Should India Celebrate the Commonwealth Games Success?

"The Commonwealth Games is an international, multi-sport event involving athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations." - Wikipedia.

Here, the Commonwealth of Nations refers to all the countries that were ruled by the Britishers. There are 54 members in the Commonwealth of Nations, out of which only 3 were not under the British Empire.

In short, the Commonwealth Games are a symbol of the rule of the British over India. Still, we happily participate in the games. People give many reasons why India should actively take part in the games or why these games are important for the people of this country. But, I beg to differ. Following are the reason why I think India should boycott the Commonwealth Games.

1) The Symbolism

As previously stated in the post, the commonwealth games are a symbol of the rule of the British over India. Why then should we continuously take part in an activity which symbolizes that we were slaves of some country. The freedom fighters took great pains to remove the British from India but they would never have thought that we would still love to take active part in any activity that depicts British rule over India. Yes, it improves the relations between the commonwealth nations, but is it the only way?

2) Poverty

Yes, India is a poor country. I know that you need proof. (I don't want you thinking that 'This writer is a fool, knows nothing about India'). Well, here's the proof. What else would you call India after seeing the following stats:

.....  According to a 2005 World Bank estimate, 42% of India falls below the international poverty line of US$ 1.25 a day 
( (PPP, in nominal terms 21.6 a day in urban areas and 14.3 in rural areas)) {Our leaders earn at least Rs. 12000 per day (45 lakh per year) in Salary alone, including other benefits. [There are many other sources though]}

A study by the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative using a Multi-dimensional Poverty Index (MPI) found that there were 421 million poor living under the MPI in eight north India states of Bihar, Chattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal. This number is higher than the 410 million poor living in the 26 poorest African nations.

The World Bank, citing estimates made by the World Health Organization, states "that about 49 per cent of the world's underweight children, 34 per cent of the world's stunted children and 46 per cent of the world's wasted children, live in India." The World Bank also noted that "while poverty is often the underlying cause of malnutrition in children, the superior economic growth experienced by South Asian countries compared to those in Sub-Saharan Africa, has not translated into superior nutritional status for the South Asian child."

These are just a few. There are many other figures pointing to the fact that India is a poor country. READ THIS.

So when India is suffering from such drastic poverty, is it worthwhile to spend 75 billion Rupees for these games. Can't this money be spent to alleviate poverty? 

Forget this money, can't the Government just distribute the thousands of tons of wheat (that is rotting as there is no space to store them) to the hungry people?

Who cares for this, let's enjoy the games.

3) Corruption

I am sure that there is no need to explain the extent to which corruption occured in this games. Forget about Indians involved in this corruption, see this report below:

"According to a TIMES NOW expose, funds worth 2,47,469 Pounds were transferred October, 2009 from the Organising Committee of the Commonwealth Games to a UK-based company AM Films UK Ltd. Suresh Kalmadi, who heads the committee, hasn't yet reacted to the report.

The money was reportedly transferred during the Queen's Baton Relay function in London. In addition to that money, 25,000 pounds are being transferred into AM Flims account every month. In total, about 4,50,000 pounds have been transferred to UK so far." Read full article.

And you must surely be aware of the Rs. 4000 toilet paper used in the CWG or even the treadmill that was rented for more than what it would have cost. Or the umbrella worth thousands. 

How about the great Commonwealth Games Village where snakes are found everyday and yes, the bed given to wrestler Sushil Kumar which broke when he slept on the bed,etc, etc, etc.....

There are many such moral and ethical issues concerned with the games. However, no one pays attention to them. In the 1990's, even one scandal led to a country wide protest. But now, even hundreds of scams like IPL scam, Commonwealth Games scam, 2G Scam, 3G Scam, etc. are not enough for any protest.

WELCOME TO IGNORANT INDIA.

Now, it is upto you to decide whether the celebrations, the games, the billions spent to host the games or the millions spent to make KASHIRAM statues in UP are justified when 1/4th of the population is dying of Hunger.

[Do post your comments on what you think about this]

Roshan Jha