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Charity was a religious duty in India
In ancient India it was an obligatory religious duty to serve food to the begging students and sadhus and to the Brahmanas.
Hindus believe that serving food to the poor and the needy, to the pious and the religious and to the birds, insects and animas is a very good karma. Rig Veda says
"I speak the truth, it is indeed his death. He who nourishes neither the god nor a friend, he who eats alone, gathers sin. (Rig Veda X. 117) "
The Jainas deservedly possess a reputation for charities, which annually amount to several millions.
The money, however, are either wasted or ill-invested in misdirected charities. Real service of humanity, or of our community,
forms no substantial, important or reckonable item in the routine of charities. There are very few schools or Hostels or hospitals for poor
and the money spent for them is negligible where a large amount is mis-spent every year in the name of
religion. Much spiritual benefit, mahan punya, would accrue from a
practice of charity, which are mentioned in our spiritual texts.
Charity is a social obligation
Charity is a social obligation and should not view to gain honour, position and
worship but only from a sense of duty. When a person needs anything which you possess, and you gladly give it to him without the desire of receiving any service from him in return,
you do an act of service (charity) to the huminity.
Do not feel proud by doing an act of Charity service
and do not advertise your service. Charity to elders, to aged men, to widows, to house holders suffering from poverty, to the humble and distressed, to persons
suffering from disease, to creatures without any protectors, are matters of supreme dharma (duty). It should be considered a
great service to humanity and society to serve such people. The person who give charity to indigent, helpless, poor and diseased, the more he should be treated as an object of
true consideration. show him respect Charity leads to purification of the heart, and pure and true service can be rendered when the heart is pure.
If the charity you have done tends to make you proud, remember the services of those who are much superior to you in the the line of service.
Aprigrha or not to accumulate more things than are necessary is a great service to society.
Earning wealth through virtuous and honorable means, to employ it in the service of the poor is a great service to society.
Where are India's great philanthropists?
Once Congress Party leader Sonia Gandhi asked the question that
has been on mind since I came to India, where are its great philanthropists? How can a country with so much wealth, technical know-how
and management talent give so little back to its own people? At a gathering attended by Bill Gates, she said: “Yours is an example that we in
India ought to emulate. We have in our country a long but uneven tradition of philanthropy.”
Referring to Sir Ratan Tata’s foundation to study poverty and campaign for its eradication in 1912, she said: “There are other examples of Foundations set up
by various Indian business houses. Many of them command resources. But it must
be said that we are yet to produce a truly visionary contemporary philanthropist….Today, when we can proudly affirm that there is almost nothing
that anyone else is doing around the world that we in India cannot do, you have set us a challenge.” |
Azim Premji, the promoter of Wipro Ltd,
donated a whopping Rs 8,800 crore to a philanthropic foundation named after him earlier this month.
Bill Gates.
Shiv Nadar of HCL |
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India has history of philanthropy
Business historian Gita Piramal stressed cultural issues as well. “From the Tatas, Birlas, Bajajs, Dalmia, Jalans, Modis, Mittals, Singhanias,
to small businessmen, India has a long history of philanthropy. But unlike in the West, donations here are largely given silently.”
About two-thirds of Tata Sons, the Tata Group’s holding company, is owned by
various Tata trusts that use the money to fund educational, medical and other
charities. The Birlas, likewise, run large religious, educational and medical charities across the country without much fanfare.
And though Tata Group chairman Ratan Tata announced a $50-million (Rs 230
crore) endowment for Harvard University, to which Mahindra & Mahindra vice-chairman
Anand Mahindra had earlier given $10 million (Rs 46 crore) and several others are doing their bit for the less privileged within India also, the proportions
are still miles short of what the Buffett-Gates campaign wants the rich to do. In China, where the socio-cultural context is somewhat similar to (but not the
same as) India, there were reports that many Chinese
Philanthropic campaign in USA
Seventeen U.S. billionaires, including Facebook founder Mark
Zuckerberg, have joined other wealthy American in pledging to give away at least half their fortunes as part of a
philanthropic campaign by two of the world's richest men -- Warren Buffett and Bill Gates.
A total of 57 billionaires now have joined The Giving Pledge, which was
launched by Microsoft founder Gates and investor Buffett in June. The campaign announced the new pledges in a statement in 2010.
The campaign asks U.S. billionaires to give away at least half their wealth during their lifetime or after their death, and to publicly state their intention with a letter explaining their decision.
In addition to Zuckerberg, the new group of billionaires taking the pledge includes AOL co-founder Steve Case, financier Carl Icahn and Michael
Milken, the former Wall Street executive who went to prison for securities violations.
Philanthropy in India now
The number of wealthy Indians has been rising fast over the last decade, but they're not ready yet to let go of their hard-earned cash, even for charity,
according to a study by business consultancy Bain & Co. The number of so-called "high net worth individuals" in India has grown at about
11 percent every year since 2000, possibly the fastest pace in the world, to
more than 115,000 now. Two industrialists, Reliance Industries' Mukesh Ambani and Lakshmi Mittal, are
among the five wealthiest individuals in the world, according to Forbes magazine.
But when it comes to giving away money, India's rich are not very keen on
loosening their purse-strings. Charitable giving in India probably totalled about $7.5 billion in 2009,
according to the study by Bain & Co, equivalent to about 0.6 percent of the
country's GDP. In fact, the wealthiest social class has the lowest level of giving, just 1.6 percent of household income,
which palls when compared to billionaire investor Warren Buffett, who has given away some 82 percent of his net worth.
India now has as many as 52 billionaires in the Forbes magazine’s global rich
list. The Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) 200 companies collectively earned a net profit
of Rs. 213,668 crore in 2009, zooming up from Rs. 33,906 crore in 2000. But charity figures are negligible.
A report by Bain & Company on philanthropy suggests that India lags
significantly behind developed nations in this department. While India’s charity
contributions account for only 0.6 per cent of the GDP, it is as high as 2.2 per cent in the US and 1.3 per cent in the UK.
Only 10 per cent of India’s charity funds comes from individuals and corporates. The government accounts for 65 per cent the overseas aid agencies the rest. A
Bain survey showed rich individuals contribute just 0.25 per cent of their net
worth to charity. Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) say corporate social responsibility (CSR) in India is largely an eyewash.
New change
Azim Premji, the promoter of Wipro Ltd, donated a whopping Rs 8,800 crore to a philanthropic foundation named after
him earlier this month. The money would be used for promoting education, mainly in Karnataka. The foundation has so far focused on
education of children from underprivileged sections and has covered more than 20,000 schools in a number of states. Azim Premji act
arises out of a deep sense of responsibility for the society that he lives in.
Ajay Piramal's Piramal Healthcare is going to spend up to Rs 200 crore in charity, focussed on the healthcare and education
space. This is by far the largest Corporate Social Responsibility investment being made by a pharma company in India.
Sunil Mittal have set up charitable foundations, and Vineet
Nayyar, head of software firm Tech Mahindra recently gifted a third of his shares to another charity.
The high networth individuals are increasingly looking to give a part of their earnings back to the society. Many prefer to
donate through a non-governmental organisation or a foundation. However, some, especially the younger entrepreneurs, don’t want to
restrict this to plain chequebook philanthropy and want to see a greater impact of their dollar investments.
“Impact investment” —an embryonic market in which investors aim to achieve positive social or environmental
gains — is beginning to emerge as a separate asset class and should be treated as such.”
Four Indians named among Asian Heroes of Philanthropy
Forbes Asia on June 26, 2011 announced its 'Heroes of Philanthropy' list for
the fourth year running, with four Indians among the top 48 philanthropists. Giving poor children access to education is a top
priority for Indian philanthropists, said Forbes. Billionaire Shiv Nadar
of HCL Technologies takes the brightest children from the poorest villages of rural India and sends
them to boarding school, noted Forbes.
Another tycoon, India's biggest philanthropist Azim Premji of
Wipro, transferred nearly $ 2 billion of his wealth last December to an irrevocable trust that focuses on education and children's health and nutrition.
Infrastructure-based GMR Group founder Grandhi Mallikarjuna Rao, 61,
pledged $ 340 million in March, his 12.5 per cent personal stake in the business and one-eighth of his family's share, through an irrevocable
endowment to the GMR Varalakshmi Foundation. It works primarily to educate and train poor youths in 20 locations in
India and two in Nepal. Rao started his philanthropy early in career, when he ran a small business and built a school.
Bollywood actor Vivek Oberoi leverages on his star power to give back
through his foundation. The 34-year old has donated $ 3 million to date and helped raise $ 25 million to support education, health and disaster relief.
Four philanthropists were picked from each of the 12 markets in the
region, making it a total of 48 being celebrated this year, Forbes said. |
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