It saddens me to admit as a citizen of India that this article is bang on target.

It was bad enough that the final budget was twice the planned one, but incidents such as the collapsing bridge and statements about our "different levels of hygiene" are truly disgraceful.

In a way i am glad of the unceasing rain. By delaying the many many last minute preparations (indeed, one might argue all the preparation was last minute), it is ensuring that the organizers and ministers will at last be held accountable.

The Games are truly highlighting the Indian paradox- a country aspiring to be a future superpower, and spending 10 billion on the games while slums have been relocated on the road side not 2 minutes away from the games village because of flooding. And the government has yet to do anything to help the citizens of those slums...

Truth, the whole truth and nothing but the Truth......... super power india???? are you kidding me. First feed the hungry remove the biggest slums in the world and then day dream. First DESERVE then DESIRE...

While I absolutely agree that this is emberassing to India and Indian Govt. that Games facilities are not up to the standard. That too when India likes to assume itself winning when competing with China.

However, this need to be seen in larger context. Delhi Airport is a few years ahead of Heathrow (Making this Delhi-London comparision as this was part of overall Commonwealth games plan) and Delhi Metro is delivered on time with better quality.

Yes, it will be like Punjabi wedding, messy in the beginning and sweet in the end. Or so I hope.

In any case, Head must roll - especially with regards to rampant corruption.

@ aryabhatt

really ?

what would be worse ?

40% of the population is BPL, has no electricity, but we organise Common wealth games. spend millions steal more than is spent and then have things collapse.

the politicians are not yet held accountable no arrests no nothing. reminds me of the wild west.

what do the people who are earning less than 2$ a day (nearly 70% of India) got to do with an airport ? they have never seen one and are not likely to see one either.

for gods sake dont compare Heathrow to New Delhi Airport. compare it when New Delhi handles as much traffic as heathrow.

there is National pride and then there is your post.

I am an Indian living in India.

I think one has to be careful about reading too much into something like this. I don't think you can make grand statements about geopolitics and a superpower race with China.

On the other hand, it is inevitable that this will be compared to China's fantastic delivery of the 2008 Olympic games which despite some of their own, lesser, problems were spectacular in the end. (Obviously I understand the difference in budgets)

There is no denying that it is hugely embarrassing for India on the global stage.

When one always pulls all-nighters, don't expect an A+. The phrase "By the skin of our teeth" has more margin for error than this event for which all the work was supposed to be finished by 2007. I wouldn't blame the star atjhletes to be a no-show. SO are many Delhites who are taking a vacation during the two-weeks. I bet it was the "Shining India" BJP party who signed up for this event to embarrass the Congress Party.

Mr. Dhume makes some acceptable points like:
Until Indian politicians are held to the same standards as their
counterparts in advanced democracies, the country will have to
continue to suffer the ignominy of collapsing bridges, sub-par
apartment complexes, and $80 toilet rolls.
But I strongly disagree with his portrayal of the middle-class
as the nice guys, and of `the others' (the poor) as the ones holding back India and its government. I quote him:
Over the last 20 years, liberalization and globalization have
unshackled many of the country's most productive citizens from
heavy-handed socialism and raised living standards faster than
at any time in the nation's history. But even as the private sector
booms -- swelling the middle class and producing billionaires by
the fistful -- the quality of governance remains abysmal.
and again:
The Indian middle class -- at best, 300 million people out of a
population of 1.1 billion -- may not have the numbers to decide
elections, but it needs to demand a greater say in the country's
governance. This means finding ways to translate its economic
muscle into political clout.
Come one Mr. Dhume. Is the success of economic policies judged by the number of Billionaires they produce ? What about the poor people it leaves behind and frequently rides over ? Did the labourers in the common wealth project loot money ? Or did the middle class netas, babus, agents and contractors do the looting ?

The Indian middle class has its interests well taken care of. The contractors, middle men etc. for the common wealth games project are from the middle class or upper class. Did the poor give Mr. Kalmadi the job of disbursing favours and government money ? The middle class apparatus gets votes from the poor but actually carries out the agenda that suits the middle class (or more precisely, government corruption hurts all classes, but hurts the poor much more that it hurts the middle class). Mr. Kalmadi and Professor Manmohan Singh are from the middle class or the upper class. Certainly not poor. There is very little difference between the lower class representatives like Mayawati and Laloo, and the middle or upper class representatives like Kalmadi, Professor Manmohan Singh or Jyoti Basu. They all steal.
The lower class representatives speak broken English - that is the only difference.

The middle class is also what supports the RSS and BJP. Go to Gujarat and stop an average middle class person on the street and ask about Mr. Modi and his government. They will spout sweet praises for their fascist leader.

Look Mr. Dhume, the middle class has, like the others some virtues: it can be forgiving and still hopeful of a bright future for the country. But its conscience is not clear. Let us count the total rupees paid by the middle class citizens as bribes to netas and babus. I claim that it is much larger than the total bribes paid by the lower classes. If my claim is true, then clearly, the middle class is sustaining corruption in government. If all the 300 million middle class folks refuse to pay bribes, I claim that corruption would reduce to a trickle.

- A middle class citizen of India

This article suggests India is becoming important country with a rapidly growing economy. Years ago I did an in-depth study of the Indian economy and concluded it was stagnant and would remain so until it bureaucracy changed. Last year I revisited the study in response to the reports of rapid economic growth. What I found - the Indian bureaucrats are still using the old Soviet model of claiming rapid growth when nothing of the sort is occurring outside of a few "new" industries such as call centers where new regulations and restraints have not yet been promulgated.

At this point, India's stagnation is deeply entrenched with no light on the horizon. The only answer I can see is for the national government to pass a blanket repeal all national, state and local laws, regulations, permits, reports, licenses, zoning, fees, taxes etc etc relating to employment and production so that any person or company domestic or foreign is totally free to produce any product or service anywhere in India at any time using any technology and employing any labor in any way at any wage and selling it anywhere at any price. In other words, total economic freedom to set lose the Indian economy from the dead hand of the regulatory raj.

The economy would boom and, no doubt, specific mistakes and problems would appear. These could then be handled with new laws and regulations designed to handle actual problems. The difference being that today's laws and regulations are generally designed to prevent anything from happening so there will be, by definition, no problems whereas the new laws and regulations would be designed to solve specific real problems. The difference is huge.

Until something like this occurs India will continue to be a failed state and minor player on the world stage with a stagnant or declining per capita income.

this fiasco is an ultimate proof of india being over rated by US/west, people inside and outside india need to focus on lives of 400 million people who are living worst life than of life in african poor states.....US just wanted to lift india against china after win over soviet's. But its too early too rely on one of the world's most corrupt goup of individuals ...The Great Indian rulers!

1. Bolt, how will you become a world champion racer if you tripped over the stairs?
2. Pavarotti, how will you become a world class tenor if you sneezed?
3. How will you be successful in life if you got an A-?

Come on, please get some sense of proportion?