XIX Commonwealth Games - Delhi 2010 - 3-14 Oct 2010

Yesterday we watched the closing ceremony of the XIX CWG held at JN Stadium, New Delhi.  I had watched the opening ceremony at Mr Manoj Sharma's place, while I was in Delhi.  India performed its best so far in all the CWGs held so far bagging 101 medals in total which included 38 gold and made its position at second just after Australia and above England.  Indian sportpersons performed their best with true spirit of a good  sportsmanship.  In total, though Commonwealth has 54 nations, 71 nations participated as 17 nations sought permission and also became part of the total participants, though they had not been under the colony of England.  Next games are going to be held at Scotland in 2014.

However the organizing CWG has been a point of discussion since last many years and more so in last few months.  I got reminded of Asiad 82 which was also under controversies amid leadership of Mr Buta Singh, then chairman of Organizing committee of the games.  That was the time when color TV was launched in India and every businessman wanted to have a TV shop, looking at the great opportunity.  The organizing committee of  CWG 2010 was headed by Mr Suresh Kalmadi, a sitting MP from Congress.  I heard his speech on the opening day and yesterday.  Yesterday's speech was a full-flop.  As a chairman of the organizing committee he thanked all his counterparts including the PM, CM, Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi.  What about the people coming from 70 different nations.  He thanked his own people which was too bad and childish.

I shall like to raise certain issues related to CWG, Delhi 2010.

First, do we really need to be part of such an event which marks the togetherness of all the colonial nations which have once been under colony of British rule.  We are living in totally different world but still continue to recognize and respect the colonial mindset.  We need to think over it.

Two, we need to learn lessons from the nations which though having been under colony do not participate in the games.

Three, as a country, for India, was it proper to host such a mega event and that too at a place like Delhi.  A nation which has more than 30% of its population living below poverty line, such an extravaganza is really worth.  We need to do some cost benefit analysis over this.

Four, the proposed budget is said to be Rs 500 crore and in reality it has crossed Rs 70,000 crore (as per media reports), is it really worth spending such an amount for such an event.

Five, as reported there have been lot of corruption issues, as the games are over now and India having performed its best, are we really going to forget the corrupt people involved in the process on the excuse of India's performance.

Six, the organising committee spent Rs 5 crore on the song for the CWG composed by AR Rehman, is it really worth.

Sports, music and art bind people together. Hence we need to promote sports culture, but we need to keep reminding ourselves of our limitations and of course strengths.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

My Manipur Diary

Discontinuance of Money Order Service by India Post

On Doctorates and Research