A very catchy Commonwealth Games poster read- “24 flyovers, 75 aerobridge airport, 1285 kms of better roads, 80 new metro destinations, 59 hectare games village, 11 world class sport venues, 5000 low floor buses, and thousands of Job opportunities.. For you..for decades!” What a dream to sell to the Indians! I’m hugely baffled and appalled, by the baleful irony draped in this dream. There is an ulterior lie being sold to Delhi
The Commonwealth Games will showcase Delhi Delhi
Far more worrying than the possible threat to the lives of few privileged foreigners, should be the eviction of 1,40,000 families from their (kuccha) homes to clear space for the lavish facilities for these events. These families have been “re-settled” for their own good. (I wonder what a vendor in Munirka would do resettling in the 'slums' of Najafgadh!) The authorities seem to be following a very smart mantra- “If you don’t see it, it does not exist.”
Commonwealth is the biggest sporting extravaganza to have ever been held in India
Along with the usual accidents of the workers, leading to both death and disablement, and denial of basic minimum wages to them, this Commonwealth also gives children a chance to contribute to this memorable sporting carnival. The workers are promised extra food and wages if they get their children and families along, to work with them on the construction sites.
Now we share this burden of Commonwealth too. The recent budget hiked oil, LPG, CNG and other commodity prices. So what do we get in return? We get the promise of economic boom for decades to follow. This dream being sold to the rest of us doesn’t seem credible either. After all, we don’t have many good precedents to look up to. When the Greek capital won the right to stage the 2004 Olympics it was touted as an opportunity for renewed wealth and glory. But the legacy is a Greek tragedy of immense financial debt. Up to 21 of the 22 stadiums built for the Olympics now lie abandoned. The Athens Olympics cost a reported £9.4bn, and left a debt of €50,000 for each Greek household. Six years later, Greece
Have we bitten off more than we can chew? Or is it just bad organization, corruption and inefficieny standing in our way again?
Whatever may be, this commonwealth will only increase prosperity of a handful of globalised partners, make few rich even richer and leave behind very costly facilities for elite sport, only to be stared at by those whose homes and lives have been destroyed to make it possible.
Well.. must say.. nice blog.. and nice outlook of Indian Government wasting poeple's money..
ReplyDeleteBut lets look at the positive side as well..
If you look at the way.. the flyovers and other infrastructural advancements.. setup of a world class metro rail network etc. everything.. so far done in the name of commonwealth is commendable. If you just extrapolate the average travel time, 7-8 years back, according to current population and no. of vehicles in Delhi, you'll definitely be able to see where the improvement lies.
And as far as deforestation is concerned, I don't think any major city of the world, with population as huge as that of New Delhi, has a forest in the middle of city.
As far as the re-settlement of underprivileged is concerned, given the recent outrage and the traffic blocking stunts, due to water shortage, I think it is more than appropriate to do the segmentation of the society. And, as far as their job prospects in areas such as Najafgarh are concerned, its still a part of Delhi, and connectivity via regular local trains and buses or metros is there..
As far as poverty alleviation funds are concerned, the Government's NREGA programme is more than successful. So I would say that it is highly inappropriate to say, that commonwealth games is a huge compromise on the development of Poor in India. As a matter of fact, if you look at the kind of employment it has generated, for infrastructure development and otherwise also, lots of college grads are getting internships, and exposure to a world class event, development of world-class sports stadiums, world-class metro network, and other developments as well, it would be highly appropriate to say, in my opinion, that all the effort is more than worth it.
For the issue of child labor, i would rather restrain myself from saying anything. It is a big social issue, and has nothing to do with commonwealth alone.
As far as financial planning is concerned, 1st of all, we are not building any infrastructure, which was not otherwise required. Remember, the development of sports and other cultural activities are equally important for the overall development. India, not being present in the world's biggest sports event, FIFA, is the classic example of lack of infrastructural and other opportunities. So, unlike Athens, the infrastructural development will only be a boon to the country. Also, just for reference, the Government has generated enough money through DDA, by the housing schemes and other such schemes, which are of reasonably high costs to cover up for the finance. It is just a matter of time.
And what you see as the destruction of homes, i would call that rather as the development for them, coz atleast now they have homes( maybe in suburbs though) which wont get damaged that easily due to rains or other such factors, unlike their mud-houses..
Its the matter of .. how u look at it..
1 day spent in heaven, and rest of the lifetime in hell.. or 1 life spent on earth, having a normal life. :)
Thanks Ankit.
ReplyDeleteWell what u say is what all of us are made to believe too, coz lets face it, we aren't getting affected by it directly, not as of now, and the inflation, like the Govt said is bound to happen.
Commendable infrastructural work was done in the time of Asian Games too, maybe it was bad luck that many of those roads and flyovers crashed in less than 30 years, or maybe 30 years should be their shell life in India?
Re-settlement is a comfortably deceptive word. So unless you go yourself and see their "homes" you can't be rest assured. For reference there has been a study done by the Guardian UK about the eviction and abandonment of these people. Maybe it is hard to empathize since it is hard to even imagine this in our positions.
DDA has always generated immense revenue for the government, even though the Asian Games village was flawed in more ways than one, the stairs were not even (too small then too big), there were leakeges.Nonetheless they manage to make huge money everytime. No doubting that. Wherever the money is then routed to, is the question. Maybe that revenue couldn't keep the Govt from sucking out 10s of millions from the other, otherwise important schemes.
Who says we are building useless infrastructure?(other than maybe a few dozen giant stadiums) We need the roads, flyovers, and housing.But is it being effectively done? And should we do it at the expense of thousands of our people's lives. I link here another reference study by the UN, read it here
http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/blog/2010/may/25/commonwealth-games-delhi\
How well the NREGA has been doing, or how awesome their new re-allocated houses are(did u think they are pukka!), can't be qualified that easily, given how India has dealt with this so called insignificant section in the past. Oh and most of them are migrant workers, they don't even vote here!
Just because human exploitation and child labour is rampant everywhere, it can't be ignored here! How many countries of the world, that you speak of here, have floods in their commercial capital every year, as we have in Mumbai! Maybe they can do without trees, but maybe we should hang on to them for a while.
I like how you end it, I would end it the same way, in a different light ofcourse.
You've written this one like a pro! I concur with almost all the arguments, except it might not be as bad as Greece here after all. Though if it does happen in the natural course of things, Commonwealth shall have nothing to do with saving that from happening. Great writing and flow of ideas. Keep up!
ReplyDeleteThanks Dhruv. Yeah i meant that the promise of economic boom expected of a giant sporting extravaganza is a fallacy and can't save a country from economic crisis if it's (actually important) policies have been defeated, case in point Greece.
ReplyDeleteAmazing insight Manisha. To add to ur view, CM Sheila Dixshit has promised to scrap auto-rickshaws. She says Autowallahs “harass” passengers, she complained and many are plying the streets “illegally”. With the Commonwealth Games this Summer, the eyes of the world will turn to Delhi. Auto-rickshaws do not fit with the CM’s desire to see visitors return home convinced “that they have been to a truly civilised city”.
ReplyDeleteShe plans to replace these autos with futuristic battery-powered taxis...So even if the games r providing employment to 1000+ ppl.. it is taking away more than that...
@randomness: Thankyou for your appreciation and your inputs, I missed quoting this :)
ReplyDeleteawsum post .. keep it going :)
ReplyDeleteYou missed a last line tag...
ReplyDelete"This is Manisha reporting live for blogger.com"
On a serious note, try journalism..
And I am not joking