The latest Forbes billionaires list is out. A mere 10 per cent return on the wealth of Indians in it would cover Health, Higher Education, MGNREGS and Handloom budgets for years and years.
Some suggestions for Bill Gates and Warren Buffet who plan to visit India and encourage philanthropy amongst India's super-rich.
Dear Bill & Warren,
Delighted to learn that you plan to tour India, among other countries, to inspire and ‘grow' the practice of ‘giving' among our super-rich. Indeed, to have them follow in your charitable footsteps and part with vast sums of their wealth as you have, for a good cause. This does get to be a bit of a problem with those for whom charity begins at home and stays there. And for a corporate world which Prime Minister Manmohan Singh concedes, (much like your own corporate world) suffers from a perceived ‘ethical deficit.' On the bright side, Dr. Singh's government also generously concedes billions of dollars in freebies each year to the ethically-challenged, doubtless to bridge that deficit. Close to $20 billion in corporate income tax write-offs in this year's budget alone. This offers your campaign a vantage point, surely. No need to ‘give-till-it-hurts' here. All that's been done with public revenue. Now they can give without hurting.
Moreover, your pal Steve Forbes has just brought out his new list which, taken together with our budget, lends powerful ammo to your proselytisation project. Stevie's list tells us India's billionaires have done us proud again. There are now 55 of them. That's more than last year despite a few unfortunate dropouts — Shahid Balwa of DB Realty among them — who have plunged into the misery of barren multi-millionairehood. And while China may have posted a list of 115 billionaires, theirs are mainly Little Leaguers, with an average net asset worth of no more than $2.5 billion. Way below our own $4.5 billion average. (It was over $6 billion in 2008, till those twits on Wall Street blew it). That places us above — and China below — the $3.7 billion global average net asset worth of these super-rich. And there is also our obvious moral superiority over the Russians who keep sending their billionaires (101 of them) to prison. We send ours to Parliament. And while China and Russia might have sneaked ahead of us on the numbers, we've knocked those Germans off their perch (52).
I'm eager to help with the planning of your trip. Let's start with the pre-visit homework. There are now 1,210 dollar billionaires on the planet, the Forbes list tells us. We don't believe this for a moment, though we agree it's a fun exercise to undertake each year. Our own number has to be much higher. But concealed income in India is so huge that it, firstly, denies a number of our billionaires due global recognition. Secondly, it leads to their being grossly undervalued. Anyway, 14 of those Indians whose wealth can be established in the 10-digit range occupy slots within the top 15 per cent of those 1,210 super-rich. The top seven of these make it within the first 100 of the Forbes list. And two — Mukesh Ambani and Lakshmi Mittal — make it to the list of the 10 richest men in the world. True, unlike both of you, swanking around at ranks two and three, they languish lower down at ranks six and nine. But we do have the policy structures in place to remedy that in a while.
The net asset worth of our boys (and three girls) is around $246.5 billion (Rs. 11,13,750 crore). This, of course, does not include unaccounted income, or stuff stashed away from public gaze. But even on this modest sum of wealth, let's assume they earn an equally modest annual return of 10 per cent. (Now we know that for the super-rich, anything less than 30 per cent's a joke, but let's just assume 10? At least as the part they will be persuaded to give away, by both of you.) Then you might want to glance at these humble calculations before you make it here to inspire ‘giving' among the Indian super-rich.
A return of 10 per cent on the declared wealth of Indian billionaires comes to over $24 billion (Rs. 1,11,375 crore). Let's recall for a moment that 836 million Indians live on a daily expenditure of less than 50 cents (Rs.20 or even much less). We might have clocked in fourth on the billionaire stakes, but in the share of poor people, those in hunger, those getting the lowest number of calories, fastest rising food prices — we're up there at the top of the world.
Well, the modest interest amount of $24 billion would easily cover the annual consumption expenditure of 150 million poor Indians. If the return on wealth was actually 20-30 per cent, then the numbers whose consumption could be taken care of each year would be twice or thrice as many.
Take our health budget — now around $6 billion (Rs.26, 897 crore) after Finance Minister Pranabda hiked it by 20 per cent over last year. That 10 per cent return on the wealth of the dollar billionaires — let's call them DB for short, a now familiar acronym that's almost a household word here — would cover that budget for four years at least. Or the health and higher education ($4.8 billion) budgets together for two years. On a return of just 10 per cent, that's a bargain. The more so when you consider that health and higher education budgets together are just a little more than half the nearly $20 billion (Rs. 88,263 crore) Pranabda is writing off in corporate income tax, apart from other freebies for struggling billionaires.
Now that $20 billion would run our Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme at present levels ($ 8.8 billion) for at least two years. But Pranabda probably realised, shrewdly, that a 10 per cent return on the wealth of the richest would provide over $24 billion — and provide that each year. Which means all three — health, higher education and rural employment programmes — could be run for many, many years (assuming the banks stay afloat). And there would a bit left over for covering budget allocations for sectors like Handlooms. Somewhere between five and ten million families with perhaps the finest weaving skills in the world, have to depend on a fraction of the $95 million (Rs. 431.61 crore) given to the handlooms sector in the present budget. Who knows we might even be able to cover the whole central Textile budget, a piffling $1.2 billion or Rs. 5,855.75 crore. (Come to think of it, the total value of our Flying Fifty Five at $246.5 billion is just a little short of the total expenditure proposed in our Central budget at $278 billion. But let's not go there just now).
Pranabda also probably knew that the two of you were coming down to persuade our guys to part with a fraction of their wealth for noble purposes. He's a wise man, our Finance Minister. I think he's also figured that if he could get 10 per cent of the interest on the funds the Indian super-rich have stashed away overseas, we could probably bridge our deficit as well. So he's thinking of offering them an amnesty on their little fiddles. That way we could access those funds painlessly. I can't help thinking you ought to meet Pranabda too, when you visit. Like both of you, he believes in persuasion and his skills in that direction are unique. He's working hard to ensure that the men you will persuade to ‘give,' accumulate more each year and thus have more to give. After all, more giving leads to more giving. He's also thoughtfully creating more hungry people they can help.
Looking forward to your visit and a year of giving.
Sainath
Keywords: Forbes billionaires list, MGNREGS
Some people asserting that the 'culture of govt. dependancy' needs to be overcome...I dont know why the governments are needed if not for the betterment of its people...Compare the government spending on social items like education, health, basic amenities of the capitalist countries to India..We dont spend penny compared to them, while our population is more than ten times of most of such countries..Regarding rich...i dont think any poor or middle class has money stashed in Swiss banks without paying the due taxes or i dont think most of us(poors/midle classes) go for buying groceries via Mauritus route...stop protecting or favoring rich...rich become rich only after exploitation. Also, some of us have misconceptions that having a few lakhs in their bank accounts make them member of the 'Rich Club'..Please learn 'how the world works'. This is the first..saying that our rich are not rich but their wealth is exaggerated by considering market capitalisation..The methodology of Forbes is given in their website.. Also i totally agree with Sainath..no billionaire would be having less that 10-30% retun on assets.(Mind you Forbes do consider debt while making the lists)
Just one example of the cluelessness rampant in this article: "Somewhere between five and ten million families with perhaps the finest weaving skills in the world, have to depend on a fraction of the $95 million (Rs. 431.61 crore) given to the handlooms sector in the present budget." So, the 'finest weavers in the world' are sitting on their butts and waiting for a handout 'given to handloom sector' from the Central govt budget?! Why not weave fine cloth and sell it for a living, so this culture of govt dependency is overcome? Mr. Sainath seems to have no idea how the world works or how the economy grows.
Thank you, A.K. Bhattacharya, for pointing out that the wealth of the rich is not sitting in cash bundles - it is largely in the form of market cap of their companies. How can you get a fixed return on 10% on this? Of course, people like Mr Sainath aren't the least bit concerned about niceties like this. He is content to paint everybody who is rich as corrupt. The underlying objective of an article like this is to create cynicism and to further empower a corrupt government. Since governments are essentially political, it gives newspaper journalists disproportionate power and influence. Judging from the resounding reader response to this series of exaggerated articles, it appears that Mr Sainath and his ilk are succeeding in their agenda.
I wonder how much wealth is stashed up by temples, mosques, churches and other religious organizations. There needs to be some oversight over the functioning of these as well.
I think this crony capitalism has brought out the most corrupt times of our lives. Though there was corruption during socialist regimes in 'Some socialism aspiring countries'(Read USSR & others) but i dont think it appropriate to compare corruption in government schemes to socialism. We are not living in a socialistic society...instead this is the dawn of imperialism when we can see the levels of corruption whether in the private sector or the Governments. P Sainath is as usual at his analytical best.
One of the seven pillars of Islam is Zakath (Fitr), which means a rich person has to give away 2% of his wealth every year to poor. If this is followed by all the wealthy millionaires or billionaires then there will not be any poverty in this world. Giving away the the wealth as a philanthropist is above humanity. Bill Gates and Warren Buffet, good job guys!!!
Appreciate the efforts of Mr.Sainath. Will any of our elected representatives talk about this in the people sabha and get a response (not reaction) from our beloved finance minister and his boss
In addition or against these welcome suggestions to the top men
in the Forbe's list,they as well as others yet to come into the
lists should be told about the "The art of giving'among the
ancient Tamils as recorded in the Tamil classic literature like
Purananuru,Tirukkural,etc.Purananuru had eleaborated about the
Giving Habits of the kings familiarly known as Kadai Ezhu Vallalgals.
Pari one of the seven gave his chariot for the benefit of supporting
a branch of a plant found on the road side.Another king by name
Began gave away his costly kingly robe to cover a peacock dancing
on the road thinking it is shivering in cold.Another one gave
away his wealth not with the idea it is some percentage of his
assets but because it was available only for the purpose of
giving to others.Adhiyaman gave away a fruit that would have
given him an eternal life to a great poetess. All these aspects
of giving mentioned in The Tamil classics,read and re-read ought
to recast the destiny of Mankind including the persons in the
Forbe's lists.
seshachalam gopalakrishnan
Newjersy,USA
14 th march
I am more inclined to agree with the rejoinder by Gopal Vaidya that socialism has failed to deliver on its lofty ideals and promise in India. It is tempting to make villains out of all the rich class for the ills of India and at the same time we have to acknowledge that the political class that followed the founding fathers of the Republic have failed the people in every possible way due to a basic lack of nationalism and policies based on expediency, personal gain, ignorance, nepotism, regional focus, false pride and a total negation of the raison d'être for their election and vesting of powers. A few brave souls in the judiciary and executive as well as the much-derided rich (e.g. Tata, Narayanamurthy, Azim Premji) are making a difference in their own way in extending opportunities to the less privileged.. Socialism in the Indian context has only perpetrated the class distinctions.
To the editor:
Mr. Sainath has proved that the pen is mightier than the sword. Probably because of his analysis Bill Gates might be in a position to get financial aid from the Indian rich to help the poor in the world.
C.P. Chandra Das
5138 Welbourne Cove
arlington, TN 38002
It is heart breaking that we have 836 million of our own brothers and sisters who earn less than $20 per day and they can't even afford their daily food and shelter but we have few boys and girls who can just net annual return alone of Rs. 1,11,375 crores per year at the minimum. That return alone can cover the health budget of entire India(entire India) for four years. If we add the higher eduction budget, it is still only half of their annual returns. On top of that every year our governments favors the tax laws to net more profit on top of their already fatty returns to make them further rich only to climb on Forbes list at the expense of 836 million poor continue to live with less than $20 a day and sacrificing with less than a meal a day. These political pundits(don't want to call them clowns) just blind folds billion plus people every single day while working for few dozen folks. What an amazing altruistic richest and politicians we have! Let us work even harder by starving 836 million our own brothers and sisters little more to get few more of ours boys and girls to the Forbes list next year! I salute P. Sainath who has such a courage to take on this subject and hitting the core of it. Take the total GDP and the total wealth of the top billionaires to find out a ratio. That will be the biggest ratio for our Indian billionaires and they could be proud it. No other country in the entire world can beat that! What a shame!
Amazing article!....very thought provoking...have read so much satire at once only in books!
I congratulate the author for educating the people specially the deprived one that the key to their and their children's smile lie on the hands of DOLLAR BILLIONAIRES and this fact will now be considered by DB when deside on giving away the part of wealth or not.
I have a few simple questions. How does Forbes calculate the wealth of these billionaires ? I believe it does it by toting up the market capitalisation of the shares they own in companies. If that is true, it takes us to my next question: Is wealth calcultated on the basis of market capitalisation notional or real? Well, it may not be entirely notional, but it is not real either - it is not cash. Another question. A ten per cent or even 30 per cent return on investment is understandable, but who on earth can hope to earn a 10 per cent return on the market capitaliation value of his/her shares? The simple point is Mr Sainath should not confuse between investment/cash and market capitalisation values. Wealth calculated by market capitalisation values are purely meant to give those who own the shares "kicks" and a notional sense of how rich they are. Which is why, post-financial sector meltdown of 2008, most rich tycoons of the world lost their wealth. Worth a thought!
Just Wish this article stays in top of our mind when we vote to choose our Babus next time, we cannot bring the money or cannot arm twist our corporates to give but we can always decided who the decision makers are going to be
Beautiful article. Pls carry on with your work in full vigour. I searched for you in Twitter but couldn't find. Pls open an account in twitter and tweet frequently your findings and give links of your articles. Best wishes!!
Nice article. But I have a bigger concern than the numbers: the implementation of programs by the Gates and the Clintons. They are present for charity but how much of it is helping nations deal with their problems independently and on a sustainable basis?
I appreciate the approach of the author calling the rich to spare a part of their resources for the macro economic development. However, these rich billionaires lists' are arrived at by applying market rate of shares held in various corporates. A situation could be visualized where a share may have no value when the present holder ( key person) exits from the entity. Practically, these persons may not be cash rich to cough out such sum nor would they be able to encash their assets, any such move can create real confusion in the share market.
In the early 80's, India was perceived to be a poor country without any billionaires. In the early millenia, India is still perceived to be a poor country with billionaires. We should not forget that these billionaires have made more money and in that process they have developed India. A Reliance mobile brought a revolutionary change in telecom and now we see the competitive growth in that area. Narayan moorthy, TATA, Birla, Ambani etc etc.. All these billionaires have contributed a lot in changing lives of people. Let these billionaires build huge empires consisting of massive industries, universities, Hospitals etc etc and that will change the face of India. SO stop blaming at them for not giving away money like an average middle class men throwing a coin at a beggar in India. Rather please encourage them to invest their money in India and bring change even if their concern is only business and making money, but the by-product will benefit the nation as a whole.
Now looking forward to Sainath's pithy (insightful and challenging as well) observations on the service tax on medical facilities. Hope it appears before the FM is forced into rolling back the tax! Agreed it's the corporate hospitals and the Naresh Trehans that have given health care a bad name and its a pity that the likes of Dr Devi Prasad Shetty and hundreds of genuine doctors like him who serve the needy will be penalised too. Will the Corporate hospitals in the metros (no, not Dr Shetty's category) absorb 50% of the tax instead of slapping it on the patient? Never! If only policy makers could find a way to charge the Rolex/ Omega sporting guys who own luxury cars and not the card holders of the UID project? Can the rich and the owners of the hospitals be shamed into paying the tax as they can afford to? P'haps the 14 signatories who wrote an open letter to the PM in Jan could set an example by saying they and their families will pay the tax? There are options for the rich hospitals owners and their board members NOT to ask for the 'subsidy' to be waived, if they choose to support the underprivileged.
Nice to see that Society is falling back on good old Values and Wisdom. Few of the oldest religions like Christianity and Islam share their part of their earnings towards Poor and Needy as Tithe. And this Tithe for many of Christian denominations is fixed as 10 percent of their earnings. Even in our Country, many of our country cousins share their yield during Harvest festivals. Our Corporations/Wealthy individuals need to pick these best old practices contributing towards an Inclusive growth rather than lip service CSR's and on pursuit of pathological profits.
I am in total agreement with the writer. His presentation is excellent.
It's quite bizarre that Sainath is proselytizing for the DB to hand over 10 percent to the government to fund some programmes; is the man delusional, or does he hope to derive a macabre pleasure in seeing that being stolen and squandered by the terrifying and criminal system run by the neta/babu, so he can pen another piece? If he is merely showing a calculation, then he would do infinitely better to tell us how much is squirreled away under the mattres and in godrej almirahs by the tens of millions of indians who are hugely underpaying tax, which will surely be a vastly bigger number than what 55 of them may give, or not give.
I wonder if statistically 836 million Indians living below Rs.20 per day is actually true, this number seems to be exaggerated. I think our billionaires, if at all wiling to show their generous side, should focus on investing in India for Indians rather than posing for some photo ops with western elite and pumping into projects in Somalia or Haiti. We are number 1 in malnutrition and number 1 in corruption also probably. This article just mentions about the Ambanis, the Premjis, Tatas, Birlas, Narayanamoorthys , Marans et al also deserve mentioning in terms of social responsibility failure index.
It is a charcter deficiency in the Indian billionaires and I wonder if Gates and ; Buffet could seed some philanthropy in these gene deficient people!? Good luck to them!
Sainath always recommends feeding the poor people out of a sense of charity, instead of enabling the poor and ordinary to prosper and maintain their freedom and self-respect. Taxes into government coffers flow because of wealth creation by the corporates. Their malign practices (there are many!) have to be nipped in the bud by a strong system of governance, checks and balances. He may ponder on the effects of alternatives he meekly suggests. By spitting venom on the private sector, he seems to suggest that the alternative is the public sector and socialism. But going in that direction, monumental losses will ensure no tax collection to begin with. Only bureaucrats, politicians and union leaders will grow, multiply and prosper. Is that what Sainath wants?
Brilliant satirical piece on the ironies of modern day India.
Yes, India is in a stern need of such plans to provide the basic amenities to its destitute. The rich will have to be the first to run in this Marathon campaign of 'giving', others will automatically follow.
Still how long India will be called as Socialistic country? Now in the name of area development, the GOI have raised the M.P's fund to Rs. 5 crore p.a. Nobody knows when India will get real freedom from these unscrupulous elements? Long live Indian Budget and Democracy!
Surprising that there are so many apologists for our DB's including the wise soul who suggests that the author donate 10% of his money.Just so you know, Mr. Sainath has already been using his award money to encourage the poorest and the discriminated to become journalists and write about the plight of the ignored in rural areas. For those who extol the virtues of privatisation over socialism, please go to a few companies (including the Tatas) and see how much corruption they indulge in whether to get work, avoid taxes or release payments to their vendors. But maybe it is pointless because you have no idea how much research Mr. Sainath does before he writes his articles. As to employment, why can you not see that an honest employer would create even more jobs instead of those who are lining their own pockets? However, the responses are enough evidence of why the government still continues to make the rich richer while throwing peanuts at the poor.
Thank you Mr. Sainath for this highly informative article. The situation reminds me of this couplet - 'Ek hi ullu kaafi hai, barbade gulistaan karne ko; Anjaam-e-gulistan kya hoga, jab har shaakh pe ullu baitha ho'. Keep up your good work.
I salute to Sainath for his eye opening articles continuously is good for middleclass people. They always think the 'STATE' is for all. I always watch the reader's response for Sainath article, for his last article 70 comments, mostly 95 % supports his views. Naturally his thoughts reflects in our parliment with less than 5% of Left party MPs.
Brilliant piece of writing, deep thoughts laced with sarcasm. One thing that we should realise that, the reason Pranabda has to give those freebees is the fact that, even though the 'aam admi' votes Parties into power, but it is these big corporates (apart from the obnoxious amounts of black money of politicians) which finance the parties for these elections. The model which Sainath proposes seems more 'realistic' and 'pragmatic'. Let them earn the cash, but pursuade them to 'donate' some of it. Hope Gates and Buffet listen to this and persuade the corporate bigwigs. And more importantly may the money be utilised for more honourable work than filling Swiss accounts.
Once two businessmen Pranab and Hasan stayed in a hotel in a remote, dacoity prone town while on their one of business trips. Dacoits came in dark of night and demanded everything they had otherwise they would face dire consequences.Pranab hurriedly and stammering-in-fear voice asked Hasan to give his twenty thousand rupees to the dacoits.HASAN felt cheated but gave all his money to the dacoits who then disappeared. Pranab understood the pain of HASAN and consoled him, "Look if I had not asked you to produce all of your money, dacoits might have searched me also and I would have to impart with gold worth twenty lac rupees and fifty thousand cash. Now have twenty thousand rupees from me and be happy." Instead of bringing back of money stashed away in foreign banks our finance minister is citing the procedural difficulties.And suggesting that the people should remain prepared that only ten percent of the amount could be brought only that too by sweet persuasion and Gandhian method of appealing to the conscience of the billionaires. And when some peanut amount of money is brought back that is going to subdue this issue at least up to next general elections. And sirs! enterpreneurs ! businessmen! please use your charity amount to educate- especially vocational edcational and skill development. Only then charity could make any visible affect on the poverty of Indian people other wise it would end like the several welfare schemes run by our government where merely fifteen percent of alloted amount reaches the targeted persons.
Excellent article. A damning indictment of neo liberal policies of the government. Exceptinally brilliant, even by Sainath's standard.
The best analysis of this years' budget I have come across. 'He's a wise man, our Finance Minister'.
Great piece of work! I am sure there are a lot of people in India who will be amazed at the sight of these numbers. A small piece of the wealth of these multi-billionaires can easily wipe out the miseries of the people who have not got a fair chance of enjoying the near 9% growth our economy is witnessing. Hope that some of the Indian corporates follow suit to these global ones or Mr. Azim Premji. I think that giving some money for higher education and for social upliftment would be much better advertising than giving money for buying teams and players in the IPL and huge marketing campaigns in the World Cup. Looking forward for the day they realize how much the Indian financial policies in the aftermath of the 1991 foreign reserve crisis have helped the growth and sustain the big multinational firms they hold now. Excellent work, looking forward for some more articles like the same in future.
Thanks Mr Sainath,congratulations for this piece. Caustic though it is, it hits the bulls eye. Who are we fooling? "Incredible India", "Mera Bharat Mahan"... do we realy need the Buffets and the Gates to come all the way to India and tell our kind hearted DBs to share a little of their illegal wealth with us - the unfortunate souls.
He is 100% right in saying that Government nearly writes off close to $20 million corporate. No wonder, the business tycoons make lot of money both by way tax concession and return on investment. However, his contention that 836 million Indians live on a daily expenditure of less than Rs.20 is not true. Let us not be too much clinical about the impacts of the Development Programmes and the liberalization have brought on the lives of the people in India. No doubt, there be still about 30% of the total population as poor. Even here, most of them get atleast two square meals a day. Ultimately, it is not the art of giving that makes the difference but the art of enabling people to participate in the Development process that makes the differences.
excellent article sir,although those three coming for charity in India but our govt is for a long time involved in charity that's why they spend on common man like charity fund and indulge with corporate in like serious business work. Hope govt could understand that common man needs serious attention not charity which should be left for philanthropist.
The wealth of the rich people will aggregate by a whopping 24 Billion each year with a nominal interest of 10%. The article concluded that the 24 Billion is sufficient to sustain education, health and rural employment programme for many years till the banks remain afloat. The author is critical of Pranabda's policies in collecting money from the rich and distributing it among the poor through social programmes. Pranabda's policy will make the rich people richer by corporate tax exemptions and the poor people poorer by withdrawing social programme to control government expenditure. So even if money is collected from the rich it will never be sufficient for the needy people. The initiative taken by Warren and Bill to persuade the rich Indians to contribute to the social welfare of the nation is unbelievable news in the midst of scam filled news. We Indians urge the finance minister to take a strong step in implementing and persuading the rich to follow our guests' suggestions. Pranabda should also seek suggestions from them to find a way to get the stashed money back to India for social programmes.
Perhaps, too many of us, like this author, believe that rhetoric can substitute for logic. It is patently unfair to call many of the rich corrupt without any evidence. In fact, many of our rich have worked honestly to get to where they are. In the process, they have generated tremendous number of well paying jobs for millions. But, when you are on a self-righteous rant, it is easy to use a broad brush to declare them unworthy and corrupt.Many of our billionaires have also contributed to charity. There are many well known examples. So, the author's snide generalizations on lack of charity are also inaccurate. It is interesting that the author once again looks at government programs as a way of improving the lives of people. It is as if he has learned nothing from the last 60 years - socialism produces abysmal delivery and massive corruption. It would be better if the author could suggest private charities that the billionaires could contribute to as they are much more effective in terms of delivery. But wouldn't that disprove a lot of what this author has to say? I would suggest that rather than hectoring others, the author should start by giving up 10% of his assets to the government where he will have the satisfaction of knowing that a vast and arcane bureaucracy will see to it that a tiny fraction of his contribution will eventually find its way to the poor.
A nice sequel to the previous article, 'Corporate socialism's 2g orgy' .
This was Sainath at his most funniest and sarcastic best.What better way to drive home a point than being ironical and authentic at the same time.Some gems indeed deserve mention."This(charity)does get to be a bit of a problem with those for whom charity begins at home and stays there", "And there is also our obvious moral superiority over the Russians who keep sending their billionaires (101 of them)to prison.We send ours to Parliament", "He(Pranabda)is working hard to ensure that the men you will persuade to 'give' accumulate more each year and thus have more to give.After all more giving leads to more giving.He is also thoughtfully creating more hungry people they can help" However, one should not forget that underneath all the sarcasm ,fun and pun of Sainath runs a tragic note that this government is for the rich and corrupt only. Hail our native Art Buchwald.
Oh what a revealing open letter of Sainath to Gates! Sainath's explaination of helpful attitude of Bill Gates towards the poor of India- but what about the big corporates like Ambanis, Biralas, Tatas. Goyenkas and other big millionaires of India for his poor countryman, who live on Rs 20 per day! Sadly, the government is also on a spree of giving incentives in huge quantity to tax-evaders instead of sending them to jails for serious crimes like diverting money to foreign banks and also concealing huge amount unaccounted.Strangely our government writes off huge amount of loans to rich people, having industrial networks because they did not repay the amount to the banks and government- what a joke-instead of doing something tangible for over 78 percent people living below the poverty line. Our government is more serious about freebies to rich and corporates! The union government should think seriously and crack down on rich industrialists and blackmoney-wallahs to seize their unaccounted wealth and distribute those money to wipe out poverty in the country and also make some harsh guidelines for big industrialists to part of their major share of capitals and profits for welfare work, particularly eradicating poverty, providing health care and education etc and they must not indulge in getting their name publicised in the rich people of the world list and feel proud of their wealth! These big corporates should take a lesson or two from the kind attitude of Gates towards Indian poor and poverty in India.
Excellent article, and a rhetoric appeal to all the Dollar Billionaires of India. Sainath, thank you for penning such a conscience-stirring letter. It's a pity that India has some of the richest persons in the world and they have to be persuaded to help the poor and needy of the nation. Till now they have just restricted their philanthropic activities to corporate social responsibility, which is enforced by law. It's high time they should take cue from the Gates-Buffet duo to help this nation to get rid of poverty, illiteracy, ill-health etc. They are morally bound to donate for noble causes, at least a fraction of their returns, like the same way they enjoy tax benefits. Because the government which offers them tax benefits is elected by people of this nation.
As caustic as ever. Excellent piece. One of the things that these 'kind' souls should realise is that the people DO NOT want to live off their money. Of course, there might be some 'charitable' organisations who find a way to fool the rich (and the people) and make an easy buck. That does not mean that the people are so poor that they need this 'charity'. If the rich want to be so kind then please pay your taxes - thats all that is required.
Wealth has to be objectively assessed. Is it being effectively used to create further jobs, taxes and goods which are competitively priced or to become powerful without merit, to oppress or display it in vulgar fashion. If somebody takes risks, applies his resources and creates further, within law, for the good of society then it is necessary and good. An effective state is also required which ensures competition, equal opportunity, regulation and optimum taxation.A licence raj which ensures that only unethical survive has to be cleansed. Yes if the wealthy want to be philanthropic, in the true sense, then they should be welcome. Tech and management techniques should be effectively used for the betterment of society. Lets be candid. These billionaires are in the business of creating wealth and they have achieved their aim.Politicians have only enriched themselves, although starting with the aim of helping the poor.
Indian billionaires and India are not in the league of nations those are rich and where unemployment rate is lower. The priority of Indian billionaires are not charity but nation building, and they are highly successful in these within a short span of time.(I am not supporting the neo-corrupted billionaires). Charity is important and Indian billionaires are surely aware of that, but opening a new factory sometimes is better than giving charity. This is especially true for a developing country like India. The trend in western economy is close to saturation. The byproduct of this is nothing but charity from rich individuals.I suggest all Indian billionaires to concentrate on building factories and innovate technologies to create new job and modernise India to alleviate poverty. 300 million poor people cannot be sustainably brought above the poverty line with basic human needs even if all the billionaires in the world devote all their wealth! This requires time and action plan.Western billionaires should come forward with their charity, which should be channeled through public distribution system for education, hygiene, food and health. Bill Gates has got a great charitable mind. But Indian billionaires will take a longer time to catch up with western prototypes. Indian billionaires should emulate the charitable and research contribution on the line of the Tata. If Mukesh is living in the largest house in the world, this is a necessity for his brand! Brands can create a lot of employment for the people.
I like the missionaries (Mr. Gates and Mr. Buffet) and their mission of proselytisation as it is directed against the rich and not the poor.
This reminds me of an old song from yester years by Alangudi Somu. "Illar uzhaipar ullar pizhaipar namakkul yar yaaro... !!" How accurate !
Brilliant and Superb Mr.Sainath. You have given a very interesting macro picture I never realized. I had been following many of your articles with great interest. Though many of them initially appear to be very critical of our government and its people, on careful thought, I realize how true your words are. Even with the small fringes given away to our health, education, textiles, rural employment etc by our 'Powers-be', how much is cycled back into their personal bottomless holes, is a big guess. The system stinks all the time and the people are powerless. When the time comes to change things, people sleep away or get carried away or accept a philosophical approach to life that after all nothing would change. We were a great nation (or at least that is what we all claim) and the question is would we ever see the glory returning back any time in future. Everyday, it really pains to see the state of affairs in functioning our government and people' apathy and we learn to live with this pain for fear of reprisal if anyone protests.
PS has not heard of TATAs who have been more than generous with their wealth for the past 100 years or so.Even before BILL,MELINDA and Warren were born. Will The Hindu publish an article about the huge waste in the Government Sector. I am sure there are enough reporters to investigate. You will find real socialism is many times worse than corporate socialism
Brilliant article. Its also estimated that top ten rich people hold 12% of nation's wealth as compared to 9% in russia, 8% in brazil, 1% in China. Goverment of the rich, for the rich and by the rich.
It is true that government gives lots of tax write-offs to the rich. But we need to be wary of the moral pressure applied by the billionaires from USA, like Bill Gates. Does West do anything without a hidden agenda? USA donates a lot (in $Billions, if not in $Trillions) for religious activities (Proselytising in Asia and Africa) and we donate next to nothing. Our rich need to spend money where it is needed under their own will rather than where the west wants us to spend. We need to be really really careful as west always used money as a tool and as soon as some in the east become rich they come here with their so called high moral ground.
Brilliant, as always. Brinda Karat did a great job in Rajya Sabha, and Sainath does it here! Can we not arrange to send this piece to Pranab Mukherjee?
Brilliant satire on the democracy of crony billionaires, for crony billionaires, and by crony billionaires. Thanks to Manmohan Singh and Pranabda and Narendra Modi, India can only boast about its billionaires while while starving its poor to death.
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