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Below is a press release from the Indian Government outlining the establishment of a “High Level Committee” to investigate issues relating to the Commonwealth Games.
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Press Information Bureau Government of IndiaPrime Minister’s Office
25-October-2010 19:48 IST
Terms of Reference of High Level Committee to Look into the Organisation and Conduct of the Commonwealth Games – 2010
Government has also approved the terms of reference for the Committee as under:
i) The role and responsibilities of the signatories to the Host City Contract and the overall implications of the obligations entered into through the Host City Contract;
ii) The planning and execution of development projects related to the Games and contracts for service delivery, with reference to time, cost and quality;
iii) The issues relating to the effectiveness of the organizational structure and governance for organization, preparation and conduct of the Games at all levels, including the Organising Committee and its Key Functional Areas;
iv) Examination of weaknesses in management, alleged misappropriation, irregularities, wasteful expenditure and wrongdoing in the conduct of the Games, and, recommending action on the same;
v) The issues relating to financing the Games, including estimates of revenue and expenditure;
vi) The issues concerning coordination amongst various agencies involved in the development of infrastructure and conduct of the Games;
vii) The role of international/national advisors/consultants/officials of the Organising Committee in the conduct of the Games;
viii) The overall impact of the Games including legacy for city infrastructure, sports infrastructure and sports development;
ix) The lessons learnt for the future, on each of the above, including establishment of a mechanism for laying down timeframes and effective monitoring, creation of a legally sustainable framework for hosting similar international sporting events, appropriate financial management and internal audit, media interaction and communication;
x) Any other areas considered relevant by the Committee.
The HLC will submit its report within three months. It will decide its own procedures and mode of enquiry. All Ministries and Departments of the Central and State Governments, as well as agencies and organizations under their administrative control, have been directed to extend their full cooperation and assistance to the HLC in completing its assignment within this time. The Ministry of Sports will extend administrative and logistic support to the Committee. It will function from its office in Vigyan Bhawan.
The Comptroller & Auditor General of India (C&AG), Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) and other agencies will independently carry out their audit and investigations, in accordance with their respective mandates. All complaints referred to various agencies will be looked into and action taken immediately by the agency concerned. The HLC will recommend action on any matter that comes to its notice involving alleged misappropriation, irregularities, wasteful expenditure or wrongdoing, and, they will take immediate action as warranted under the law.
The HLC will also consider any complaint from any member of the public, duly supported by documents, with respect to its remit i.e. organization and conduct of the Commonwealth Games – Delhi 2010. The HLC will inform the members of the public regarding its availability to receive such complaints, in due course.
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A group of Indian ministers is meeting later to begin investigating claims of corruption at the Commonwealth Games.
Led by Urban Development Minister Jaipal Reddy, they will look into the awarding of contracts and how the work was supervised.
Meanwhile, India’s media reports the Central Vigilance Commission, a graft watchdog, is checking 22 Games-related works and purchases for irregularities.
The run-up to the event in Delhi was dogged by construction delays.
After the troubled start, Commonwealth Games head Mike Fennell praised the event as the competition drew to a close last week.
But Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said an investigation was needed into an event which became a global story for all the wrong reasons.
The ministers will be helped by former Auditor General VK Shunglu as they scrutinise all aspects of the event’s organisation and planning.
Meanwhile, government agencies have been given until 31 October to submit replies to the Central Vigilance Commission’s investigation.
Investigators are due to visit the Games’ organising committee on Monday to audit its accounts.
On Sunday, the head of the committee, Suresh Kalmadi, lashed out at Delhi’s chief minister after she said the suspicion of corruption hung over his department.
“It is not right to deflect and point fingers at others when she must indulge in self-reflection on corruption in her own departments,” Mr Kalmadi said in a statement.
Before the Games began, he wrote a letter to MPs defending himself from allegations of corruption. He has not been charged with anything.
More than 200 tax investigators in India have searched the offices of a number of contractors used in the run-up to the Commonwealth Games.
The raids in Delhi came as the main opposition party, the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), demanded a parliamentary investigation.
The Games, which ended last week in Delhi, were marred by spiralling costs and allegations of corruption.
The BJP says it has evidence of wrongdoing at government level.
‘Very big scam’
Income tax officials swooped on the offices of contract companies in and around Delhi on Tuesday, seizing documents relevant to any work associated with the Games.
Among the addresses raided was the residence of a businessman and prominent BJP activist, according to Indian media.
The BBC’s Chris Morris in Delhi says that now the Games are over, the political fight is beginning in earnest.
The Congress party-led government has already set up an inquiry, led by its urban development minister, into the event, promising anyone found guilty will be punished.
The BJP says millions of dollars were siphoned off from the Games budget, which ballooned to $6bn (£3.8bn), from an original estimate of $450m.
The opposition party alleges corruption in the building of sports facilities in particular.
BJP President Nitin Gadkari told reporters in Delhi that the Games had been a “very big scam”.
Dharavi, Asia’s largest slum, is a haven of dry waste- huge mounds of plastic bags, papers, scraps…It is also a home to several migrant workers, ragpickers and destitute, and is probably the world’s largest recycling quarters where almost 80% of the dry waste generated in the city is segregated for recycling into reusable products.
Amidst a pile of discarded mobile phones, chargers, tangled wires, computer spare parts and other electronic waste lives young Shafiq. Dharavi is his home and he has been sifting through these piles since childhood. “My job is to separate every part of the electronic gadget that is dumped here. The plastic and the metal generated from the electronic items is further segregated and then sold to the kabadiwallas. By selling e-waste, I earn a decent amount of money from which I can feed my family.”
Like Shafiq, there is Mangala, diligently scanning each plastic waste dumped at the Dharavi swamp. Sitting in one corner, she sieves the dust, dirt and mud from the plastic items. “I have lost count…I have spent years in this business. This waste gives us a livelihood. If I work from 9 to 6 every day, I can fill my stomach easily.”
Laxmi and several others form the recycling clan of Dharavi, and they are all part of Acorn Foundation (India), Mumbai, a registered charity trust affiliated to ACORN International/ Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now.
Hundreds of children, women and men collect dry waste from the streets, beaches and garbage dumps every day. They bring the waste to Dharavi, where it is sorted, segregated and then sold by the kilo to scrap dealers at various godowns. This waste can get them anywhere between 10 rupees per kilo for e-waste, to 12 rupees per kilo for plastic bottles, or 20 rupees per kilo per metals like copper from circuit boards.
This unorganized labour of Dharavi is an invaluable asset to the city. “If it were not for these ragpickers who recover, recycle and ensure reuse of the waste, Mumbai would have been reduced to a dump yard with serious issues,” says Vinod Shetty, Director of Acorn Foundation (India), Mumbai.
The dry waste like plastic, glass, cloth and paper are segregated and sent to the recycling units in Dharavi, where they are made into reusable products. The plastic waste is converted into pellets; these pellets are further processed and made into folders and buckets. The paper and cardboard is turned into pulp which is used to make folders and furniture. The metal generated from the e-waste is used for industrial purposes.
The society seems to have a “don’t care” attitude towards waste. “Handling waste is probably the dirtiest thing but we forget that we generate that waste. The problem is with our attitude, we don’t take waste as our problem but instead we put it under the carpet or expect others to clean our mess.”
With a nominal fee of 60 rupees, the organization has engaged 400 working members from Dharavi Project. In return, the members can also learn music, art, and photography. Acorn provides informal schooling to the ragpickers’ children, organizes health camps, arranges ration cards, conducts workshops on waste segregation and holds cultural programmes. “At Acorn, we address them as ‘green workers’ and not as ragpickers”
Acorn has also involved school children in waste segregation. It conducts programmes for students on how to reduce and manage waste at home. It screens visuals and documentaries at various schools. Acorn also runs this campaign with CMCA (Children’s Movement for Civic Awareness) and Lions Club of Juhu.
“We work with Dhirubhai Ambani School, the American School, the RBK School and even schools at Navy Nagar in Colaba. We have temps who go around the city and collect dry waste from the schools. It is a contribution by school children to the livelihood of the ragpickers. This is an ideal model where the child learns about segregation of waste, about the environment and, of course, the green workers, ” says Vinod. “The school children also get to tour the recycling industry of Dharavi to understand the concept of waste management better. We would also like to involve college students in our project in the future.”
Acorn study has found that more than 50% of the ragpickers earn less than 50-60 rupees a day. These ragpickers are vulnerable to health related issues and even exploitation. Vinod aspires to represent the plight of ragpickers to the government. He aims to set up a statutory board through which the government could introduce insurance schemes, distribute equipment like gloves, masks and other scavenging materials, and provide space in every municipal ward to segregate waste.
“Our next agenda is to clean the beaches of Mumbai. We want to involve citizens and communities from well-to-do societies. Our members are ready to assist these groups in managing waste,” concludes Vinod.
Rag Pickers or City Savers
The Commonwealth Games starting Oct 3 now faces a new threat: Jats from Haryana. Upset that the Haryana government is not promising them quotas in jobs and educational institutions, a Jat leader Thursday threatened to block Delhi’s borders Oct 3 when the Games begin. The Jats are seeking
reservation in government jobs and educational institutions and also a status as other backward class (OBC).
“So far we have not got any satisfactory reply from the Haryana government. We have decided to intensify our peaceful campaign. We will seal Delhi’s borders Oct 3,” Yash Pal Malik, president of the All India Jat Aarakshan Sangarsh Samiti, said here.
Malik said they can also march towards Delhi.
On Sep 13 and 14, Hisar district in Haryana saw widespread violence by Jats over the same demand.
“We will not allow any commodity of daily use to reach Delhi. Only then the central government will start paying heed to our demands. From today, we have started ‘guerilla action’ under which we will suddenly stop any train and block any road without prior intimation,” stated Malik.
He added: “On Sep 27, when the Queen’s Baton Relay enters Haryana, we will show black flags. But we will make sure that nobody indulges in any violence.”
Original article: http://www.hindustantimes.com/Now-Jats-threaten-Commonwealth-Games/Article1-603822.aspx
From the Hindustan Times http://www.hindustantimes.com/SC-ST-funds-were-diverted/Article1-581958.aspx
The Delhi government has diverted million rupees meant for dalit welfare to fund preparations for the October Commonwealth Games, allege voluntary organizations.
Officials of Housing and Land Rights Network (HLRN) and National Campaign on Dalit and Human Rights (NCDHR) said the government diverted some 7,440 million rupees from the Special Component Plan (Scheduled Caste Sub Plan) to meet CWG-related expenses.
The allegation is based on the data provided by the Delhi government’s department for the welfare of SC/ST/OBC/Minorities in response to an Right to Information application, the Hindustan Times reported.
In the reply, details of the expenditure from the fund have been provided from the year 2006 to 2010 in a tabulated form.
“The diversion of funds is illegal. In the Planning Commission’s master guideline for the special component plan, the funds are non divertible and non lapsable,” said Miloon Kothari, executive director, HLRN.
Admitting that the government spent millions of rupees meant for the welfare of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes to fund preparations for the October Commonwealth Games, Delhi government officials said there was “nothing wrong in it”.
They said members of the reserved categories will eventually utilize the upcoming infrastructure projects and would benefit from them.
Mani Shankar Aiyar stirred up the pot last week when he told reporters, “Personally, I will be unhappy if the Commonwealth Games are successful.” Suresh Kalmadi, the head of the Commonwealth Games Organising Committee promptly labeled Aiyar “anti-national.”
CWG Fail? A recent cover story in India Today suggests that in spite of all the brave talk we are hearing from officials, failure of the Games in obvious and embarrassing variety is indeed an option: major sports venues are incomplete, and some of the venues that have been completed are falling apart before they have even been used. Housing and food arrangements for delegates and athletes are still up in the air. As disturbing as they are, plans to banish 75,000 beggars from Delhi’s streets are totally compatible with the ideology behind the drive to make Delhi a “World Class City.” But evicting thousands of students in order to find housing for athletes? That smells of desperation. We probably have no idea how bad things really are, because Chief Minister Dikshit recently ordered her ministers to keep their mouths shut as they go on inspections of Games facilities. But it seems obvious that the overall situation is very bad indeed. Of course if you think about it, this should come as no surprise. Delhi is one big construction zone, and most of what we are seeing on major roads and markets is a far cry from “finishing work.” Connaught Place is still a mess. Officials conceded on Friday that much important work there, including the subways, will not be finished in time for the Games. Crossing the outer circle will apparently continue to be a real adventure for months to come.
In fact, the government has known for a long time that its contractors have been violating wage, safety and labour standards, and what has it done? Children of Games workers, when they haven’t been working, have been denied their rights as well–you don’t need a hyper link for this if you live in Delhi, it’s out in the open. But here’s one anyway. With all that money, why couldn’t the Government insist that contractors put up some mobile creche facilities for these kids?
It wasn’t just a reckless driver who was responsible for the death of a fourteen year old and three of his co-workers last week; it was also the contractors who hired him to work illegally in unsafe conditions– and the government which failed to seriously enforce their own labour standards. And these workers are not alone; so far, dozens have died in Games-related projects. Violating labour laws is a way for contractors save money; it is a kind of corruption, a kind of theft. And far too often, it has deadly consequences, which makes it a kind of homicide, if you think about it.
Also, go check out out ACORN International’s Commonwealth Games Campaign. I’ve heard good things about this campaign. This site tells you how to sign a petition and get involved.
Thousands of crore may have been spent on setting up venues and the village for Commonwealth Games, but the men who actually lay the brick do not even get enough wages to afford one square meal for the family every day. A study by Child Relief and You (CRY) at the Siri Fort construction site has revealed 84% laborers are paid much less than the stipulated minimum wage of Rs 203 per day for unskilled workers.
According to CRY’s survey conducted over a period of two months at other sites like Dhyan Chand National Stadium, R K Khanna Stadium, Talkatora Stadium, JLN Stadium and Lodhi Road, children of theseconstruction workers have to live in inhuman conditions. They go without quality food, safe drinking water, healthcare and formal schooling, the report says.
‘‘We interviewed many construction workers at the Siri Fort construction site and found a majority of them were paid only about 60% of the stipulated amount, which is anyway too less. As a result, these workers can’t even provide adequate food to their children,’’ said Yogita Verma, director, CRY.
As per the findings, while unskilled workers were being paid Rs 85 to Rs 100 per day, skilled workers earned around Rs 120 every day. A 25-year-old worker at the Games Village site told CRY that a large chunk of his wages was taken away by the contractor.
‘‘Our entire family is cramped into a plastic tent. Whenever media persons come, the site supervisor bluffs them by saying that workers receive Rs 200 and masons get Rs 500. We only get a part of it, the rest goes to the contractor,’’ he claimed.
Verma said, ‘‘We are trying to build such a fantastic image of our country but the children of these workers do not even go to school. They just loiter around all day as these sites do not even have any facility for a crèche.’’ The report also refers to a PIL filed in the Delhi high court according to which nearly 4.15 lakh daily-wage workers were working on six venue clusters and five standalone venues for the Games in the city. CRY found children of many such workers had to drop out of school when the family migrated to the city from their place of residence.
Original article: http://2010commonwealthgamesindia.blogspot.com/2010/08/child-labor-see-what-oc-is-doing-shame.html
