As mesmerizing it may seem, the urban development parade could easily conceal the horrors of human exploitation. From the very start, the most expensive CWG ever, has been nothing more than an extreme embarrassment to human dignity. In the pretext of urban transformation, government has once again taken the liberty to conspire against the unfortunate while serving the elite and privileged. After being conceived by bribing $100,000 to every participating country, CWG did not augur well. Environmental controversies, shoddy construction, accidents, tender related irregularity, labor law and human right violations, unabated corruption, increased taxes, escalating cost, boycotts, terror threats and delays, are just few in line of many. Irony is such that those exposing the inefficiencies and boycotting CWG are termed as 'anti national' by those who have no answers to the accounts of crores of CWG funds gone missing. National pride, national embarrassment and urgency to meet deadline are some of the key psychological manipulation that are used in CWG to override social agenda especially to serve the purpose of capitalistic greed. Draining public money and increasing public debt is all that we are gaining out of 'Congress Wealth Games'. After all, Athens Olympics in 2004 instead of boosting the Greece economy, only increased the country's huge debt. Now we all know where Greece is.
There are two things that really disturb me about such mindless extravaganza as CWG - One is the future of those displaced. About one lakh dwellers and three lakh vendors, rickshaw pullers, farmers and beggars are forcefully evicted, without any rehabilitation or compensation. Their means of earning is gone as well. Schools are razed and crops are destroyed. All in the name of red carpet treatment for the VIPs.
The other disturbing fact is, the inhuman conditions and fully fledged exploitation of construction workers esp. women and child labors. More than sixty fatalities should be enough to expose government's insensitivity. Four tier security is provided for the players while the laborer cannot even claim a hard hat to work. Especially designed luxury apartments will be the residence of player while the laborers survive on makeshift camps. New power plants are laid while the laborers stay in dark. New infrastructure, water facilities and restaurants are built while these laborers had to walk half a mile just to fetch a liter of water. Which sane mind would justify this discrepancy? About $7 billion are spent on CWG. Imagine if these $7 billion were spent on education, sanitation, health care, food security and capital investment for small business for almost five lakh daily wage workers, who are toiling their sweat and blood to make this grand finale a success. Generations could be saved from poverty. The very same empowered future generations could become success stories and proud our nation while genuinely establishing 'India Shinning'.
The Forgotten Women: Behind The Commonwealth Games Sites
"For these workers, many of whom are young women with small children, this is clearly a choice between starvation in their villages and exploitation in the national Capital. If they had stayed back at home, they would have got much less – even when jobs were available – than even the measly wages they are given on such construction sites in Delhi. It is their lack of options that causes them to fall prey to the machinations of the contractors and sub-contractors who hire them."
Read the complete article at;
There are two things that really disturb me about such mindless extravaganza as CWG - One is the future of those displaced. About one lakh dwellers and three lakh vendors, rickshaw pullers, farmers and beggars are forcefully evicted, without any rehabilitation or compensation. Their means of earning is gone as well. Schools are razed and crops are destroyed. All in the name of red carpet treatment for the VIPs.
The other disturbing fact is, the inhuman conditions and fully fledged exploitation of construction workers esp. women and child labors. More than sixty fatalities should be enough to expose government's insensitivity. Four tier security is provided for the players while the laborer cannot even claim a hard hat to work. Especially designed luxury apartments will be the residence of player while the laborers survive on makeshift camps. New power plants are laid while the laborers stay in dark. New infrastructure, water facilities and restaurants are built while these laborers had to walk half a mile just to fetch a liter of water. Which sane mind would justify this discrepancy? About $7 billion are spent on CWG. Imagine if these $7 billion were spent on education, sanitation, health care, food security and capital investment for small business for almost five lakh daily wage workers, who are toiling their sweat and blood to make this grand finale a success. Generations could be saved from poverty. The very same empowered future generations could become success stories and proud our nation while genuinely establishing 'India Shinning'.
The Forgotten Women: Behind The Commonwealth Games Sites
"For these workers, many of whom are young women with small children, this is clearly a choice between starvation in their villages and exploitation in the national Capital. If they had stayed back at home, they would have got much less – even when jobs were available – than even the measly wages they are given on such construction sites in Delhi. It is their lack of options that causes them to fall prey to the machinations of the contractors and sub-contractors who hire them."
Read the complete article at;
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