After two years in waiting the Indian Grand prix finally happened over the weekend. It was an amazing spectacle to watch an event like this happen back at home. The race did not have any great surprises or twists and was almost bordering on boredom like the last 3-4 races, but the excitement that it was happening in India remained throughout the race. Getting F1 to India had been on the talks for more than 4-5 years now and finally to see the auto majors burn rubber on Indian asphalt was really awesome. India had already spoiled its name in its preparations for the CWG 2010 and this event was being watched closely by the international community, I think this time, we conducted the event without any major gripes.
Having said all this, F1 has always been one of the most costliest sport to conduct and take part. The race was entirely organized by the Corporate India and is a major success, but there is flip side to this. There are few questions which remains to be answered, how does this help the nation apart from proving India's capability to conduct big events? How does this help India economically? I know this event will provide investment opportunities but is it really worth the amount spent (initial estimates ping the construction cost of the track alone to Rs1700 Crores)? Many skeptics believe this amount could have been better utilized and also the land on which this entire track was build is prime farm land. Ofcourse the farmers were compensated appropriately, but who is going to support them at a long run? I am not taking sides here, I feel elated to see F1 happen in India but at the same time, I am not sure if it will help our economy or our country in anyway apart from putting India in the F1 map. But there is one particular trend that is alarming, the parity between the rich and poor seems to grow and this doesn't seem to change course at any time in the near future.
Having said all this, F1 has always been one of the most costliest sport to conduct and take part. The race was entirely organized by the Corporate India and is a major success, but there is flip side to this. There are few questions which remains to be answered, how does this help the nation apart from proving India's capability to conduct big events? How does this help India economically? I know this event will provide investment opportunities but is it really worth the amount spent (initial estimates ping the construction cost of the track alone to Rs1700 Crores)? Many skeptics believe this amount could have been better utilized and also the land on which this entire track was build is prime farm land. Ofcourse the farmers were compensated appropriately, but who is going to support them at a long run? I am not taking sides here, I feel elated to see F1 happen in India but at the same time, I am not sure if it will help our economy or our country in anyway apart from putting India in the F1 map. But there is one particular trend that is alarming, the parity between the rich and poor seems to grow and this doesn't seem to change course at any time in the near future.
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