Let me begin with a caveat. It is no one’s case that sporting events are unnecessary. But when a sporting event becomes a vehicle for misinformation and meeting questionable ends, one can’t help but sit up and take notice.

We as part of our ongoing research and advocacy for the revival for the river Yamuna got unwittingly embroiled in challenging the wisdom of the powers that be in locating, against all expert advice, the Games Village for the Commonwealth Games (CWG) in the river’s flood plain. As we highlighted the inadvisability and the dangers involved in such a location of the Village, we were often faced with queries from the protagonists of the Games.

Why question an event that involves the nation’s prestige? And why raise a hue and cry on an event for which the nation is getting tonnes of money from 'outside'? Such queries sometimes came our way even from quarters that ought to have known much better.

Suffice to say that both these commonly held ‘beliefs’ couldn’t be farther from the truth. Let me elaborate.

It is the London-based Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) that governs and awards the event to an affiliated Commonwealth Games Associate (CGA). It is the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) as an affiliate CGA which bid and ‘won’ the right to hold the Games in Delhi in 2010. It is notable that both CGF and IOA are non-government independent bodies. Incidentally, the IOA has been at pains in recent months to reiterate its non-government and independent status in response to the union sport ministry’s efforts to cap the tenure of its office bearers.

According to article 2 of the constitution of the CGF, the objects of the Federation are “to promote the Commonwealth Games, which shall be held every four years and shall be open to eligible competitors representing affiliated CGAs.” Furthermore the article 5 of the constitution of CGF states “the Commonwealth Games are contests between athletes and not contests between countries”.

Thus these sporting events (which include Olympics, Asian Games and the like) while encouraging competitors representing the respective associated sporting bodies (IOA from India) these are not to be construed as being inter-national. So, where is the question of 'the nation’s prestige’ getting associated with their holding? If indeed there is any one’s prestige involved then it is either that of the host CGA (namely the IOA) or of the parent body, CGF. When BCCI hosts the cricket World Cup in India, has anyone heard of the ‘the nation’s prestige’ being at stake?

Why does then the national government/s spend a fortune on supporting these games? Ideally they should not, as indeed they do not in case of the cricket World Cup. But BCCI is flush with money and IOA is not. Hence a need of the national government to come to the aid of bodies likes the IOA. In this context a recent statement of the president of the IOA promising post games to repay every penny taken from the government is pertinent.

As regards tonnes of money coming to the Games-hosting country from ‘outside’, it is a misinformation that appears quite deep seated. It is that Delhi and India is doing some kind of a favour – by agreeing to hold the event in Delhi – to an ‘outside’ agency (CGF by implication) which in turn is paying it (Delhi) for the favour. The actual facts as under in the matter are self explanatory:

According to the Games budget and host city contract of November 2003 the IOA (host) is to pay a ‘host fee’ of $12 million (7.3 million pound) to the CGF. In addition, it is common knowledge that the city of Delhi and the IOA won the bid as compared to the city of Hamilton in Canada by outbidding Hamilton’s offer of paying $50,000 to each participating CGA by doubling the said amount to $100,000.  For 71 CGAs it totals to $7.1 million! This payment is prima facie to help train the athletes of the 71 CGAs including from the so called ‘developed’ countries like the UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. It is a moot point if the Indian taxpayer should be meeting their training needs?

Clearly, not a paisa is coming from ‘outside’ to the country. On the contrary, the IOA (in effect the Indian taxpayer) is obliged to pay at least $19.1 million for the right to host the Games in Delhi. This is not to mention the mega bucks that the Indian taxpayer is in any case shelling out in Delhi’s race to become ‘world class’ for the games, through construction of expressways, flyovers and a highrise and highend Games Village which as per the ‘bid’ was to have become post games a university accommodation.

If there indeed is any one issue in Delhi involving the nation’s prestige then it is the revival of the  Yamuna, which these mega sports have left no stone unturned to despoil further.