India is still a poor country, ranked 127 out of 177 in the Human Development Index, and therefore one must question the rationale of spending more than a billion dollars on a sporting event. I’m sure Danny Boyle would show something better of India than he showed in Slumdog Millionaire, only if this money were spent on more important issues like poverty, illiteracy and unemployment.
Therefore, I stand to challenge the very idea of hosting the Games. I would talk about the harm done and debate whether it has done us any good as against what it has taken from us.
A lot has been said about the Games aiding to our quest to build a strong image at the international level. But, we must not ignore the fact that proving to the world that we are very well capable of organising an international event of such a scale would do little good, when made to stand against our shortcoming of not having been able to provide food, clothing and shelter to the majority of our population.
Some people argue that the infrastructure developed for the Games shall serve its purpose over the coming years as well and hence the expenditure is justified. However instances from the past stand in sharp contrast to this. The ‘infrastructural wonders’ which were built in Delhi for the Asian Games, 1982 have not been able to serve enough purpose and are majorly underutilised, till date. The Players’ building – the large residential complex built during that time – remained uninhabited for 15 years, till it was reborn as the Delhi Secretariat. Not a single stadium has been maintained appropriately and they are thus, more often visited by rats and snakes than by humans. Thus it is quite apparent that these stadiums are simply given a facelift in the run up to an event but otherwise left in a state of disrepair.
India has been reeling under the threat of terrorism and it was not long ago that we suffered from the brutal Mumbai attacks. On top of that, we have not even been able to tackle the problem of internal militancy. An event of such magnitude and national importance, with thousands of foreign nationals coming in, made our country all the more prone to another terror attack. Lack of attendance at the Games may also be attributed to the same reason. An online poll conducted by tripadvisor.com found that 93% of the foreigners from the Commonwealth nations did not want to travel to India, out of which, 37% attributed their apprehensions to security concerns.
For weeks before the CWG, our own newspapers and media channels belligerently showed the abysmal situation of Delhi to everyone. Indians packed off for holidays when they realized that offices wouldn’t function during the days of the Games.
Countless people have been displaced due to the development works for the Games, undertaken at the otherwise untouched and underdeveloped areas of East Delhi and Yamuna River front. To ready the area, ‘illegal’ structures in the area have been demolished. This means that the slums that had spread in the area have had to go, regardless of the fact that low-income housing is practically nonexistent in the city and thus the slum dwellers have got no relocation.
Some avid supporters of the Games say that it was a great ‘learning experience’ for our Government and its officials and that things would just get better. This is also used as grounds to justify their opinion that we must now bid for the Olympics, as well. But the Asian Games, 1982 disprove this as well. Budgets were overshot and the quality was abysmal, even then.
Before hoping for a better performance in such endeavours in future, we must not forget that over the years, our love for mediocrity and corruption has only increased!
An overhead bridge collapsed, injuring 27 people and a bed buckled under the weight of a boxer, while the greedy politicians-turned-heads of the Organizing Committee feasted on the grant of ` 70,000 crores, issued by the Indian Government. Thus, the Games were simply another opportunity for our Government to showcase its talent for robbing the coffers of a poor country to the core and to reinforce the fact that blunders on its part could easily be swept under the carpet, in the hope that they would soon be forgotten.
The Indian contingent spent ` 40 crores on getting the message – “See You in Delhi” across at the closing ceremony of the Melbourne Games in an 11 – minute show. Considering that among other things, like A. R. Rahman being paid ` 5 crores to compose the theme song, I would say that the Games were an extremely expensive ‘PR’ exercise and simply an exercise in nationalism and politician-supported patriotism.
Let’s look at the larger picture now. Why couldn’t the grass root issues be taken care of before venturing into something as big as the Games and how important was it for an underdeveloped nation to go into such waters as these, while the majority of its population is still below the poverty line? Given the current economic situation, the country would have been better off without the Games and the money that has been spent on building the white elephants (stadiums etc.) would have been better utilised to build homes for the poor. The beauty of these stadiums would impress only those who are not conversant with the dismal state of the millions of people across our country, who live in conditions which would certainly be classified as unfit, even for cattle in the West.
I tried my best not to write much about the already talked about issue of corruption. But I came across something on the day the Games concluded and am tempted to share it here – ‘The Games went off well. Very well…Now let the Audits begin!’
Student: Vipul Joshi