After a lot of controversies and well justified hue and cry, Common Wealth Games-2010 opened with a spectacular opening ceremony.. It is being touted as the ‘Biggest Ever’ of its kind and we should not be surprised if it is declared as the ‘Best ever’; for unlike many other things, organizers of CWG don’t need any well established parameter to judge the things or rather say, being judged.. It’s like declaring a half baked food as delicious.. Of course, the event has kicked off with a rich and tantalizing official unveiling and people seem to be happy.. All controversies have been forgotten and 'how proud we are to be an Indian' chant is back.. No doubt, it's easy to get enticed by the colorful and bright extravaganza.. It is quite similar to a kid getting soothed by candy forgetting the very reason he was crying for moments back.. So we are all set for the 'Biggest' and 'Most successful' Common Wealth Games.. Trust me, the way things are unfolding, this is how we are going to remember this event because this is how it is going to be portrayed.. No doubt 'short term memories' of 'we the common people' will again help the abuse of common tax payer's money go unnoticed.. Two weeks from now, most of us will be convinced that this CWG was indeed essential for 'National Pride' and the people involved indeed did a fabulous job in adding some more jewels in the crown of our country.. But at times it is much more than what meets the eyes..
My opinions matter little.. But they do matter to me.. So I will take this liberty to jot down the reasons 'why these games should not have been there'.. I will not indulge into the point that what significance CWG holds.. I have never believed in making things sound hyper intellectual.. So I would prefer in presenting some simple facts..
So let's come back to square one.. Did we need to have these games hosted in our country in first place?
I never had any doubt about this CWG taking place.. One of my friend had made a fair point to me that big events like Olympics, CWG, etc portray a country's ability and might.. I accept this truth.. My only objection is; what should be our priority? To show other countries our inflated might or to take corrective measures to ensure the outstanding issues are taken care of that we are having right now? By organizing such events we just want to send out an 'All is well' message to rest of the world.. Not just this; Our intention is to proclaim that we are a fast developing country with a rich social and cultural values.. But how true is that? If that is true then why common people rue about the corruption? Why do we still see small kids begging on the roads? Why is 40 % of population under poverty line? Why is our bureaucracy known as the laziest and slowest in Asia? Why is the 'corrupt' tag inseparable from our politicians? Why 30 million cases are still pending when we claim to have a fair judicial system in place?
Development is not always about quick results.. It is about the intentions.. And from what I observe, I just see the murky intentions, a lethargic, indolent and corrupt governance and equally insensitive constituents.. Yes we are an insensitive lot who never care of other’s miseries.. When something wrong happens with us and we suffer the pain, then only we complain.. Other’s pain holds no importance to us.. The preparations of this CWG onset with displacing poor people from their homes for making space for CWG venues.. It's common in India.. Homeless poor are pushed from one corner to other without being given a thought about their despair.. What importance does this CWG holds for them? We can shell out 77K for a 12 days sports affair, but can't do anything for them? When Games are in progress, these people will be made 'invisible' for we don't want the world to see the reality..
Let's bring in picture the workers, the laborers who worked on the preparations of the venues.. Thousands of them, with most of them being the migrant workers coming from far off places in search of work and a better life toiled hard in sun and rain for pennies.. A few hundred of them even died while working on-site but no one even mentioned about giving any compensation to their kin.. They never got any proper homes to live-in.. They lived in makeshift houses made of plastic and sack with leaking roof and water seeping-in and malaria and dengue breeds in such places only.. And these people don't have any life insurance.. So if the sole bread winner of the family dies, then rest of the family too falls in line of the dreadful death because of starvation.. To make things worse, these workers were paid much less than the fixed wage as per minimum wage act.. Per minimum wage act, a laborer must be paid at least Rs. 130/- per day (This act itself is a big cruel joke), but in reality, workers were paid close to Rs 80-90/-.. When we are watching the colorful opening ceremonies, these people must be sitting huddled in their small makeshift houses worrying over the fact that from where they will get the money to make the ends meet tomorrow.. Let's get into a little calculation about some basic expenses..
All of us need money for the following things..
Food
Shelter
Cloth
But real fact is, actual need is not just roti, kapda aur makaan (Food, Shelter and Clothing).. There are other priorities in life as well.. I am trying to list down few of them..
Medical expenses: Ever wondered about a dear one falling sick with no money in wallet? Standing in the long queue of a crowded government hospital with abusive medical staff but keeping quite since they are the only hope to save your dear one? This is the real picture for a poor in India.. Even if their dear ones die because of medical negligence, no one cares.. We don't have the minimal medical infrastructure in place.. Could we have spent a portion of that 77K crore here?
Children education expenses: "What is that!".. Ask a poor and he will have this expression on his face.. Ever wondered of not having got a chance to go to school/ not being able to send your children to school because hunger for food prevails over the wish to study and dream of a better future? For a poor, future itself is a dream because to see tomorrow, they need to last and to last, they need to eat.. So they need to set out their ‘priorities’ right.. No matter how much our respective Governments claim about the great work they have done for the uplifting of education; fact is, real education is realistically only for the well off people in our country barring a few exceptions of individual brilliance for which Government doesn't have any right to take credit.. Fact remains that our Education system is in tatters.. We just have a dummy system in place.. Else why don't our ministers send their kids to government schools?
Could we have spent a portion of that 77K crore here?
Insurance and Investment: We all invest a part of our earnings in various investment plans.. We also go for various kind of insurance schemes.. Can a daily wage earner with an earning of Rs 100 odd every day even think of doing this? More you think about this and more depressing it starts getting..
Entertainment: Ever thought about NEVER being expected to expect about the luxury called entertainment? Think about various kinds of things we do to unwind and then ponder what if you will NEVER have money to even think about doing that ever in your lifetime?
Eating out with family: For poor, eating the basic meals is the biggest luxury.. Just think about the condition when someone has to suppress the hunger because of lack of money to buy enough food for the family.. Isn't this an insult to humanity?
Gadgets: Love your high-end touch screen cell phone and that new look Laptop? They can't even dream to have one..
Furnishing of home: If they have anything called 'real home'
Vehicle: Ever thought of traveling in crowded general compartments of a train, at times without tickets because you had to make a choice between purchasing a ticket or food for the journey? Ever wondered of traveling in the public transport buses everyday to your workplace for which you will not get 'travel allowance' even if you earn just Rs 100 a day? Why do we see our buses and trains always crowded..
Could we have spent a portion of that 77K crore here?
Saving: We all save a portion of our income but good times as well as bad ones.. Imagine a situation where your daily earning is so scant that you are hardly able to save anything for future..
Job Security: The migrant workers with no savings will be out of job once the activities related to CWG are over.. With no shelter over their head, where are they supposed to go?
Points above paint quite a gloomy picture and I know it gets quite depressing when we think about such things.. But the fact is that, we have close to 50 crore people in India who live this kind of miserable life.. And this is when I start to muse over the fact that do we really need to spend Rs 77,000 crore on events like CWG? We are talking about organizing a world class event.. Then why is it that workers who work in preparing the venues were not given even the basic facilities? Only reason is ignorance.. Ignorance towards the sufferings of the poor who don't have any voice and if there is any, it will be crushed.. Do the people in our Government genuinely think about the well being of these people? For heaven’s sake, these people are as much Indians as we are and not the stray dogs to be hushed away!
I am yet to bring into picture the other negative aspect about the CWG 2010.. It is corruption.. We have people like Suresh Kalmadi who shamelessly exploited the money meant for the games and kept on denying the facts presented about gross corruption.. And we had people in our government supporting them.. Why is it that, just a couple of days before games were to commence, media's attention diverted from the negativities? It is not hard to figure out that who all are hands in gloves with the corrupt governing bodies and the administration.. A venue made in hap-hazard manner might hold good for two weeks and might look stunning in multicolored and vibrant light work on the evening of opening ceremony.. But they're meant to serve the larger purpose.. Infrastructure and stadiums prepared for such events are meant to be in use for the athletes in the years to come.. But the shoddy way in which they have been prepared, they are bound to cave-in in the time to come.. This is one of the most important reasons why people like Kalmadi delayed the preparation until last hour.. They wanted to build the infrastructure with minimal expenditure (and the inflated one) which could hold good during the games (And only during games).. Who cares what happens to them once games are over.. This way they successfully managed to guzzle the larger chunk of money in their personal bank accounts.. Now once the games get over; CWG will be declared 'Successful' and 'best ever' and these people will again get away.. In fact they will be felicitated for their 'great contribution' and bringing 'Pride to India’..
In what way are these games going to help the Indian athletes? They will still remain underpaid.. Our athletes are expected to function as if they are the one who live the life by purchasing the lottery tickets.. They are expected to make it big in events like Olympics.. If they do, they are showered with money else left to live in misery.. No effort are being made to uplift the sports infrastructure in the country.. In stead of wasting these 77K crores here, we should/ could have spent the money boosting up the sports infrastructure and preparation of 2012 Olympics.. It is not that difficult.. Minimize the involvement of politicians in sports governing bodies, give secure employment to our athletes and erect better facilities in terms of world class stadiums in a number of districts, even the smaller ones.. Make it compulsory to have at least one sports for the children in school and assist schools in coming up with better sports facilities.. Open a sports academy wherein a number of identified and selected children from various sports are absorbed at a young age.. Bear the expenses of their food, cloth, education and training.. Provide them world class facilities and exposure.. This is the way we will have world class athletes.. Giving Arujuna awards won't get us world class athletes..
Coming back to the CWG, when I think about the people in charge, I get the feeling of utter repugnance over the fact that we have these kind of morally dead people taking decisions on behalf of the whole country.. We too are to share the blame though.. For we always fail to recognize what being an Indian is all about.. Being Indian is about the resolution that we all are equal.. But we are not.. We are divided by innumerous factors.. Fact is, most of us like to live in our cozy safe zones.. We have become numb to suffering of others because we don’t really care.. We just want to be happy and constantly being assured that we are heading towards prosperity.. It is this ignorance, these fraudulent people take advantage of.. They take the decisions to suit their own interests, loot public money, distort country’s image and shamelessly continue to be in denial mode about their heinous acts and then plead for public support in the veil of patriotisms.. I still sincerely wish for the complete failure of CWG as this will not be the failure of India as a nation, but the failure of these people's very motive of getting away with all the misdeeds.. Sad enough, facts are never presented completely.. Not supporting CWG is NOT an anti national thing to do.. Instead, supporting it means getting mislead and support these people.. Having said that, I am very well aware of the fact that good these people are at manipulating the things, we are going to witness the ‘Successful’ games.. All negative points will be buried and in due course of time all dirt will be swept under the carpet..
So brace up for the 'Biggest Commonwealth Games' ever with:
1> A number of key athletes missing the event because of non sporting reasons.
2> Biggest ever expenditure which was done without thought (or with 'other thoughts and priorities')
3> Biggest in terms of monetary scam. Culprits will never be caught. Instead they will be rewarded; for this CWG is certainly going to be touted as the 'Best Ever' no matter what
4> Just a few hundred laborers have died while working in inhuman conditions. But what is the need to care about them? We are Indians and they all died while working for a national cause! Moreover, no distractions please, biggest CWG is on!
5> Once CWG is over, thousands migrant laborers will be left in lurch in New Delhi with no work to do.
Events like CWG mean celebration.. Lets celebrate the incompetence and ignorance of our Government in providing the basic infrastructure to the majority of the population.. Let’s celebrate the fact that how deaden we have become to the exploitation and are content with seeing multi crore charade.. Let’s celebrate the fact that we constantly get fooled by people like Kalmadi and brainwashed whenever they use the card of ‘Patriotism’.. Let’s celebrate the fact that when we are sitting in our comfy houses watching the obscene spending of money in this CWG opening ceremony; not very far from the Common Wealth Games Village but definitely ‘out of sight’, many poor laborers and their families, who worked in preparing the venues; many of them hungry, many of them bruised, many of them ill; must be staring in the darkness of poverty gaping at them.. But it’s foolish to think about these ‘small’ and ‘insignificant’ factors.. Haven’t we heard “Saare Jahan Se Achchha. Hindustaan Humara….”? And constantly been reminded that “We should be proud to be an Indian”? So let’s be proud to be Indian.. After all we have shown the world that ‘we can do it’! 'Biggest' CWG is on.. Time to bask in glory!
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