Opinion Bring on the Olympics

The unfolding CWG saga has served a timely reminder: perhaps we were getting a little ahead of ourselves. In reality we might still be a relatively poor nation,with huge contradictions,disparities and challenges,even if growing strongly from a low economic base.

Many lessons will hopefully be learned from this sordid mess. There will be investigations,accusations of cover-ups,proposals for new legislation,promises of a new dawn for Indian sports with enhanced funding and possibly an era of sports being run by sportspersons and not politicians and bureaucrats.

The likelihood though is that things may not change much.

Timely preparation of the CWG facilities would have earned India plaudits,greater international respect as an emerging market,and would have lead to the inevitable chant to “bring on the Olympics!”

Instead,we are now more uncertain of when we shall be credibly able to bid for the Olympics.

Few Indians understand how our country is viewed abroad. Far too readily we fall for political rhetoric that claims that we are returning full compliments with interest to former colonial powers. Few of us are prepared to accept that much of our supposed economic might arises from the simple fact that we are a populous country.

As Indians we know that China is racing ahead,but we remain optimistic that we can catch up and one day overtake China. Yet we must accept that at the current juncture in our economic progress we are behind,although many of us somehow think that we are within touching distance of China’s achievement. So,how far behind are we?

China lost its 1993 bid for the 2000 Olympics to Sydney and had to wait till 2001 for the successful Beijing bid. After London in 2012 and Rio de Janeiro in 2016,the 2020 Olympics rightly belong to either Africa or Asia. South Africa’s stunningly successful hosting of the football World Cup would make it a strong candidate.

Recent events make it more likely that India will not bid in 2013,with 2017 the likely time of our first bid. Assuming that,like China,we are successful with our second bid possibly in 2025,India may host the Olympics in 2032,24 years after China,a “sporting” assessment of how far behind China we are.

Maybe a 24-year lag is too harsh an indictment on India. So,let’s look at per capita GDP data. On a purchasing power parity (PPP) basis,China’s per capita GDP was about 50 per cent that of India’s in 1978,rising to about 200 per cent by 2008. Growing at 8.5 per cent,it will take India just under nine years to reach where the Chinese are today in per capita GDP terms.

So in terms of the development lag we have two measures,one fiscal,the other based on sport,that give us assessments of nine and 24 years respectively. The truth may lie somewhere in between.

Today,India can match the $33 billion or so that China is estimated to have spent on its own Olympics. But money is not the problem; the ability to deliver is.

Delhi,with its confusing administrative set-up,was always going to be challenged to get things right. Our private sector and perhaps some of our more capable chief ministers (in their own states) would have produced better,on-time,infrastructure with quality support services to match.

India does have its success stories: the Delhi Metro and our gleaming new airports among them. The government now needs to extend private public partnership (PPP) initiatives to the sports infrastructure sector.

To ensure that the lessons of the CWG fiasco are actually learned immediately after these Games,the government needs to appoint a commission of inquiry,review and recommendation to report in no more than six months,followed by the creation of a statutory authority that would become responsible for India’s future Olympic bid. And thereafter for creating the facilities and managing the event itself.

India needs to host the Olympics sooner rather than later. It is a test for the political leadership.

The writer is the Congress MLA from Qila Raipur,Punjab express@expressindia.com