7 comments

• 

  Kyaemon

  September 24, 2010 at 8:15 pm

  What’s gone wrong

  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-11403204

  1. Athletes’ village – Indian media report only 18 of 34 towers are completed
  2. Yamuna River – flooded in worst monsoon rain for 30 years, leaving pools attracting mosquitoes
  3. Nehru Stadium – part of false ceiling collapsed in weightlifting area
  4. Bridge leading to the Nehru Stadium – collapsed on Tuesday
  5. Jama Masjid Mosque – two tourists injured in shooting near mosque, Indian Mujahideen threatens more attacks
  6. Shivaji Stadium – no longer to be used as a venue because it was not going to be ready in time
  7. Yamuna Sports Complex – roof damaged by heavy rain in July

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• 

  Kyaemon

  September 25, 2010 at 8:38 pm

  India scrambles to save Commonwealth Games

  http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100923/ap_on_re_as/com_commonwealth_games_problems

  NEW DELHI – Indian officials scrambled Thursday to salvage the rapidly approaching Commonwealth Games as a growing number of competitors delayed their arrival to allow organizers time to finish their frantic preparations.

  Prime Minister Manmohan Singh held an emergency meeting Thursday night with his sports minister and other top officials to assess the state of preparations for the event, which is to start in little more than a week. They did not give details on what was discussed. Delhi’s Lieutenant Governor Tejinder Khanna said Singh “was informed that every effort is being made to prepare the games facilities and the village to the expected standards.”

  Commonwealth Games Organizing Committee chairman Suresh Kalmadi, whose organizing team has been mired in graft allegations, was not asked to attend the meeting.

  The games were meant to showcase India’s emergence as a regional powerhouse. But long delays in getting facilities ready and a list of scandals have turned them into an embarrassment.

  A poll in the Hindustan Times newspaper Thursday showed 68 percent of surveyed New Delhi residents were ashamed of the games, which bring together athletes from the 71 countries and territories of the former British empire and are held every four years. The poll of 523 people had a margin of error of 3 percentage points.

  Organizers have struggled with an outbreak of dengue fever, the collapse of a footbridge leading to the main stadium and security fears after the Sunday shooting of two tourists outside one of the city’s top attractions. A Muslim militant group took responsibility for the shooting.

  Since concerns over the athletes’ village — including excrement in rooms and problems with plumbing, wiring and furnishings — were raised earlier this week, India has committed major resources to cleaning it up, with Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit taking charge of the operation, the games’ chief executive, Mike Hooper, told The Associated Press…

  Hooper said some Australian officials also had moved in.

  Kalmadi said most of the problems with the village had been resolved and the games would turn out to be a success.

  “We will look after everybody well, and they will have a good time,” he said.

  But many national delegations remained concerned.

  The New Zealand team announced Thursday it was joining Scotland and Canada in delaying its arrival in New Delhi because of the poor condition of the accommodations. England and Australia have also expressed concern about the village.

  “It is tremendously disappointing,” New Zealand Olympic Committee President Mike Stanley said, adding that the travel changes would put a strain on preparations for athletes. “We know how hard this must be for athletes and we’re continuing to push … for an urgent resolution.”

  The Australian government on Thursday said it was sending experts to assess hygienic conditions in the village and has upgraded its travel advice to alert tourists to possible construction “deficiencies” after the bridge collapsed and part of a drop ceiling at a games venue caved in.

  Australian media reported that Federal Police officers would travel with the team to provide extra security, while Prime Minister Julia Gillard confirmed only that “We have boosted the number of officials we have in New Delhi and we have others on standby.”

  Commonwealth Games Federation President Mike Fennell arrived in India late Thursday on an emergency visit and planned to meet with top Indian officials to discuss the problems Friday..

  New Zealand Prime Minister John Key told Parliament that the nation’s athletes will participate in the games unless security or health standards are badly compromised and a decision could be made by Friday….

  New Delhi has been a frenzy of activity in recent weeks, as the city struggles to ready itself for the games, which are to begin Oct. 3. The city has had seven years to prepare, though very little work was done until 2008.

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• 

  Kyaemon

  September 25, 2010 at 8:44 pm

  http://www.aolnews.com/world/article/chaos-stir-doubts-about-indias-commonwealth-games/19642268

  Chaos Stir Doubts About Commonwealth Games in India

  CLICK THE LING TO SEE THE BRIDGE COLLAPSE. NO WONDER THE ATHLETES ARE CONCERNED.

  (Sept. 21) — Just 12 days before the opening of the Commonwealth Games in New Delhi, many competing countries are now beginning to wonder whether India is capable of staging the international sporting event.

  More doubts were raised this afternoon when a footbridge outside an athletics venue collapsed, injuring 23 construction workers, just hours after visiting officials condemned the still uncompleted athletes’ accommodations as “filthy,” “unhygienic” and “uninhabitable.”…..

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• 

  Kyaemon

  September 26, 2010 at 9:24 pm

  Report: Snake in room adds to C’wealth Games woes

  http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100926/ap_on_re_as/com_commonwealth_games_problems

  By RAJSHEKHAR RAO, Associated Press Writer – 2 hrs 8 mins ago

  NEW DELHI – Two more Australian athletes withdrew Sunday and a South African competitor reportedly found a snake in his room as complaints over cleanliness, security and construction continued to dog the troubled Commonwealth Games a week before the sporting event opens in New Delhi.

  While international sports officials have said the situation had improved dramatically in the athletes’ village over the past couple days — after inspections last week turned up rooms spattered with chewing tobacco and human excrement — some teams said the situation remained grim.

  Tuelo Serufho, head of the Botswana contingent, told Press Trust of India that his team’s rooms in the village were “unlivable for our athletes,” with filthy bedsheets, bathroom fixtures that did not work and construction debris yet to be cleared away.

  “Our athletes will be here by Tuesday,” he said, warning they would have to check into hotels if the rooms were not ready by then.

  The multi-sport games, held every four years, bring together nearly 7,000 athletes and officials from 71 countries and territories from across the former British empire. The games were meant to be a coming-out party for India to cement its reputation as a growing regional power. Instead, its image has been battered by negative publicity about its frantic last-minute efforts to get ready for an event it knew it was hosting seven years ago. The games open Oct. 3.

  Last week, a pedestrian bridge leading to the main stadium collapsed, and adding to the organizers’ woes earlier, two tourists were shot and wounded outside one of New Delhi’s top attractions.

  That led to talk of postponing or canceling the games. But those discussions dissipated after the government poured enormous resources into addressing the problems, particularly with the long-overdue athletes’ village. The village opened as scheduled on Thursday although some teams delayed their arrival because of concerns that the accommodation was not yet ready.

  Among the problems to surface this weekend: a snake found in the room of a South African athlete in the village.

  “We have very grave concerns,” South African High Commissioner Harris Mbulelo told the Press Trust of India news agency. “If snakes are found we can’t ask our teams to stay there.”

  It was not immediately clear if the snake was poisonous. The athletes’ village is built on the banks of the Yamuna River, which is swollen from monsoon rains. Heavy rains often force snakes into residential areas.
  Complaints also came from Indian competitors.

  Boxer Akhil Kumar, who won gold for India in the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, Australia, said he was disappointed with his accommodation. “When I sat down on my bed to take a rest, it collapsed,” Kumar was quoted as saying by the Times of India newspaper…..

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• 

  Kyaemon

  September 29, 2010 at 5:03 pm

  More news about the Commonwealth Games.

  Delhi ropes in monkeys for Commonwealth Games security

  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-11433539

  Delhi authorities have deployed a contingent of large black-faced langur monkeys at the Commonwealth Games venues to scare away smaller simians.

  At least 10 langurs have been on duty outside some of the venues in the Indian capital, reports say.

  Delhi civic authorities have 28 langurs and 10 more have been brought in from the neighbouring Rajasthan state.

  Thousands of monkeys roam Delhi, mostly around government offices and are considered a public nuisance.

  Langurs are an aggressive type of monkey with long tails and dark faces. They are controlled on leads by specially trained handlers, who release them once other monkeys are seen.

  The boxing and hockey stadiums are seen as particularly vulnerable to the monkey menace, the AFP news agency quoted a civic official as saying.

  Four langurs each will patrol the two stadiums, he said. Two more would be on standby, he added.

  “They are there for the monkey problem. They will be moving outside the stadiums,” AFP quoted New Delhi Municipal Committee official Devender Prasad as saying.

  For years the animals have caused havoc, riding on the city’s metro trains and even roaming through parliament.

  They have invaded the prime minister’s office and the defence ministry.

  They cannot be killed because many Indians see them as sacred.

  After one of the strongest monsoon seasons in years, Delhi is also struggling with a major dengue fever outbreak caused by mosquitoes that breed in standing water.

  Fish that eat mosquito larvae have reportedly been put in the pond in the Games Village to protect athletes from dengue, a viral infection transmitted to humans by the female Aedes mosquito.

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• 

  Kyaemon

  October 1, 2010 at 6:34 pm

  More articles by Indian authors who really know in-depth and the inside info. Self criticism is always good for future improvement and development of any country.

  Lesson: People who shout “Sorr Karr!”/”Smearing” always have something to hide. They are the wrongdoers and the corrupt. They hide behind this shield like some bad Catholic priests and some bad Buddhist priests blatantly going against the Vinaya monk rules. They would rather not change their ways.

  ————————————————————————-

  India’s commonwealth fiasco

  http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/LJ02Df01.html

  Asia Times Online contributor Kunal Kumar Kundu laments the problems in the buildup to the Commonwealth Games that open in India on October 3.

  The British left the shores of India more than 60 years ago but their legacy of loot and plunder continues. Unfortunately, the sense of British discipline, having failed to influence our collective conscience also left India along with the Brits, while the Indians inherited their vice.

  A country that is expected to shoulder the burden of global economic growth as one of the worst recessions since Great Depression is thought of as having come to an end, cannot even
  shoulder the burden of its own people.

  Forty percent of the Indians are poor, a large number of our children suffer from malnutrition
  and stunted growth, we cannot even provide safe drinking water
  to a large majority, the state of our physical infrastructure is abysmal to say the least, as people die of hunger we allow foodgrains to rot – the list of embarrassment is endless.

  A country that has learnt to live with deficits as a lot of valuable financial resource gets sucked away in the bottomless pit of corruption with minor developments here and there as collateral benefit, tried its hand at hosting the latest Commonwealth Games. Having become poorer by 700 billion rupees (US$17 billion) in the process, the entire organizational effort became a breeding ground for the corrupt who’s who of India.

  Indeed, the story of the organization of the Commonwealth Games is symptomatic of the deep malaise afflicting our country. A lot has been talked about the corruption and blatant misuse of power in the entire process. I will not go into the details of that. Suffice it is to say that the cancer of corruption has spread far and wide in this country, thereby thinning our moral fiber. The hosting of this event finally shows that whatever has been left of the fiber has been decimated, as if by a scimitar, as there’s a mad rush to share the spoils by the high and mighty………

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  India’s Games of shame
  By Raja Murthy

  http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/LJ02Df02.html

  MUMBAI – Startling news flashed across India the past week about a beleaguered Commonwealth Games official attempting suicide. Upset with criticism and exposes of corruption, he roped his neck to the ceiling of a newly built stadium to hang himself … and the ceiling collapsed.

  The joke, circulating across India, brought some light relief to a country seething at corrupt, incompetent politicians and bureaucrats delivering Asia’s biggest-ever sporting mess.

  Over 6,000 athletes from over 70 Commonwealth countries formerly ruled by Britain have begun arriving at the Games in New Delhi, which open on October 3 and run to October 14, and they have encountered problems that could get worse in the days ahead.

  Not only have incompetent officials ensured prolonged delays since New Delhi bagged the hosting rights in 2003, but the joke about Organizing Committee chairman Suresh Kalmadi may be more of a dire warning. Realistic fears of the safety of the Games infrastructure add to evidence of staggering governmental incompetence and declining public interest in the event.

  A newly constructed 95-meter pedestrian overbridge, outside the main Jawaharlal Nehru (JLN) Stadium, crashed down on September 21, injuring 27 people. Indian army engineers rushed to build a Bailey Bridge as a replacement.

  The next day, a false ceiling inside the JLN stadium collapsed – the source of the gallows humor – and added non-terrorism safety fears to the 19th Commonwealth Games looming as the most corrupt event in the history of sport.

  The multi-layered disorder was almost inevitable, after the responsibility for organizing the Games was given to Indian Olympic Association chief Kalmadi and other politicians who had masqueraded as sports administrators for decades.

  Not surprisingly, the first wave of athletes arriving in New Delhi was greeted with chaos. The confusion ranged from missing volunteers and accreditation cards, to political squabbling whether Prince Charles, the heir to the British throne, or Pratibha Patil, the president of India, would have the dubious honor of inaugurating an event the Indian public increasingly sees as an embarrassment.

  The buildup has not been helped by several high-profile athletes withdrawing.

  Jamaican 100 meters world record holder Usain Bolt, along with sprint rival and countryman Asafa Powell, had already been ruled out through injury. But English triple-jumper Phillips Idowu and Scottish tennis player Elena Baltacha withdrew through fears for their safety and health respectively, the BBC reported. South African 800m world champion Caster Semenya and Kenya’s 800m world record holder David Rudisha will also be absent.

  Outraged howls of ”national shame” and ”betrayal” erupted across the media and in Indian diaspora worldwide as photographs of filthy rooms in the Games Village circulated in social networking sites.

  But emotions are misdirected. India’s actual shame was not in the construction debris and dirty toilets in the supposedly “ready” Games village. The real shame is in the fact that the country is hosting the Commonwealth Games at all.

  Forget national poverty and illiteracy, India’s athletics for decades have been complaining about inadequate facilities and funds, running from pillar to post for basics such as air fares to compete in international events and even money to get nutritious food.

  The delusion of India’s ”image” getting a global shine from the Games has cost taxpayers an estimated US$8 billion, an incredible 1,575% increase over initial budgets presented in parliament.

  But with construction workers in the Games village now complaining of not being paid their dues, even Sherlock Holmes and Hercule Poirot might have trouble finding where all the money has disappeared.

  Incredibly, the Indian government had ignored former Delhi High Court chief justice A P Shah’s damning, detailed 77-page report in May. Titled “The 2010 Commonwealth Games: Whose Wealth? Whose Commons?” Shah revealed glaring irregularities, bribery and corruption.

  Apart from claims of $100,000 bribes to win the hosting rights, the report alleged that Kalmadi and Co had offered inducements to international Games Federation officials such as free visits to the Taj Mahal in luxury cars for their families in India for the Games.

  A warped, misplaced sense of “national pride” in hosting these Games now appears like the false prestige of a father not paying the house rent and his children’s school fees, but hosting parties at a five-star hotel and flying first class to polish his ”image” among associates……….

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• 

  kai

  October 1, 2010 at 7:13 pm

  BRIC
  From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

  In economics, BRIC (typically rendered as “the BRICs” or “the BRIC countries” or known as the “Big Four”) is a grouping acronym that refers to the countries of Brazil, Russia, India, and China that are deemed to all be at a similar stage of newly advanced economic development.

  The acronym was coined by Jim O’Neill in a 2001 paper entitled “The World Needs Better Economic BRICs”.[1][2][3] The acronym has come into widespread use as a symbol of the shift in global economic power away from the developed G7 economies toward the developing world.

  According to a paper published in 2005, Mexico and South Korea are the only other countries comparable to the BRICs, but their economies were excluded initially because they were considered already more developed as they are already members of the OECD.[4] Goldman Sachs argued that, since they are developing rapidly, by 2050 the combined economies of the BRICs could eclipse the combined economies of the current richest countries of the world. The four countries, combined, currently account for more than a quarter of the world’s land area and more than 40% of the world’s population.[5][6]

  Goldman Sachs did not argue that the BRICs would organize themselves into an economic bloc, or a formal trading association, as the European Union has done.[7] However, there are some indications that the “four BRIC countries have been seeking to form a ‘political club’ or ‘alliance'”, and thereby converting “their growing economic power into greater geopolitical clout”.[8][9] On June 16, 2009, the leaders of the BRIC countries held their first summit in Yekaterinburg, and issued a declaration calling for the establishment of a multipolar world order.

  BRIC

  Brazil
  President (head of state and government): Luis Inácio Lula da Silva

  Russia
  President (head of state): Dmitry Medvedev
  Prime Minister (head of government): Vladimir Putin

  India
  President (head of state): Pratibha Patil
  Prime Minister (head of government): Manmohan Singh

  China
  President (head of state): Hu Jintao
  Premier (head of government): Wen Jiabao

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