People must pitch in

The Delhi government has said: read my lips, a few more taxes. And it's justified its budget, which also includes an LPG subsidy withdrawal, by saying incoming revenue would go into building infrastructure for the Commonwealth Games (CWG). Tomorrow other state CMs may follow Sheila Dikshit's lead, calling on taxpayers to help develop cities hosting prestigious tournaments. What's wrong with that? It's argued that outlays already exist for sporting events and governments should stick to budgets. That makes no allowances for the fact human institutions aren't perfect. Households and businesses often don't live and trade within their means. Why should it be different for governments?

In an ideal world, the authorities would never exceed spending estimates nor ask the public to pitch in when calculations go awry. But, in reality, the best-laid plans can be marred by unforeseen circumstances, such as a slowdown impacting tax collections or building activity. As for poor planning and project delays, let's not be naive. In India, that's par for the course. If ports and airports modernisation or road and highway building can take decades, not just years, why single out CWG's run-up? Staging sporting dos is a challenge not only in the developing world. Other nations have learnt this the hard way, like Greece with the Athens Olympics or the US with the Atlanta edition.

The aam aadmi is the ultimate beneficiary of the work his political representatives do, such as creating good civic amenities. Don't Delhiites still enjoy the fruits of the development and beautification drive that took place before the Asiad? The same applies to CWG: we'll access better roads, flyovers, transportation, parks, stadiums, hotels and upgraded facilities like road signs and streetlights. Surely we're all stakeholders here. We often talk about desired community participation in India's development. So why make a ruckus when asked to put our money where our mouth is?