Written by admin on 16 June 2010
India has been rising on the world scene as a developing country with great potential over the past decade and a half. Each and every Indian believes that India has everything to become a big player in the world affairs, but the only place it leaves wanting is in the infrastructure, especially in its capital New Delhi. Ever since the announcement that Delhi would be hosting the Commonwealth Games 2010, the Government of India has made it clear that it will leave no stone unturned to turn Delhi into a modern city comparable to the world capitals such as New – York, Beijing etc. The Commonwealth Games, one can say, have provided the impetus for Delhi to become an excellent city.
The estimated amount of money that will be spent on the Commonwealth Games 2010 is US$1.6 Billion. The amount itself speaks volumes on the amount of work undertaken for the Games; the Games previously held in Melbourne spent approximately US$ 1.1 Billion. The Delhi Commonwealth Games not only beat the expenditure of the Melbourne Games, but also do so with a large margin, making the Delhi Games the most expensive Commonwealth Games ever.
The work done on the sports infrastructure has been enormous; there are over 26 venues for sporting events. Most of the venues have been newly constructed especially for the Games, while the older ones are being renovated and are being equipped with the most modern and state of the art sports facilities. The venue for the opening and closing ceremony, the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium will be able to seat 75,000 people after the renovation is complete. The Indira Gandhi Arena which will host events for cycling, gymnastics and wrestling can seat 25,000 people is the second – largest sports arena in Asia.
The most attention is being paid to the transport infrastructure. Over the past 5 years, the transport system has been completely revamped with special attention being paid to transport services carting athletes back and forth from the Commonwealth Games venues to their accommodation. To reduce traveling time for athletes and officials, a 2.2 km underground stretch has been constructed from the Games Village to the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium. The road infrastructure was a major concern, as there were recurring traffic snarls due to the large amount of cars in the city. However, cloverleaf flyovers, bridges and new roads were constructed to improve links for the Games and city so that traffic would no longer pose a problem. The existing roads and highways have been made wider and they have also been repaired to ensure smooth flow of traffic and cater to the larger traffic volumes expected during the Games. The main arterial roads of the city have been made signal free to make traffic flow continuous, the speed limits have also been increased by 20 – 25% to allow for speedy transit of traffic.
The public transport system has undergone a sea change. Nine bus corridors, out of which some have reached completion, were planned so that public transport could become faster and save time and encourage people to use public transport. New, comfortable low – floor busses have been inducted into the fleet and the old busses are being phased out. The Delhi Metro is to be the mainstay of the public transport system with an express line from the airport, and is to have a metro network of nearly 420 kms when it is completed, will extend to NOIDA and Gurgaon making it one of the largest metro networks in Asia.
The infrastructure projects will all be completed before the Games despite the delays and once completed will change the face of Delhi and hopefully improve living standards.
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Written by admin on 16 June 2010
There is some sort of inherent aversion to any sport that is not cricket in our country. Truly, cricket is a religion or has become a religion, for the simple prospect of pursuing any other sport with interest is treated like a blasphemy. It is exactly this attitude towards the ‘other sports’ that played spoilsport during the Hockey World Cup earlier this year. Despite excessive advertising and various celebrities telling the people to head out en masse to support the Indian Hockey team and Indian Hockey at the World Cup, the event was a dud. Neither did the people show up for the Games, nor did the celebrities. The stands were half–filled throughout the World Cup and now with the Commonwealth Games just around the corner, the questions are doing the round again. Will Indians be interested in the non–cricket sporting events that are going to be held in the city?
China in the run up to the Olympic Games got the entire community involved in the Olympics. They setup a number of primary and secondary schools across Beijing as “Olympic Education Demonstration Schools.” These schools spent a minimum of 2 hours every month conducting activities and classes related to the Olympic Games and involving the surrounding community and schools in these activities too. This spread a lot of awareness and information about the Olympic Games. Delhi on the other hand is doing nothing concrete and direct to promote the Commonwealth Games. It was expected that the organizing committee would involve the old Olympic athletes in the country, but nothing has been done. The people in the city do not have the vaguest idea as to what the Commonwealth is. And the more concerning part is that even though the government has not taken any initiative, (nothing new) the people do not feel that the government has not done enough. The lack of popularity of the Commonwealth Games is apparent enough, the volunteer scheme launched in Delhi University to enroll college students as Games volunteers never took off. The students are not interested in being involved in the Games and the feedback to the volunteer scheme has been really poor. This frankly, does not portend a good future where the Games are concerned, as the college goers should be a main audience. But because even the students who are not hung up on cricket are more inclined towards Football and Basketball, there is very little interest in athletics. The sports like Tennis, Badminton, Shooting and Boxing might do better off because of the recent successes, but the other sports face a bleak prospect.
Hosting the Commonwealth Games is a matter of great prestige and honor and it is just not being received with the eagerness and interest due to it. The people in the city were looking forward to the IPL more than the Commonwealth Games. Though there is a lot of attention towards the Commonwealth Games, its more due to the hoopla of delays and screw ups rather than an interest in the sports involved in the Games.
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Written by admin on 16 June 2010
Delhi is changing; over the past few years, ever since it was announced that the 2010 Commonwealth Games would be held in Delhi, the government has gone into overdrive. New roads, flyovers, hotels, buildings etc all this has transformed Delhi or at least the way Delhi looks. These modifications were all intended to for the good of Delhi, some turned out that way, some did not. But recently in an effort to modernize Delhi, the government has implemented bans in the city that are highly questionable. And all these changes are very myopic, and show great callousness on the part of the government.
The first decision that has irked many social workers is the removal of beggars from the streets of Delhi. This ‘resettlement’ of beggars is basically to send them back to the cities from where they migrated to Delhi. The Delhi government has written letters to the states from which the migrants came to take back their beggars into their own respective states. This move of the government shows its attitude towards poverty, preferring to brush under the carpet brutal realities so that they can deal with them later for the sake of the ‘visitors’. Instead of dealing with the problem and rehabilitating them, they are simply throwing them away, which is not just inconsiderate but abjectly cruel. This has left many people perturbed, and even the UN has questioned Delhi about this move.
The other changes though of less seriousness are equally inconsiderate. The MCD (Municipal Corporation of Delhi) has decided to remove ‘tongas’ (horse drawn carriages) from the roads of North Delhi. Tongas have been around fro donkeys years. They are an essential part of this city. In our blind hurry to modernize our city, the MCD is deleting a part of the city’s cultural heritage. The argument that the tongas lead to traffic congestion is baseless as the congestion is due to lack of planning. And these tongas are also refreshing and totally eco – friendly keeping in mind the spirit of this Green Commonwealth Games. If cities like Venice in Italy have incorporated Gondolas into their traffic and retained their history, why is Delhi so keen to believe that development means embracing motorization of the city? If on one hand Delhi is restoring its monuments the it is ironical that the tongas are being removed because both are a part of our history and heritage.
The MCD also has plans to remove the dhabas (food kiosks and stalls) from the streets of Delhi. The MCD said that they were acting upon the orders of the High Court made in 2008 to remove dhabas and stalls that were operating on illegally encroached land. At that time, they had decided to provide licenses to these kiosks and stalls to ratify them but nothing was done. And now they have decided to remove them altogether. These dhabas and stalls are an integral part of the eating culture in Delhi. Many students and people depend upon them daily and they are akin to the hotdog stands of New York. The excuse that they are unhygienic has also been given, but instead of spreading and enforcing hygiene standards, they have simply decided to shut them down.
The dhabas and tongas are a quintessential part of Delhi and are part of its identity. Removing them is not a solution as that will leave many people unemployed and many inconvenienced as not all people can afford to eat in restaurants and malls. The MCD should rethink these measures, especially there move to remove the beggars, as they too are people not some eyesore to be erased at will.
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Written by admin on 16 June 2010
Every capital city that has a river has some cruise or tourist activity that it conducts on the rivers. Be it the Thames in London, or the Hudson in New York, picnics are held by the river, weddings are held on the banks of the river, boating etc. the river is like an entertainment provision of the city. One cannot even imagine such a thing in Delhi, to hold your wedding on the banks of the Yamuna (the Yamuna in its present condition) would be something that would feature in your nightmares not in your dreams. In short the Yamuna is in a bad condition and ranks amongst the worlds most filthiest and polluted rivers. Despite the efforts made by the government the Yamuna still remains a cesspool, and seeing the governments repeated promises one can only assume that they never really tried to clean the Yamuna.
The Commonwealth games are nearly upon us and inspite of the Crores spent on the river, the Yamuna still resembles the landscape of Mordor. The government recently spent Rs. 1300 Crores to treat all the sewage spilling into the Yamuna from the various factories and plants on its banks, but it was all in vain, as the sewage treatment plant just could not handle the gargantuan amounts of sewage going into the river and will only be able to treat half of the sewage. All the government had to say about this mess up was that it would make the river ‘cleaner’ but not clean. The issue here is not about the amount of sewage in the river just the sewage. One could have earlier brushed off that the Yamuna was not important as no athlete would be taken across it or near but the moment they started building the Games Village on its banks it made it essential that the river should be given top – priority. But now there is nothing short of a miracle that can clean up the rivers by the time the Games get here.
The Yamuna is a prime example of the lethargy and neglect with which the Games’ preparations are being dealt with. The Yamuna once used to be a thriving river met all of Delhi’s water requirements with estuaries and ox – bows; the river was a fine sight. Because of neglect and no enforcement of laws, the river became nothing but a large dhobhi’s ghat, a sewage gutter and a dumping ground. The situation is so far gone now that the river has become a health hazard, with carcinogenic substances being found in the samples. Many cleaning drives were organized with students from public schools being sent to the banks to clean up. They all fell flat; primarily because of the lack of any further initiative and secondarily, the parents did not want their children to scrummage around the banks of a river that was the breeding ground of diseases like malaria.
The Yamuna is one ugly blotch on the map of this city and it is definitely going to make a negative impact on the minds of the tourists and athletes. It is ironical that the government is redoing the airport and beautifying the road from the airport to the Games Village, when the first sight they see from their room windows, as they peer out into the expanses of Delhi is going to be the , as they peer out into the expanses of Delhi is going to be the Yamuna.
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Written by admin on 16 June 2010
To prepare for the Commonwealth Games, India had to do a lot to make sure that the venues for all the sports events were tip – top. The existing sports venues in Delhi were in no way capable to host the Games, so all the existing stadiums and sports complexes had to be renovated and there was also a need to construct many new stadiums. Now, that the Commonwealth Games are nearly upon us, the renovation and constructions are complete in some stadiums and nearly finished in a remaining few, and the results are most gratifying.
The Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium now has a capacity to seat around 78,000 people, the entire stadium has been covered with a roof, and its roof structure makes it nearly identical to London’s Olympic Stadium. The JN stadium also has been given a gymnasium that can seat 2500 people, 4 synthetic greens for the Lawn bowls’ events and a 400 meter warm–up track.
The Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium that was recently used for the international Hockey World Cup has also been revamped. The stadium has three pitches, two of them have been approved for use in international games, and the other is used for practice. The main pitch can seat 16, 200 people, the stadium is also equipped with flood light with 2,200 lux illumination allowing for HD transmission of the Hockey matches. The entire stadium is air-conditioned and has a power backup too.
The Indira Gandhi Sports Complex has a Gymnastics stadium with a capacity to seat 14,348 people, it will have one indoor stadium and two warm–up halls. The IG Sports Complex also has a velodrome for cycling with a capacity of 4000 people. The Cycling track is a 250-meter Timber Track. The wrestling arena in the IG Sports Complex has three mat–areas for competition and six mat–areas for warm–up. It can seat 6932 people. The IG sports complex also has lighting facilities for HD transmission.
The Delhi University Sports Complex will be hosting the rugby games. It has one main rugby field with a capacity to seat 10,132 people. It is layered with Bermuda Princess 77 grass. The colleges of Delhi University in North Campus will also have Rugby fields for practice.
The Thyagaraj Sports Complex has been newly constructed for the Netball events in the Games. It has a capacity to seat 4494 people in its main match court, it also has two warm – up courts. The Thyagaraj Sports Complex is a Green Stadium made of fly ash bricks and with rain – water harvesting and solar energy harnessing it is an environment friendly building.
The Sirifort Sports Complex has 11 Squash courts (10 singles courts convertible into doubles courts, and one all glass Show Court) with a seating capacity of 4,748. There are five match courts and three warm – up courts for Badminton with a seating capacity of 3,128.
The Dr. Karni Singh Shooting Range boasts of state of the art shooting facilities and scoring and target equipment. The competition arena for shooting has 80 firing points for the 10 m, 50 firing points for the 25 m, and 80 firing points for 50 m. For the10 m, 25 m and 50 m there is a separate range and for Trap, there are four ranges and four ranges for Skeet. The seating capacity for Trap and Skeet is 2,000; for 10 m, 25 m and 50 m there are 500 seats each and the Final Range has a capacity of 1,000. The Full-bore events will be held at the CRPF Campus, Kadarpur. There are ranges for 300 yards, 500 yards, 600 yards, and 1,000 yards. All the ranges are equipped with twenty SIUS Ascor Electronic Movable Targets.
The Talkatora stadium will be able to seat 3,035 people for the Boxing matches. There is one competition ring and four warm – up rings. The Dr. S.P. Mukherjee Swimming Stadium has one competition pool that has eight lanes, one diving pool, and one warm-up pool with six lanes. It can hold 5,178 people.
The R.K. Khanna Tennis Complex can seat 5,015 people and has floodlights for night matches. There is one centre court along with six match courts and six warm-up courts. In The Yamuna Sports Complex, the Table Tennis arena has 10 warm-up tables, eight match tables and two show court tables with seating for 4,297 people. The Archery field has a capacity for 1,500 people and a 40-lane archery field. The Central Vista at India Gate will also host the Archery events, it has a capacity for 3,000 and a 2 lane competition arena and a 4 lane warm-up area.
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Written by admin on 16 June 2010
The Commonwealth Games 2010 is going to be the biggest Commonwealth Games in history. It is only fair that one should expect that India should get good returns on the amount of resources and time that India has invested in the Games. Yes, one can rightly call it an investment, for the benefits that India can come to gain from the Games are enormous. The Commonwealth Games hold the promise of great economic returns even after they are over.
The development and building of the infrastructure in Delhi in preparation for the Games have already released a lot of money into the economy. The building of sports venues, hotels, flyovers etc have involved many contractors, construction companies, and daily wage earners. The amount of work that is being done across the city is making sure that a lot of jobs are on offer. Even after completion, these projects will require management and maintenance, especially the sports venues, stadiums, and hotels thereby generating more job openings. To accommodate the tourists expected during the Commonwealth Games numerous small hotels, bed & breakfasts and other hotels are being built to meet the requirements as estimated by the government. The Games, even before officially having started are generating jobs on a large scale.
But once the Games start, that is when the Government of India expects to break even and maybe gain even more. ASSOCHAM (The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India) predicts that tourism alone is going to bring in US$ 16.915 million in 2010 because of the Games. All tourism industries and industries related to providing services to tourists are expecting a rainfall during the Games, and seeing the above figure, they are right in doing so. India estimates 10 million tourists will visit India in 2010, with a large percentage of them coming during the Games. The main industries expected to benefit from this are Tour Operators, Travel Agents, Hotel Industry, Aviation Industry, Airport Authorities, and the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation. Even the small industries, which produce and market small knick – knacks, such as the markets in Janpath, Sarojni Nagar etc and even the malls and bigger markets are going to benefit during the Games. The cities surrounding Delhi, that serve as weekend getaways and popular tourist destinations, are also looking forward to a large influx of tourists. The games are going to benefit a lot of people indeed.
It is only once the Games get over that the real long term benefits to the Indian economy are going to come into effect. If Delhi can pull off a good show during the Games, Delhi and India may find itself soon becoming a tourist hotspot. The average number of foreign tourists coming to India is going to rise by an estimated 5 – 10% after the Games. Currently India gets only a small percentage of income generated by the tourism industry worldwide. The Games will give Delhi and thus India great publicity as a tourist destination, and give its image as a tourist destination a much-needed boost. The success of the Games holds a lot in its hands. Until now, India has been a tourist destination for the eccentric or adventurous traveler, this all stands to change after the Games, and all this change is good, as it will benefit India and its people.
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Written by admin on 15 June 2010
Britain’s SIS Live which is Europe’s largest broadcast and uplink provider has been awarded the contract to produce and broadcast the entire coverage of the Commonwealth Games Delhi 2010 for India’s public television network Doordarshan.
Prasar Bharti which is the Broadcasting Corporation of India is finalized SIS Live for the USD500 million (GBP306 million appx.) project after a gruelling tender process. Doordarshan is a subsidiary of Prasar Bharti and is the official broadcaster of Delhi 2010 Commonwealth Games.
Managing Director of SIS, David Meynell who is delighted at this development said that SIS Live was able to convince Prasar Bharti that it has in depth knowledge and capability to cover an event of this scale in high definition.
The contract for SIS Live involves covering 17 sports across 12 venues throughout the 12 day event along with capturing the opening and the closing ceremonies. This will be the first time in the history of Commonwealth Games that the entire event will be covered and broadcast in high definition. SIS will have a technical team of around 1000 people stationed in Delhi during the games.
SIS’s work starts on the 29th of October with the coverage of the Queen’s Baton Relay which will be followed by a 340 day, 120,000 mile journey across all Commonwealth Countries ending in Delhi at the start of the XIXth Commonwealth Games.
SIS has over 70 years of experience in broadcasting sporting events and used to function as BBC’s Outside Broadcaster. Currently, SIS covers high profile events like the Wimbledon, Formula One and the London Marathon.
Posted in Delhi Commonwealth News | 6 Comments »
Written by admin on 15 June 2010
The international tender for designing, installing and operating the International Broadcast Centre (IBC) for the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi, India has been won by Global Television.
Global Television is Australia’s front-running and most experienced service provider in the television and broadcast industry. Global developed the technical build of the International Broadcast Centre for the Melbourne Commonwealth Games in 2006 and have proposed to bring the same team for doing the entire IBC setup in Delhi. In addition to Melbourne 2006, Global Television has handled broadcasting projects for the Sydney Paralympics in 200, FINA Swimming World Championships in 2007 and World Youth Day in 2008. Global will also involve an Indian partner called Shaf Broadcast for Delhi 2010.
Delhi 2010 will be the first in the history of the Commonwealth Games when the entire event will be broadcast in High Definition Digital, making it an important milestone for Indian Television as well. The IBC will be the centre where all pictures coming from the host broadcaster will be collected and then distributed globally among international rights holders.
Global Television CEO, Kerri Thompson said that the Delhi 2010 IBC tender is among the biggest broadcasting projects in the year 2010 and that Global is proud to have won the bid by showcasing Australia’s broadcasting industry’s capability and expertise in the field of High Definition Digital. Global Television plans to start work on the Delhi 2010 project immediately with a team from Global leaving for Delhi in the coming week to meet the international broadcasting rights holders.
The IBC will provide reporting facilities for over 1500 journalists and media personnel from all over the world and will occupy an area of approximately 8,000 square meters.
The XIXth Commonwealth Games Delhi 2010 to be held from October 3 to October 14 will host 17 sports and around 8,500 athletes and official from up to 71 Commonwealth Games Federation member nations.
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Written by admin on 15 June 2010
Indian Home Minister P. Chidambaram has given firm assurance that “no player, no participant, no coach, no trainer, no visitor, no spectator” need have any worry about security during the Commonwealth Games scheduled to be hosted in Delhi during October 3-14 in 2010.
The Home Minister informed that a comprehensive security plan had been presented to the satisfaction of the Commonwealth Games Federation when its official had visited Delhi recently. The security officials from various countries had also been apprised about the security arrangement to be put in place for the games.
Assuring that India will provide fool-proof security for Delhi 2010, Mr. Chidambaram said “Every international sports event in the world must factor in security. Be it World Cup football, Olympics or Commonwealth Games. So, we have factored in security.”
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Written by admin on 15 June 2010
Fleisham-Hillard which claims to be “a leader in international marketing & communications and one of the premier public relations agencies in the world”, has been chosen over several other international PR agencies to manage both international and domestic communications for the Commonwealth Games to be held next year in New Delhi, India along with a local agency called 20:20 Media. Fleisham-Hillard International Communications became the front-runners for the project when it put forward a proposal to carry out the entire project for USD250,000 (GBP153,000 appx.) which was way below the quote given by other agencies.
Fleisham-Hillard is based in St. Louis, Missouri and has offices all across the world whereas 20:20 Media, which was founded in 1989, is one of India’s biggest independent PR agencies and has offices throughout India with a staff around 150 people.
Fleisham-Hillard and 20:20 will be working between now and the games for all kinds of national and international communications and it is certain that amidst widespread concern about security and infrastructure for Delhi 2010, their job to communicate the right messages will not be easy.
The Queen’s Baton Relay which is due to take place at the Buckingham Palace in London on 29th October is expected to be their first assignment.
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