Cost of commonwealth games 2010
Once upon a time long, long ago I was doing my CA. For doing this course one important thing to do is to do articles training for 3 years. I did my articles from Sharp & Tannan who were the statutory auditors of Hindustan Petroleum Company Limited. The year was 1983.
One expense that I saw in the accounts was purchase of a ‘guest house’ in New Delhi for Rs. 5 crores. This was entered in the asset register and I asked what is this. The accountant laughed and said Remember Rajiv Gandhi got up in the Parliament and said “It is costing the government only Rs. 10 crores to conduct the games (sorry I do not remember the exact figures)”.
Where do you think the actual figure of Rs. 1000 crore is coming from? Well if a chottu like HPCL is buying guest houses for a few crores, it is obvious tha IOC , Ongc, Bpcl, etc. are all buying ….properties worth crores. There are ‘houses’ which are temporary houses built in Delhi for the athletes to stay. The buses to ferry the athletes are being bought by DTC, BEST, MTDC, etc.
On that day I decided that I will not buy Psu companies in my portfolio. Yes I have made some exceptions – SBI, Ongc, Ntpc, Nhpc – they are too big to be ignored. However the way some ministers are helping the private sector competitors to @#$%^^^ these once upon a time navratnas I am not sure whether I should hold them.
There is a story on rediff about the Commonwealth Games cost…take a look!
Dr Mohammed Ali Khan
Why should the Government hold commonwealth ganes.. Why not some private company like IPL.. They will operate the games more efficiently and profitably too..
The Governments only job is internal & external security & dispute resolution among its citizens…
The pity is that the above 3 jobs, which only a Government can do, is done very inefficiently by the government.. But it wants to hold games, manufacture soaps and run bus services..
Let the Government do its job properly and leave the rest to the private sector..They will do the job at the fraction of the cost and more efficiently too..
Pravin
Dr Khan.Wonderful ideas.But we just signed our future away with RTE and NREGA and the UID.Next they want to tag everyone in the country with national IDs. From socialism we are moving to fascism.
Those who find this harsh,need to remember that data collected by the govt,is ALWAYS misused .It is not a question of if,rather than when. I am going to not co-operate with the census worker.No other data other than the number of people in my household is going to enter their logs.
drkhann
@Pravin
I actually think that UID is a good idea ( Only that, I feel they could have adopter a more catchy acronym )
It comes under the “dispute resolution” functions of the Government..
One’s identity is one’s most precious property and protecting property rights is one of the main functions of the government.
A biometric UID is a very correct step in this direction. My only request is that this job be leased out to many (not one )private companies, rather than make it into a boring government department ( open 10 am to 330 pm, weekdays and holidays off )
Pravin
I would have thought land rights are more important in india.For someone with no property,identity is useless. Nilekani’s time could have been well spent if land records had been rectified and the dispute resolution mechanism been enhanced and property titles awarded .
Our socialist masters(including the judiciary) have eliminated the fundamental right to property from the constitution and replaced it with bogus rights like education and food. Rights always arise naturally and are free.education and food are NOT free.taxpayers will be footing the bill for them.the right to property is free.but we have surrendered that to the crony capitalist-socialist nexus
The stated use of the UID is -better targetting of subsidies.well,we need to ELIMINATE the subsidy culture.
drkhann
@Pravin
Well put!!
One does not have a ” Right” to another’s services
Education is a service.. Food comes out of human labour..
These are not rights.. But entitlements.. The bill has to be footed by someone.. Usually the taxpayer.. Ultimately everyone..
And when something is free or artificially cheap, it is either rationed or not available at all.. People lose any respect for the goods which they get free.. When I was an intern at Government Chengalpattu Hospital, I saw a patient throwing away a strip of Amoxycillin which cost more than Rs 100 in the open market.. I literally put my hand into the dustbin to retrieve it.Because, I knew the actual cost,and he did not.Thats what happens with free!
Land rights and personal identity are both relevant.. Imagine if I buy a land, it will be linked to my UID, and UID is linked to my person by my biometrics ( fingerprinting, retina scan etc ), there is no way someone else can occupy or encroach my land, like it happens many times nowadays..If UID is properly implemented ( I hope ) every square inch of private land in India can be linked to an UID.. This will go a long way eliminating fraud..
Accepted
Politician, mafia and leftist intellectual nexus is very strong in India.. A strong vested interest in preventing the progress of our country