Lessons from the Commonwealth Games

So the games are over and if some of the Indian government's propaganda is to believed, it was an "amazing success." Forgotten were the leaking toilets, the shambles of the athletes village and the lack of readiness in the venues and infrastructure which were eventually completed, barely in time. Worse still was the outburst from sections of the Indian media , government and bloggers that the criticism was all unfair. "West vs India" , "white people vs India", the "FT Vs India" they said. A bit like Don Quixote, fighting the windmills, these imaginary battles have not served India too well. The continual denial that plagues most projects in the country, be it infrastructure or IT services, have all been washed away by government propaganda about the "phenomenal" GDP growth. No matter that childhood malnutrition is at 42% or that eight Indian states have more poor people than the whole of sub-Saharan Africa. Instead, money is constantly spent burnishing the countries image abroad. and billboards of "Incredible India" may be found in Times Square and on bus stops in Berlin, not sure who they are fooling. Interestingly, India's richest man Mukesh Ambani just built a fancy house (see picture) obviously heeding the calls for restraint in displays of public wealth, in a city where almost 50% of people live in slums, he should have an interesting view from the dining room. Not that his success is a bad thing, but the fact is the considerable private sector boom in India has done little to lift everyone or trickle down (as Wall Street journal dogma dictates).

So the lessons that emerge from the debacle, have been talked about after other similar debacles in the country. Most people will say  "its all the politicians fault", business will blame the government, government will find scapegoats and a circle will be squared. But after lessons are supposedly learnt, and heads have rolled and souls have been searched, most people who have lived or been to India, will not be surprised if such a debacle repeats itself.