By Gopalan Krishnan
“No generation has a freehold on this Earth. All we have is a life tenancy with a full repairing lease.” – Margaret Thatcher
While it is fashionable to talk about giving back to society, the reality is that India isn’t known for its generosity. According to the World Giving Index, 2018, India ranked a low 124. It’s not surprising when you observe that getting money out of Indians, whether in the form of small tips or large grants, is often challenging. On the other hand, we may witness a millionaire haggling with a malnourished tribal person to save a measly ten rupees. However, the same individuals might give some crumbs in alms if they know someone is watching.
Although this may sound like a scathing criticism and a broad generalization, let’s consider a news report from The Print:
“Tennis star Roger Federer donates $1.02 million to support the most vulnerable families in Switzerland during the coronavirus crisis; India’s former cricket captain Sourav Ganguly gives away Rs 50 lakh worth of rice in collaboration with the West Bengal-based company Lal Baba Rice, in what is clearly a sponsored, mutual brand-building exercise. Chinese billionaire Jack Ma donates one million face masks and 500,000 coronavirus testing kits to the United States and pledges similar support for European and African countries; Amitabh Bachchan uses social media to spread half-baked information — such as ‘flies spread coronavirus’ — and wonders if the clanging of pots, pans, and thalis defeats the potency of the virus because it was Amavasya on 22 March (he later deleted the tweet). Hollywood’s golden couple Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds announce they will donate $1 million to Feeding America and Food Banks Canada, organizations working for low-income families and the elderly; while Indian cricket and Bollywood’s beautiful match Virat Kohli and Anushka Sharma get into familiar lecture mode, asking everyone to ‘stay home and stay safe.’ If we take this discourse further, a recent example of thoughtfulness and generosity that deserves recognition is the donation made by Facebook’s former top boss, Sheryl Sandberg, and Tom Bernthal as a part of their wedding celebration. They gifted $1 million to VOW for Girls in support of the nonprofit’s mission to end child marriage.”
On another note, while the number of Indian billionaires reached an estimated 142 in 2021, with only the US and China ahead of India, a study by Harvard Kennedy School revealed that 97% of foundation assets are concentrated in the US and Europe. The rankings of Indian foundations are abysmally low, and their spending rate is only 3%, compared to 9% in the US and 37% in Spain.
The good news, however, is that in the post-pandemic world, there is a noticeable change in attitudes. Amidst an overwhelming amount of depressing news over the past two years, one piece of news stands out as music to one’s ears: India has significantly improved its giving trends, ranking a high 14th, a substantial jump from its previous position of 124 in 2018.
Let’s hope that more people in India embrace the act of sharing their wealth, particularly to support the education of girls in the country.