Delhi Metro to Carry 1 billion riders in 7yrs

Delhi Metro, which is fast becoming capital’s lifeline as its network expands, has ferried over one billion passengers, which is about the population of the entire country. The MRTS system is on expansion mode before the Commonwealth Games and new lines are going to be opened now every other month taking the Metro to south Delhi, east Delhi, Gurgaon, Ghaziabad and Airport.
‘‘With the massive expansion in the last seven years, the number of people who have availed Delhi Metro services till date touched a record 1,014,955,894 on Thursday,’’ said a DMRC spokesperson.

On November 24, Delhi Metro recorded its highest-ever ridership during the India International Trade Fair (IITF) when about 10.29 lakh commuters used the services on a single day. As ridership are far exceeding DMRC’s own projects — over 1 lakh commuters are using the Noida line on date as against the projection of about 53,000 commuters for 2012, the problem of crowding in trains is becoming more and more acute.

Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) officials say that new trains are coming, and from now, a new train will be inducted into the system every fortnight. Already, DMRC has got about 17 train sets of four coaches each for broad gauge and another 10 trains for standard gauge. The total order is for 131 trains which will all be delivered before 2010 end.

Delhi Metro began its journey on December 25, 2002 on a small 8.5 km stretch between Shahdara and Tis Hazari. The initial daily ridership was just about 35,000 passengers. At present, the network is about 90 km long and this will increase further as more lines get commissioned for Phase II, which is nearing completion. The average daily ridership stands at about nine lakh passengers daily.

Tribal archers target Commonwealth Games

The dusky girl with a fetching dimple from Ratu village near Ranchi is barely 16 - and an ace archer. Meet Deepika Kumari, who won the gold medal in the cadet (junior) category at the World Archery Youth Championships at Ogden in the US in 2009. She is a product of the Tata Archery Academy that has produced many champions over the years.


Deepika trains for more than nine hours a day. She is preparing for the Commonwealth Games 2010 and the Asian Games thereafter at the sprawling Tata Archery Academy here.

The academy's alumnus boasts of names like Dola Banerjee, the 2007 World Cup gold winner, Rahul Banerjee, the 2008 World Cup gold winner and Jayanta Talukdar, the 2006 World Cup gold winner. Its archers have won 753 national medals and 169 international medals.

'I was a little scared while competing in the US, but my coach Purnima Mahto gave me the courage. I am confident of making it to the Indian team at the Commonwealth Games as well as the Asian Games, which is scheduled soon after the Commonwealth Games,' Deepika Kumari told IANS in between her morning practice session.

Deepika's inspiration is Arjuna awardee Jayanta Talukdar, another Tata Academy fellow, who ranked world number one in July 2009.

The academy has put together a team of four men and four women archers for selection to the Commonwealth Games and Asian Games contingents.

The Tata Archery Academy, an integral part of the Tata Steel's sports department - one of the company's primary Corporate Social Responsibility component - was set up in 1996 to train and promote local archers from villages in Jharkhand, Orissa, Chhattisgarh, where the company has its mines and industries. It later spread its wings countrywide to handpick tribal talent for its four-year residential course.

Tata Steel was conferred the Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puruskar by the president of India in 2009 for its contribution to sports.

The archery academy currently has 21 cadets between 13 and 18 years - 12 girls and nine boys - who stay at the academy, train and study in the local school. Most of them are from poor families in the villages, the cost of their training, stay, education, equipment and exposure at different tournaments around the world is borne by the company.

'It took us a decade to hone our archers to win laurels at the international level. This region is a treasure house of archery talent because the local ethnic people have been using bow and arrows for centuries,' coach Purnima Mahto told IANS.

Located on a landscaped stretch at the mammoth GRD Tata Sports Complex in the city- the academy comprises a huge training range that offers 'targets' between 30 metres to 90 metres distance - which are the Federation of International Archers' (FITA) distance stipulation.

'Archers have to prove their aim in four distance categories - 30 metres, 50 metres, 60-70 metres and 90 metres. While for girls, the distance cap is 70 metres, for boys, it's 90 metres,' coach Dharmendra Tiwari told IANS.

The academy also has a hostel for the cadets, two state-of-the-art gyms, a swimming pool, meditation and yoga centre and a stadium (with 40,000 seats) with a synthetic track where the archers train for 'strength, agility and mind powers'.

'Besides, we also conduct regular counselling and motivation sessions, draw up special diet charts, hire foreign coaches (mostly from South Korea) and send our cadets abroad for training. The performance of each cadet is reviewed. Sometimes, we even weed out cadets if they fail to perform,' Captain Amitabh, head of the Tata Steel sports department, told IANS.

Foreign training helps, says national champion Atanu Das, a cadet from Kolkata, 'who went to (South) Korea for training from the TAA'.

The academy has four feeder centres in the Tata Steel mines located in the tribal interiors, from where it sources local talent.

'Besides, we also pick up talent from the SAIL Archery Academy in Kiriburu, the Ekalavya Academy (run by the state government at Kharsawan in East Singhbhum) and from around the states. We also have a former archery champion V.V.S.N. Rao, who advises us on strategies,' Amitabh said.

The training is gruelling. 'Archers begin their day with a four-hour morning training at 8.30 a.m. followed by an afternoon session at 3 p.m. Night training begins at 6 p.m. They practise with imported bows and the standard set of 144 arrows. It is interspersed with strength and mind training and regular studies. Education is important to help the archers communicate and improve IQ,' Purnima Mahto said.

Coach Rupesh Singh monitors the practice sessions with a laptop. He records the speed and target range of the cadets every day and maintains 'flow charts of their progress'.

The academy also sets target scores for probable champions that can fetch them medals.

Rimil Biruly, a local archer who won a bronze in the 2009 World Cup in Turkey, told IANS: 'I will make it to both the Commonwealth and the Asian Games squads. I did not know anything about archery till 2004 when I joined the Jharkhand Academy Association. I was later picked by the Tata Archery Academy, which has given me edge and confidence.'

Bolt to participate in 2010 Commonwealth Games: Kalmadi

Triple Olympic gold medallist sprinter Usain Bolt will take part in the 2010 Commonwealth Games in New Delhi, Organising Committee Chairman Suresh Kalmadi said.



Addressing a Sports Breakfast on the sidelines of Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), Kalmadi said Bolt will be the start attraction in the October 3-14 muliti-sport event being hosted by India for the first time.

Kalmadi said the preparations for the Games are on track and the process to hand over stadia will start in January and everything will be in place by May, five months ahead of the multi-sport event.

He also reaffirmed the commitment to hold the best ever Commonwealth Games that will have focus on environment.

"These will be the first ever green Games ... become the benchmark for all multi-disciplinary games in future. These will be the best ever Games," said Kalmadi who outlined the preparations along with Sports Secretary Sindushree Khullar.

The first stadium to be handed over to the Organising Committee will be Dhyan Chand Stadium, which will host hockey competitions.

Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, the venue for the opening and closing ceremonies of the Games on October 3 and October 14 respectively, besides the track and field events will be handed over by May.

With regard to traffic problems, Khullar said elaborate and meticulous plans are being worked out by the Delhi Traffic Police and athletes will be ferried in a dedicated lane.

Also, the Delhi government will declare a holiday on October 14, for the closing ceremony, to reduce traffic on roads, said Khullar, who gave a detailed presentation outlining the progress made on various aspects of the Games.

October 3 is a Sunday and less traffic is expected any way, Khullar said.

Delhi Police will also be appealing to most of the offices to shut down on October 14, she said.

Begging to be caught

More than two months after Delhi authorities launched mobile courts to convict and remove beggars from the capital’s streets, the controversial initiative has made a faltering start.



On a recent trip with police officers through the chaotic streets of Old Delhi, the difficulties for the anti-begging teams trying to get Delhi ready for the Commonwealth Games next year were plain to see.

The simple idea is that police nab the beggars and bring them before a judge on a bus which accompanies the officers. If convicted, they are sent off to “rehabilitation centres”.

In his khaki uniform, SK Tyagi and three colleagues are on the frontline in a fight pitting the force of the law against the force of numbers.

One campaign group estimates there are 200,000 beggars on the streets of New Delhi.

“They’re beggars, but they’re too old,” Tyagi said, pointing to two old women with grey hair and dirty clothes as he picked his way through rickshaws, cars, crowds and overloaded trucks in the dust and noise of Old Delhi.

The two women he had identified ducked into the darkness of an adjacent sidestreet off the main Chandni Chowk thoroughfare.

The team of police officers next tried their luck at a nearby Sikh temple - religious sites being a favoured spot for beggars.

A elderly, bearded man with bare feet sat at the entrance.

“He hasn’t got his hand out, so we can’t stop him,” said Usha Rani, the only woman in the team, whose exasperated tone suggested the complications of her mission were not lost on her.

A little further on, the roaming team found someone who looked like he might fit their strict criteria - aged about 40, he was holding out his hand to indifferent passersby while sitting on a filthy straw mattress.

But after closer examination, it was another false start.

“It’s a leper,” said Tyagi, who explained that they didn’t want ill people.

As he spoke, a group of children could be seen tugging at the clothes of Western tourists asking for coins in full view of the police.

According to Tyagi, they were not arresting children either, mainly because the judge did not have the legal power to convict minors.

In the end, the mobile court parked a short distance away saw no action.

One government official, speaking on condition of anonymity, conceded the futility of a fight with limited resources against the tide of beggars.

Rights groups have already attacked the government’s attitude to beggars ahead of the Commonwealth Games, which run from October 3 - 14, 2010, saying prosecuting them does nothing to solve the underlying problem of poverty.

According to a World Bank report, 42 per cent of India’s nearly 1.2 billion population falls below the international poverty line of $1.25 a day.

“We can’t really do much with two mobile courts for the whole city,” admitted the government official.

In a city of 16 million people, only eight police officers and two judges have been assigned to the mobile courts, which are set to function for the next 12 months.

According to the local government, 70 beggars have been arrested since the start of the operation, most of them men from poor Indian states.

If it is their first offence, those convicted are expected to spend between one and three years in a rehabilitation centre where they are supposed to learn a profession, such as plumbing or carpentry.

Repeat offenders can be sentenced to up to ten years in these special institutions, which separate men, women, children and the handicapped.

Commonwealth Games 2010: Cos on fast track to ink sponsorships

NTPC, Hero Honda Motors, Samsung, Coca-Cola and Standard Chartered Bank are among the companies close to signing sponsorship deals for
the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi.

The organising committee for the Games is targeting total sponsorship to the tune of Rs 1,330 crore and negotiations are in final stages, A K Mattoo, treasurer of the panel, told SundayET. “Among these companies, so far NTPC has committed the maximum sum. We have firmed up nearly Rs 250 crore,” he said.

The sponsorship contracts will allow companies mileage marketing opportunities for their brands at stadiums, the Games village and the official website. The categories of sponsors include lead partners, partners, sponsors, co-sponsors and suppliers. While the lead partner will pitch in with Rs 100 cr, the partner would have to commit Rs 50 cr for the event. “We are looking at two lead partners and ten partners,” Mr Mattoo said.

Tata Group officials met members of the organising panel this week to discuss participation as a lead partner, persons aware of the development said. “It was an informal meeting,” an organizing committee official said.
Spokespersons for Samsung and StanChart declined to comment but other officials in both firms said sponsorship deals are under negotiation. Coca-Cola did not respond to an email.

A Hero Honda representative said the two-wheeler company was one of the largest corporate promoters of sports in India and had been actively promoting various disciplines of sports such as cricket, golf and hockey.

“This is an ongoing process at Hero Honda and we always keep looking for opportunities to further build on our long and fruitful association with sports. However, there is nothing specific for us to announce at this point of time.”

The organising panel had previously told the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) that its sponsorship consultant had got in touch with more than 70 companies and would conclude agreements by March next year. “The projection is to get Rs 960 cr from sponsors first, which will ensure games are on track to be revenue neutral. Due to the global slowdown, it has been a tall order to get sponsors,” Mr Mattoo said.

India promises best-ever and first 'Green' Commonwealth Games

Blending sports with climate change diplomacy, India Saturday said it will hold the first-ever Green Commonwealth Games in 2010 and the best-ever sporting show and underlined that the event will propel New Delhi to a world class city.

Suresh Kalmadi, chairman of the organizing committee of the 2010 Commonwealth Games, made the remarks at a 'sports breakfast' that the leaders and sports ministers of former British colonies attended.

The breakfast was held at the seaside Hotel Hyatt, where most of the world leades participating in the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) are staying.

Addressing the gathering, Kalmadi reaffirmed India's commitment to holding the best-ever Commonwealth Games and a unique event that will have environment and climate as its focus.

'We will hold the best ever Commonwealth Games and the first green Commonwealth Games,' Kalmadi told journalists here.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Friday made a vigorous pitch for 'equitable and balanced outcome' at the upcomming UN conference on climate change at Copenhagen during his intervention at a special session devoted to climate change at the CHOGM meeting.

'Environment today is a critical component. Recognising this, we will strive towards reducing the carbon footprint to hold the first-ever Green Commonwealth Games and thus become the benchmark for all multi-disciplinary games in the future,' Kalmadi said at the sports breakfast.

India will invest in green infrastructure, pro-active waste management, greening and green ceremonies, Kalmadi said.

Despite skepticism expressed by some about India's preparedness for holding such a mammoth sporting event, Kalmadi conjured a robust picture of the preparations for the Games.

There are always skeptics, but we have proved them wrong again and again, Kalmadi told IANS.

Outlining the detailed preparations for the Games and its expected spinoff for the Indian economy, Kalmadi said the mega sporting event will generate $4.5 billion for India in the 2008-2012 period.

It will create 2.5 million jobs and over 100,000 tourists are expected to visit India, Kalmadi said.

The Games will leave behind a great legacy for New Delhi and for India in the areas of civic and world class facilities, thus promoting Olympics sport in the country, he said.

Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister Patrick Manning, Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, Commonwealth Secretary General Kamalesh Sharma and Mike Fennel, president Commonwealth Games Federation, as also sports ministers from the Commonwealth countries, attended the sports breakfast.

India to spend $2 bln on Commonwealth Games

A total of two billion U.S. dollars is estimated to be spent on the Commonwealth Games that will be held in June 2010 in New Delhi, organizers said here on Saturday.

Sindhushree Khular, India's minister of youth, told reporters on the second day of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in the capital of Trinidad and Tobago that the budget was much larger than originally planned due to an expansion in the number of venues.

"The original budget estimate was low, the same thing that happened in Glasgow and in London," Kular said, referring to Glasgow's 2014 plan to host the Commonwealth Games and London's 2010 plan to host the Olympics.

"When we made the budget we thought there would be 10 functional areas. We now had to raise the number to 34."

India has not hosted a major sporting event since the Asian Games in 1982 and many of its venues need substantial upgrades to meet the Commonwealth Games standards.

The Indian government is funding the Commonwealth Games and will gain revenues from broadcasting rights sales and sponsorship, said Suresh Kalmadi, head of the Commonwealth Games Organizing Committee.

"Television sponsorship will double what we had originally expected," said Suresh.

"In order to achieve this, the Games will hold key events to match the time zone of their key audiences. Athletics events will be held in U.K. time for instance," he added.

Kalmadi also said that a successful Commonwealth Games could serve as a platform for a bid for the Olympic Games or soccer's World Cup.