An environmental report on the affects construction of the athletes village will have on the Yamuna River is now before the courts.

Hooper, who is in India, says although the courts are involved, construction actually hasn't been halted.

However he says with 2 years until the games take place in October 2010, any attempt to alter plans now would seriously jepordise the games.... and they have taken the issue up with the Indian government.....

Kerala now becomes the third southern state with Karnataka and Andra Pradesh having already hosted the National Games before.

Incidentally, ice-skating has been included as part of the National Games and Kerala will have the chance of hosting the discipline for the first time in 2010.

As per the MoU, Kerala is expected to raise infrastructure by March 2010 in three important places of Kerala-Kochi, Thiruvananthapuram and Calicut - before conducting the Games later that year.

''This opportunity of hosting the Games will provide Kerala to come up on the national scene in a big way once again,'' Kalmadi said.

The Youth Games are commencing at Pune on 12 October and will continue till 18 October while the XIX Commonwealth Games are to be held at New Delhi from 3 to 14 October 2010.

The information and broadcasting ministry today has received approval of the Cabinet Committee of Economic Affairs for expenditure of this sum for the coverage of the two sporting events.

Prasar Bharati through Doordarshan and All India Radio is the host Broadcaster of both the Games.

Meanwhile, the Union Cabinet today approved the release of additional funds of Rs 435 million to the Organising Committee for the conduct of the Commonwealth Youth Games, thus raising the total to Rs 1.10 billion. This is in addition to the funds made available by Government of India for City and Sports infrastructure to the funds given by the Maharashtra Government for Pune for the Commonwealth Youth Games.

The Government had earlier approved an expenditure budget of Rs 7.67 billion as a loan to the Committee of Commonwealth Games for conduct of Commonwealth Games 2010 and Commonwealth Youth Games, out of which a budget of Rs 665 million was for the conduct of Commonwealth Youth Games.

The Committee has since presented revised estimates for the Commonwealth Youth Games.

The Commonwealth Youth Games will be held in eight disciplines: Athletics; Badminton; Boxing; Shooting; Swimming; Table Tennis; Tennis; and Weightlifting.

While addressing a press conference in New Delhi on Thursday, he said, The necessary infrastructure needed for the New Delhi Games will be ready by 2009.

He further added that before the actual Games, trial events will be held to check the venues.

The 2010 Commonwealth Games are scheduled to be held in Delhi from October 3-14, 2010. This will be the largest multi-sport event conducted till date in Delhi and India generally, which has previously hosted the Asian Games in 1951 and 1982. The opening ceremony is scheduled to take place at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, New Delhi .

This is the first time the Commonwealth Games will be held in India, which will be the third developing country to host the event (after Jamaica in 1966 and Malaysia in 1998). This is the second time the event has been held in Asia (after 1998).

Doesn't this proud Indian seem a natural choice for composing the theme song for the 2010 Commonwealth Games? Rahman gives a knowing smile, and says, "I've already been approached by the sports ministry for this. In fact, I was just talking to Mr (Suresh) Kalmadi. I don't know for sure yet, but I might do something for the Commonwealth Games as well." Isn't this music to our ears?

Even as we're swaying to his tunes in Jodhaa Akbar and Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na , Rahman's gone ahead and done Danny Boyle's film, Slum Dog Millionaire, that premiered in the Toronto Film Festival to rave reviews. How does he keep churning music at this speed? "For Slum Dog Millionaire, I worked on the music and created it in one stretch. It was made very fast, I will not be surprised if it is the world's fastest music composition," smiles Rahman.

He is also maha excited about the track he has done for the marathon. "It is more of a background score, reflecting the joy and ecstasy of such an event. I have tried to make it sound innocent, to bring out the joy and euphoria of being a child. Sadly, then we all grow up and we lose this innocence. One day we all mature," says Rahman, his tone nostalgic.

"We are very serious about the event. All infrastructural works are running on time. I can assure you it would be ready by December 2009, after which we are planning some test events at the venues before staging the big show," Kalmadi told reporters in New Delhi.

The Commonwealth Games will be held in the capital in October, 2010. The IOA President is quite hopeful about India's medal prospects in the Commonwealth Games, coming in the backdrop of the commendable performance in the Beijing Olympics.

But he feels scientific training programme should be put in place for that to happen. "We could win bagful of medals in 2010 Commonwealth. Our athletes are working under foreign coaches and having scientific training as well, which is very important," Kalmadi said.

He also urged corporate houses to come forward and lend their support to help promote Olympics sports. "I think, every corporate house should adopt one discipline and give the players much-needed support," Kalmadi added.

Kalmadi conceded that the IOA had proposed cricket for the Games during the bidding process, but stressed that he was not for it personally. "Personally, I wouldn't be in favour of bringing cricket to the Commonwealth Games," Kalmadi told journalists.

He agreed that cricket is a good game, but felt that if included it would divert attention from all regular events at the Commonwealth Games.

The IOA president said India was all set to bid for 2020 Olympic Games in Delhi, following what he predicted would be a good display at the 2010 Commonwealth Games.

After the success of Indian players in the Beijing Olympics, Kalmadi said Indian sports was going through good times.

The government's announcement of Rs 700 crore for training Indian players for the Commonwealth Games would encourage many to try and win medals for the country, he said.

The meeting was attended by Commonwealth Games special advisor R. Narainswami, chief minister's principal secretary P.K. Tripathi, education secretary Reena Ray and eminent personalities in the field of dance, culture, music and theatre.

Several Delhi government officials had visited Beijing during the 2008 Olympic games for studying preparations.

The programmes would be organised at different venues in the capital during the Games in October 2010.

"There would be main cultural events on opening and closing days. The city government would organise cultural evenings comprising of dance, music, folk and modern music, screening of films and puppet shows for visitors and players at different venues in the capital," said a Delhi government spokesman.

The chief minister requested eminent cultural personalities to prepare a list of venues and details of programmes to be organised.

"The various venues discussed include Nehru Park, Connaught Place central park, Red Fort, Old Fort, Firoz Shah Kotla, Ravindra Bhawan, Humayun's tomb, Safdarjang tomb, India Gate and the Games village," the spokesman added.

State-owned India Tourism Development Corp. Ltd (ITDC) has embarked on a makeover worth Rs170 crore at more than half of its 15 properties ahead of the 2010 Commonwealth Games in New Delhi, a senior executive said.

Renovation at ITDC's flagship hotel, The Ashok, and its other two properties, Samrat Hotel and Hotel Janpath in the city include doing up the interiors and rooms, cobbled drive-ins, the presence of exclusive brands, new-age restaurants, spas and a digital art gallery. The three hotels have around 1,000 rooms.

"The focus of the entire renovation and upgradation drive is the 2010 Commonwealth Games. We will transform the three hotels into a food and beverages as well as a culture hub," said Sudhir Sibal, vice-president (hotels) at ITDC, adding that the company was looking for private partners to drive the initiative.

The private partnerships ITDC is forging includes a tie-up with restaurateur A.D. Singh, who runs the Olive bar and restaurant here and in Mumbai.

Hotel Janpath, he added, will open a restaurant with fashion designer Rohit Bal. Singh said the outlet would be a lounge bar, to be opened in partnership with Bollywood actor Arjun Rampal and not branded Olive. Bal said his outlet would focus on Mediterranean cuisine.

Sibal said Hotel Janpath will be rebranded as a spa hotel, with 40 spa rooms of its total 210, and a seafood restaurant added at the property on one of the Capital's main streets.

ITDC expects to lease space for the restaurant by end-September to the likes of Trishna, or Mahesh Lunch Home, popular seafood eateries in Mumbai. "We have heard from Janpath hotel late last week and if the proposal is good, we would like to come to Delhi," said Praful Takle, manager at Trishna in Colaba, Mumbai. Mahendra Karkera, proprietor of Mahesh Lunch Home, who was travelling in London, was unreachable for comment.

Delhi chief secretary Rakesh Mehta, principal secretary (education and culture) Rina Ray and some health officials left for a sixday trip to the Chinese capital to study the arrangements so the experience could be replicated in Delhi.

Joint commissioner of police (traffic) S.N. Shrivastava was also supposed to join the team of Delhi government officials, but was held back in the city because of Independence Day preparations.

He will visit the city August-end.

Not just government and police officials, Delhi Mayor Arti Mehra is also flying off to Beijing to be a part of the `Observer Programme' during the next Olympic Games. The organising committee of the Commonwealth Games Delhi 2010 is conducting this observer programme.

The Beijing Olympic Games is the only mega sporting event before the commencement of the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi in October.

Mehra was selected by the chairman of the organising committee of the Commonwealth Game to participate in the Observer Programme for Beijing Olympics.

"Come out and play" is what Delhi is going to exhort you, and the world to do, in about 800 days from now, when the games kick off.

Delhi will be a clean city, a green city, a street-scaped city (a new buzz word in the Delhi secretariat) embellished with street furniture, signages and lots of green cover.

Its games infrastructure will be overhauled and it will boast a prestigious commonwealth games village, flanked by the Akshardham temple on one side and the Yamuna river on the other.

There are no easy estimates of what the city is spending on itself since it is being funneled through various ministries at the Centre, and at the state level. One "conservative" estimate given by the Delhi government is Rs 65,000 crore, of which over half is for the new power plants that are in the offing.

Kalmadi, also the Commonwealth Games Organising Committee chairman, reiterated that the preparations are on schedule.

"We are bang on schedule and all the infrastructure development would be over by December 2009," Kalmadi said. The IOA chief also oozed confidence on India winning the bid to host the 2020 Olympics.

"The bid will be decided in 2013 and I think we are well on course to showcasing ourselves as a good venue to host the Olympics," he said.

Kalmadi said the first step towards showcasing India as a world-class venue was the Commonwealth Youth Games scheduled from October 12 to 18 in Pune.

"The Youth Games are a build-up to CWG 2010 which are just 800 days away. This will be the third edition of the Youth Games but it is for the first time that all the Commonwealth countries have confirmed participation," he said.

The previous two editions of the Youth Games were held in England and Australia and not even half of the Commonwealth nations participated in them.

The Pune Games will be the biggest in terms of participation with over 1300 athletes competing in nine disciplines - Athletics, Badminton, Boxing, Shooting, Swimming, Table Tennis, tennis, Weightlifting and Wrestling.

And in an initiative to take the Games to all parts of the country, the organisers have planned a 74-day Baton Relay, first ever in the Games, starting August 1.

The relay will cover nine states, 199 cities and cover a distance of 8000 kms and the baton will be carried through to Pune by 6000 athletes and 7500 volunteers.

The relay would be flagged off from the capital at the Delhi University.

"Pune has everything ready and rest assured it will be a very successful Games. The city has all the infrastructure in place," assured Kalmadi.

Kalmadi said the Pune Games would be promoted as Green Games and the baton will be used to collect water from every city that it would travel.

On reaching Pune, the collected water from the Indian cities would be added to the water brought from the other 71 nations to create a 'Fountain of Youth'.

VISITORS AND JOBS

• India's share of international tourist arrivals expected to triple to 1.5 per cent in 2010 from the current0.52 per cent
  
• Receipts from inbound tourists expected to rise to $18 billion from around $7 billion at present. * It is expected that the tourism sector would generate 4.5 crore jobs by 2010, up from 4.2 crore now.

• Infrastructure projects including airport facilities, road separators, flyovers and bridges are being built under public-private partnerships.
  
• Delhi and NCR are estimated to need 70,000 additional rooms by 2010, and requires special land allotment.

• The Union Budget for 2008/09 proposed to increase the provision for tourist infrastructure from Rs.423 crore in 200607 to Rs 520 crore in 2007-08 and Rs 624 crore in 2008-09.
  
• The Budget also set apart Rs 150 crore for the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports and Rs 350 crore for the Delhi government for the Games.

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, though belatedly, gave its approval to the Rs 678 crore fund required for the preparation of the Indian contingent for the 2010 Commonwealth Games. The money would go into the training of around 1,286 elite sportspersons in 18 disciplines for the mega-event.

The main objective of the fund, which will be given for the next three years, is to improve India's competitiveness in international sports and to enhance the medals tally in major international events particularly the Commonwealth Youth Games this year and the Commonwealth Games.

It will also aim to institutionalise a system for preparation of elite sportspersons for prestigious international competitive events, which would among other things, also include qualifying championships for major international events.

The scheme comprises following three main components:

(i) Comprehensive and intensive training and exposure (both in India and abroad) of 305 days in a year to 1286 elite sportspersons (medal probables) in 18 disciplines of the Commonwealth Games.

(ii) Upgradation of 10 centres of the SAI to international standards to cater to the training requirements of the elite sportspersons.

(iii) Procurement of sports science/medical equipment for equipping SAI centres with latest state-of-the-art facilities to cater to the sport science backup/medical facilities of the elite sportspersons.

Visitors to the Commonwealth Games 2010 will be accommodated in the hostel rooms of Delhi University (DU), Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) and Jamia Milla Islamia (JMI) and students from these varsities will be engaged in various Games-related duties.

The Tourism Ministry on the other hand will help University authorities run these hostels during the entire period of the Commonwealth Games.

According to the Ministry, Delhi could face the challenge of accommodating sportspersons and visiting people. The expected shortage of number of rooms can go upto 6,000 during the games. Therefore, Delhi would need at least 30,000 rooms for accommodating visitors.

Delhi on the other side will also need 11,000 hotel rooms with a provision for another 13,000 rooms before the Commonwealth Games starts.

Sports Minister M.S. Gill has requested the Tourism Ministry to discuss the plan with related ministries saying that, "It would be a new gift to students."

A committee formed for the Commonwealth Games 2010 includes Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit and Indian Olympic Association president Suresh Kalmadi.