[sustran] This is no model for development: the "Neoliberal Games" in
India
Todd Edelman
edelman at greenidea.eu
Sun Nov 7 07:52:43 JST 2010
This is no model for development: the "Neoliberal Games" in India
from Praful Bidwai, former senior editor of the Times of India
http://www.tni.org/article/no-model-development-neoliberal-games-india
/The flawed neoliberal notion behind India's hosting of the Commonwealth
Games, that 'development' starts with attracting foreign capital
investment - has brought only corruption and the destruction of
communities to Dehli./
The Commonwealth Games have proved the Cassandras right. Every single
dire forecast and dismal prediction has turned out to be correct and
every dark fear has come true. The mis-planning and mismanagement of the
event was gross, the scale of corruption staggering, the profligate
spending on the international sports bureaucracy unparalleled, and the
brutalisation of Delhi and its suburbs complete.
Even for the Games' organisers and supporters, the overall balance-sheet
is at best blotted and ambivalent---witness the mutual recrimination.
The balance-sheet is abysmally negative for the Games' many direct
victims---including the workers who toiled at near-starvation wages to
complete the stadia, the one lakh families that were summarily evicted,
and the beggars who were illegally incarcerated---, and the indirect
victims, comprising the entire population of the Capital, which suffered
acute civic distress, traffic disruption and an overbearing display of
hubris and police power.
India set out to impress the world as a rival to China in hosting a
sports mega-spectacle. It ended up firmly etching the images of a
collapsed bridge near the Nehru stadium and filthy toilet bowls and
soiled bedsheets in the Games village on the minds of the international
audience. These were barely relieved by the relatively smooth conduct of
the Games under unprecedented surveillance.
Sections of the media have tried to put a gloss on the Games' colossal
failures by terming the opening ceremony a grand success and by pleading
that despite numerous hitches, everything ultimately went off OK thanks
to the Indian art of jugaad, for which the world grudgingly admires
India. And didn't India come out Number Two in the medals ranking?!
But everything didn't go off OK. Many athletes dropped out for a variety
of reasons including security fears. The Games failed in their stated
objective of promoting tourism and showcasing India's culture. Winning
medals wasn't a goal.
It was not OK to splurge the equivalent of the entire annual budget of
the government's largest social programme, the National Rural Employment
Guarantee Act.*It was not OK to further distort urban development by
promoting elitist transportation *and pricey housing along Delhi's
radial corridors. It was certainly not OK to threaten the survival of
the Yamuna by building right in its flood-plains. Any menace to the
river will imperil Delhi and scores of other cities, producing disasters
that could make the 2005 Mumbai floods look like a picnic.
Some people set much store by the inquiry ordered under former
Comptroller and Auditor General VK Shunglu. Many hope that Games
Organising Committee chairman Suresh Kalmadi, characterised as the
villain of the piece, will be fixed. They feel encouraged at the
discovery of evidence that a construction company was paid twice over
for the same work. Contractors have been told not to dismantle
assemblies/buildings and thus destroy evidence. So the government
seemingly means business.
Let's put this in perspective. The Games were approved in 2003. But
nothing was done for years to lay the ground or begin construction of
different facilities. This is a favourite tactic of corrupt contractors
and babus: delay things till there's panic and then you can push
anything through in the name of fire-fighting, somehow "getting things
done"---regardless of the cost. Involved here was not just the OC, but
many layers of Central and Delhi bureaucrats and municipal and other
authorities. The causes and consequences of these "mother" delays and
cost overruns won't be investigated.
As for corruption in procurement of material, from ashtrays to
earth-movers, Shunglu can at best demand to know if there was
competitive bidding. He won't find it easy to refute the pre-planned
answer that the time available was too short, or a particular product of
quality is only made by one manufacturer. What certainly won't come to
light is "hidden contracts" or "private treaty" arrangements: quiet
transfers of huge sums to media houses and programming companies for
publicity, with the records showing straightforward commercial deals.
As for Kalmadi, he won't be easily fazed by the inquiry. He is a
seasoned collector of funds for political parties and knows that the
Congress would expect him to contribute to its electoral kitty soon. So
we are unlikely to see many heads roll.
Meanwhile, the Western (especially Anglo-Saxon) world's leadership will
have lowered India's ranking by a notch or two. Not many notches,
because unlike our elite, it was never going to judge India by the
Games. It had low expectations of them in the first place. This
corresponds to its general perception of India's dualist complex of
poverty and wealth with corruption, and its experience with aggressive
Indian businessmen (who too practise jugaad). The only new factor was
the open plunder of money belonging to India's poor public by a
rapacious contractor-bureaucrat-sports-czar mafia. With its pillage of
India, the elite has inflicted further damage upon itself.
--
Todd Edelman
Green Idea Factory,
a member of the OPENbike team
Mobile: ++49(0)162 814 4081
edelman at greenidea.eu
www.greenidea.eu
todd at openbike.se
www.openbike.se
Skype: toddedelman
Urbanstr. 45
10967 Berlin
Germany
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