lessons learnt from commonwealth games 2010

8/7/2019 Lessons learnt from Commonwealth Games 2010

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LESSONS LEARNT FROM

COMMONWEALTH GAMES 2010

Hosting the Commonwealth Games was supposed to be a signal to the world that

India had, to use a clichd term, come of age. An event to demonstrate Indias rising

clout and maturity; an event way less brutal that the whipping that some African tribals

follow to signify coming-of-age. Well, in some ways, this coming-of-age ritual has

brought similar injuries to Indias self-esteem and pride. The rampant corruption

highlighted rather gleefully by western media has brought Indian dreams crashing down

to earth and has disappointed its myriad citizens. Its citizens hoped for a show equaling in

grandeur the Beijing Olympics and perhaps drew several parallels between the two

sporting events held in the two rising countries. The Beijing Olympics was however a

shining success, with the only blotch being the war between Russia and Georgia taking

away some of the attention from it. However, the Commonwealth Games did not attain

that measure of success; though it was not a failure by any means. There is an old Latin

proverb. Exita acta probat. Its English translation means, The end determines the act.

In that way, the Commonwealth Games was quite successful in anyones eyes.

A slew of accusations and allegations of corruption directed at the head of the

CWG Organizing Committee Chairman, Mr. Suresh Kalmadi, amongst others, have

caused many eyebrows to go up. Eyebrows are not the only facial hair to go up. Hair-

raising stories of corruption are being unraveled even as we speak. The ghost of CWG

corruption scams will haunt the dreams of those involved; or so it is hoped. However,

that can and probably will be quite tricky. The scamsters are probably adept in hiding

their tracks. And have done so with much aplomb in the intervening time. However, theymay still be caught by vigilant officials.

A wise man once said, Prevention is better than cure. Well, its not for nothing

that the aforementioned man was called wise. This quote has a lot of merit, even though

most do not seem to follow it, or even think about it. So instead of finding ourselves in all


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that muck, we should have done every thing we could to avoid falling into it. One of the

sad, unavoidable, regrettable truths of Indian polity is the heavy magnitude of corruption

that literally haunts and dogs our lives. Corruption has only one cure. Only one. Fatal

diseases usually are tough to cure, you see. Well, this cure is a twelveletter word.

Transparency. A transparent organization will never become corrupt. Every movement

will be scrutinized by the public and in a country like India, with so many people calling

themselves as Indias public, any discrepancy or incongruity will surely and swiftly be

noticed and eliminated. Sheer numbers you see.

We have to realize that we have to make all organizations especially pertaining to

the government, transparency will have to be present, otherwise our netas and babus

will invariably go astray. Greed is quite a powerful deterrent you see. A commission will

also have to be set up in order to oversee whether corruption is taking place in each

organization. Perhaps, a branch of that organization itself will be ideal. Also, steps will

have to be taken to ensure that this branch itself does not become corrupt with time;

otherwise we just will have added another organization that can become corrupt! Rotten

apples will have to be somewhat ruthlessly cut and thrown away. We all know that one

rotten apple spoils the whole barrel. In this age of many rotten apples, we should take

care that the good ones do not get spoilt too. Sounds like the new Mission Impossible

film, right?

One of the major questions that remain unanswered is why India opted to host

the Commonwealth Games when there a plethora of people all over the country who lack

for even the basic necessities of food, water, clothing and housing. It should be the

foremost priority of the Indian Government to cater to the needs of these people rather

than try to increase Indias pride by hosting such large events. That can come later,

because it is not a necessity. In the end India should look more for the welfare of its

people.

One very noticeable thing in the organization of the Commonwealth Games 2010

was that the organizers kept every thing to the end. Just fifty days before the starting


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ceremony of the games, the Games village and other infrastructure was in tatters. The

media was wondering aloud, justifiably, whether the Games would be held at all. It was a

close-run thing, but in the end, the Commonwealth Games, apart from the corruption

allegations was a success. There were reports of roofs leaking, bridges falling and so on,

but in the end, things were all right. This last-minute work should be avoided. We see it

all around us, in schools and colleges students struggling to complete their projects at the

last minute; and even in jobs, people struggling to complete their reports and other

projects, but the Government of India is supposed to be a responsible entity, with the

lives of unnamed hundreds of millions, nay billions depending on it and must finish the

job quickly to avoid any last-minute hiccups. Here it is not the fact that the Games were

held that is to be seen, rather, in what fashion the Games were held.

The opening the closing ceremonies of the Commonwealth Games highlighted to

the world the organizing capabilities of Indians. In the end, the medals gained by Indians

pointed to the emergence of India as a sporting nation to be reckoned with. Our

sportsmen and sportswomen made our country proud. Finishing second, ahead of Britain

in the Commonwealth Games is quite a remarkable achievement indeed. Winning over a

hundred medals, including thirty-eight gold ones is no mean feat. However, one thing that

we have to take note of is this. Australia, with a population of around twenty million,

won one hundred and seventy seven medals. Seventy four of them were gold. On the

other hand, India with a population of more than a billion, in fact more than a billion

more than Australias population, won much less. For this to change, the Indian

Government will have to find proactive methods to improve sporting infrastructure in

India, thus giving its children more chances to shine. Talent is already present. India has

proved it time and again in the past. We only have to convert that into results; and that is

where the Indian Government must step in. China has managed to do so and thus was

able to finish at the top of the standings in the medals tally in the Beijing Olympics.

Lessons have to be learnt here.

PRATHEEK PRAVEEN KUMAR

[email protected]

lessons learnt from commonwealth games 2010

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