal and inefficient system that inspired it to dream of the Games as India’s national pride but fell far short. Notwithstanding, Delhi’s Chief Minister’s condescending assertion, “all the 'infrastructure --- flyovers, pavements, toilets, beautification etc --- is all for the aam aadmi.” Forgetting, that the hoi polloi have been ‘banished’ to sit like hostages in their homes. Buses have been yanked off roads while the poweratti zip around in swanky new cars to watch the razzmatazz show.

Undoubtedly, 'development' in the name of the CWG is an act of sin and perfidy on the nation. Given, it is our netagan karmic duty to deliver honest, good and transparent governance. They have been elected to do so and are not doing the aam janata any favour. We have a right to demand where and how our hard earned money is being spent? Why things are falling apart? Why hasn’t the cabal of Suresh Kalmadi, Sheila Dikshit, Gill and Jaipal Reddy been sacked? Is it the Prime Minister’s job to get a city cleaned?  The Army to set things in order?

This apart, did our leaders and policy makers put in place a legacy plan post the CWG. Given that development means much more than pouring concrete and asphalt from high-speed mixers onto roads and pedestrian sidewalks. Every country that bids for hosting international events does so keeping in mind what it would bequeath to the people for years to come. Recall, the focus of UK’s 2000 bid for the CWG was East Manchester, a once heavily industrialised area which had suffered serious economic decline in the 1970s and 80s.

The CWG and the £93 million it received from the Government gave Manchester an opportunity to redevelop its existing sporting amenities and fund the building of new top class venues. Whereby the city attracted more national and international sports events, upgraded facilities for its sportsmen, built new homes and schools, created a new town centre and business park etc thereby doubling the population to 60,000.

Significantly, these improvements lead to the economic resurgence of the area, creating jobs as well as bringing social and environmental benefits for the locals. Today, East Manchester boasts of generating employment for millions of workers, Microsoft’s Europe headquarters is based here and Walmart has a 160,000 sq. ft superstore.

Scottish city Glasgow which is hosting the CWG in 2014 unveiled its legacy plan in September last year. Not only has it involved the city’s residents, old and young, but sought their opinion and view about developing healthy communities, improving skill base, community sports hubs and cultural programmes connecting Scotland. It envisages promoting tourism and building a strong and flourishing economy.

What next? How do we fix the system? The time has come for our Teflon-coated power-hungry polity to recognize that when corruption is ubiquitous it leads to all-round degeneration, degradation, swaps honesty with dishonesty, stability with uncertainty and creates hurdles for the country to realize its full political and economic potential.

True, all is not lost. We Indians have the resilience to weather all odds and come out trumps. The aam aadmi has to boot out the corrupt. The time has come to wrench the initiative from our mai baaps who abuse our hard-earned money for petty personal aggrandisement. From scams galore to sham, from game to shame. The moot point: Do we have what it takes to convert our outrage into making a corruption-free new India? To restore the battered national pride? Else not rue over, India badnaam hui, darling corruption ke liye! --- INFA

(Copyright, India News and Feature Alliance)