India's actual shame

Raja Murthy writing in Asia Times Online thinks that the India's real Commonwealth Games shame isn't the less-than-spotless room or unfinished facilities, but in the wasted money in a country where the poor and needy are still very poor and very needy.

Well, anyone worried that the Commonwealth Games is a disastrous waste of money, should try this for size. Yes, India has started building a massive centralized database, holding the details of 1.2 billion people. Biometrics will, apparently, render the massive scheme foolproof. Making this dream / nightmare- a reality will be the responsibility of something called the Unique Identification Authority of India, headed by the founder of India's second-largest outsourcing company.

I haven't checked where the Unique Identification Authority is based but, personally, I think Calcutta would be an appropriate location for UIAI HQ. Wherever it is, the rest of the world will soon be able to watch in horror as billions of rupees are sucked into the new Black Hole of Calcutta (or wherever) until the whole juggernaut collapses under the sheer weight of its own stupidity. If anybody in India ever reads this, please go to the No2ID site to check out why this was a very, very bad idea in the UK and ask yourself why such a scheme would work any better in a vastly more populous country...