The much hyped recently concluded Commonwealth Games (Oct.3 – 14,2010) successfully concluded on a peaceful note. Sharp criticisms in the media, highly critical reactions from the opposition political parties and discouraging comments from some of the participating countries all disappeared in the air and once the games started, there was praise all around. The never before pomp and show of the inaugural function and closing ceremony surprised the world and particularly the countries envious of India had to swallow their hate India campaign. India intended to showcase its emergence as a super power and she was 100% successful in that mission.
The above success story should not lead us to smugness as the CWG had several minus points as well which we can ignore only at the cost of self-destruction. The cries of the opposition political parties from the housetops about corruption,were not baseless. The investigations which were launched immediately after the games, are leaving initial indications about the serious lapses. Till today, democracy is the best form of governance. Simultaneously it has some inherent drawbacks including leniency towards crimes. In several sectors corruption appears to have been institutionalized. When a contract is awarded ,it has all guidelines about time, money, quality of work etc. It is also in the law that due to some reasons if only three months are left, there will be no tender. So the interested parties start adopting tricks to delay the work. They also arrange people who file PILs to take the matter to judiciary and delay. Therefore it is the duty of the Government to take strict precautionary measures so that the contractors are not allowed a field day.
Initially it appeared that the games would have to be cancelled. Under public pressure when the work started on the right keel, the end result was the best. That clearly shows that India has the potential and resources to handle any responsibility of international proportion. Therefore it is the responsibility of the authorities to restrain greedy and corrupt elements. They who are found involved in looting public money should be forced to face the judiciary and awarded the maximum punishments which will work as the effective deterrents.
The security agencies can boast of complete success. No nefarious designs of rowdy and terrorist elements could succeed. Perhaps all venues of international future games in China, Scotland and England are keenly looking towards India for tips to handle the task. Perhaps they may send their key personnel to be trained by the Delhi police. The benefits of successfully handling terrorism in last twenty years or more by India are being already shared with other suffering friendly countries.
For successfully organizing the Commonwealth Games, Delhi Government’s ambitious programme Samajik Suvidha Sangam –Mission Convergence, according to newspaper reports, has been awarded two gold medals. The award was announced by the Commonwealth Association for Public Administration and Management in its annual conference held at Malta on Oct.20. There were as many as 150 entries from the Commonwealth countries and the Mission Convergence topped the list
The Amity University trained 22,000 volunteers free of cost who presented an example of an ideal way of handling the guest . The University has earned a lot of accolades and perhaps may be approached by other counties for making available the same foolproof training. A footbridge near the JLN stadium, suddenly fell down when 80% work had been completed and only about a week of time was left for inauguration. Exactly then the Indian Army intervened and the footbridge was completed in four days. The guests confirmed that the facilities available in the Games Village were of Olympic standard which enhanced our prestige in the comity of nations. Similarly our players and athletes gave an excellent account of themselves by completing the century of medals.
If the positive and dismal parts of the CWG-2010 are carefully studied and acted upon, we are sure, India will further improve upon its present performances in such huge commitments in future.
Lesson taken will be justified when they are implemented.