Showing posts with label IOC. Show all posts
Showing posts with label IOC. Show all posts

Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Olympian samba in ‘Lula’land

Brazil is on track to host the 2016 Olympics, but it must also focus on developing more world class athletes

Yes we créu!”, may sound like a cliché – especially to all those North Americans who have been pre-occupied with the razzmatazz of “Yes, we can”. But this was one occasion they couldn’t; make Chicago win the bid to host the 2016 Olympics, that is. And this happened despite Barack Obama himself staking his reputation behind Chicago’s bid.

Anyways, the more interesting development has been w.r.t. to the winner – Rio de Janeiro, a city famous for sun and sin, which got chosen ahead of Chicago and Tokyo. Even more shocking was Madrid’s lost of 32-66 in a direct contest between the two in the final round of voting. It’s for the first time that any Latin American country will be hosting Olympic games. The IOC’s choice of Rio de Janeiro makes the emergence of this “backyard of the United States” quite evident.

What came as an added advantage for Rio was the ongoing preparation for 2014 FIFA World Cup in the country. Brazil has always been over-enthusiastic about football. And this has acted as amajor shot in the arm for its bid for the Olympic games. Since most of Brazil’s infrastructure and games venues are under a major overhaul for the FIFA World Cup, the city seems pseudo-ready for Olympics.

But it seems that this “backyard of the United States” was also preparing itself quite well “behind the veil.” To win the 2016 games for Rio de Janeiro, Brazil spent almost $50 million. Rio will spend an estimated $11.1 billion to build the facilities and infrastructure for the Olympic venues. So much so that Brazilian president Lula da Silva spent two days in Copenhagen and also wrote personal letters to the 106 voting members. He had each letter hand-delivered by an ambassador. Obama’s effort was quite measured in comparison, as he made a special appearance at the last moment.

Along with Lula, soccer legend Pele and Olympic champion swimmer Cesar Cielo were also there to urge IOC members. Lula da Silva said in his appeal to IOC delegates, “It’s not possible that it be in England in 2012 and in another European country in 2016 ... It’s not fair that Brazil, one of the 10 biggest economies in the world for 30 years; that Brazil, one of the world’s industrialized countries, a nation that has demonstrated its love for sports; it’s not fair that Brazil not be chosen.”


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.

 
IIPM : The B-School with a Human Face

Sunday, August 5, 2012

MATHURA REFINERY NAGAR

Though it has been over 25 years since the mathura Refinery nagar came into existence, the township doesn’t seem to have moved a Bit with time. No wonder the people are now opting to move out, finds Vareen Ray
 
The Mathura Refinery Nagar over the years might have grown in size but it lacks a lot of aspirational value. While a little away in the main city, the residential boom has spawned mall culture, the refinery township has a dilapidated small shopping cluster comprising of stores that cater to just the daily needs. A shopkeeper selling stationery tells me, “The shop was allotted to me by the co-operative when the township was created. However, even I stay in the city.” The houses look like they have not been painted for ages; there is a jungle-like feel if you go for a walk within the gated community of Mathura refinery. The IOC township stands no chance when compared to what’s on offer outside – group-housing schemes and proper residential complexes that promises beautiful landscaping and recreational facilities in the form of a Club House. The community centre in the township is nothing compared to the club houses that these developers are creating. Yes, education has a positive side within the Mathura Refinery Nagar – it has a Delhi Public School along with the Kendriya Vidyalaya, where the children of the people working at the refinery easily get quality education. But if work at the refinery gets affected, then sending students to the posh DPS would perhaps no longer be an option, a worry that resonates within the families there.

When Nehru had envisaged that the navratnas of India would help develop townships that would be akin to temples of modern India, he had not thought that for some few of these townships, time could well stop once they were made. It is surprising that for a company as gargantuan and process driven as IOC, a township’s structured development could have been ignored for so long. I returned with a view quite depressing, if not forlorn altogether, that a Nehru’s temple, this surely wasn’t.