Delhi's very own "1984"

Delhi is living in typical Orwellian times. CWG is staring in the face and the organizers still not instil any confidence in public and players. The Central Government has entered the scene lately to save face. An individual is brutally subjugated to the whims of the ruling class who was hell bent in organizing the Games in the city (and never took stock of the ground realities until it was too late). People have either empty foot overbridges with escalators (which nobody is using) or demolished subways which are not yet done up. Pedestrians and commuters are having nightmarish experience every day. Construction debris are spawning dengue and malaria and nobody seems to be enjoying monsoon in Delhi nowadays. Traffic is a mega chaos. And at the helm are the people whose ability to run even day to day governance is questionable, let alone organization of such a mega sports event as CWG.

Next time, you want to have Games in any city of India, please conduct referendum on the issue. So, we don't start barking up the tree which turns out to be a wrong one. The Games is anti-Aam Adami except, of course, some 'New Deal' effect on employment generated by building stadia and demolishing and rebuilding roads, bridges and pavements.

New Delhi Times

# CWG 2010 is a leadership disaster. Perhaps no event of national importance has in recent times received such a cold shoulder from the public as the Games have done. In the few days left in the run up to the Games, the patriotism may be rekindled in our hearts and we may, putting a smile on our faces, willy nilly back the Games up. After all, we do not like our country to lose face, do we? Alleged financial irregularity is just one facet of the many sided problem the CWG finds itself plagued with. Delhi is traditionally not known as a better governed place. Day to day governance takes place here at the nudge of High Court or Supreme Court. A democratically elected state government is relatively a new phenomenon here. Plus there are many agencies that keep scrambling for the space of influence and power. On the top of it you have the Big Brother, the Central Government. Add to this a leadership vacuum and moral and professional rudderlessness, and you get a sure shot recipe for disasater. People saw this coming, about a year ago, although the media has woken up only recently.

Still, we will pull it off. But there will be lessons to learn and remember forever.

#The only positive news today in Delhi is Metro. This world class MRTS has done us proud and empowered a common citizen. And surely, Metro did not have leadership vacuum. But sadly, Metro's success is an exception in the city's governance and not a rule: A lone peak in the otherwise flat, stagnant and at times even sliding performance of public systems of Delhi.