Almost 550 million of Indian population earn a living out of farming and more than 60% of the cultivation is rain dependent. Uncertainties specially when it comes to rain is really high and one year of monsoon not favoring India/parts of India will lead to lots of sorrow, hunger and suffering in so many million families dependent on the yields.
So many farmers committed suicides in a district Called Vidharba last year and I used to get disturbed to see people dying this way. It was very visible that there was poor living conditions and when there is lack of support from the government, its really sad. After several protests and multiple follow ups through different channels, the government finally decided to donate cheques to the farmers and guess what, they were all 50 Rs cheques and according to some of the bank rules, they cannot even be encashed. No bank loans and no support from manmohan singh and only after someone dies money will be sent. This is the state of operations in so many places.Imagine our own lives being such a bad state, receiving 50Rs cheque after several months of wait and payment being denied. They have to move on, either commit suicide or die naturally along with thier families in the days to come.
While survival is an uncertainty in a large percentage of people, rich men continue to enjoy the richness by building private yachts, own private jets, continue to spend lavishly due to lack of control and continue to grow their desires. Large sized companies continue to generate revenues with very little sense of Corporate Social Responsibility. The very basic meaning of Corporate Social Responsibility has been completely changed. There is no willingness to share the profits with the community they are living in. It is very tough to build generous institutions truly aimed to serve the society. There are some exceptions(Bill and Melinda Gates foundation which is largely funded and is historic) It doesnt happen with common capitalists. They are ready to build attractive and state of the art infrastructure, more benefits to the already rich employees but would not even care to think of people who are suffering due lack of financial support and freedom or their basic survival. And they may be living right next door. It has become a way of life. Starting a charitable institution should always be for a cause and the cause should not be earning name and fame. The cause should be to 'help save lives' . Donating money should not be the intent. Intent should be willingness to help. CEOs should be magnanimous in their hearts and prove that they are real leaders in not only building the organization but also in making a difference to this world and start healing people who are doomed. The argument can go on. Everybody is selfish in this world, but when you can clearly see that you can save so many lives and remove people from the death trap, it doesnt make sense not to make your contribution.
The worst part is that , the government is hardly taking action towards it. We are only proud to say that our GDP has risen from 4.x % to 9% + in no time, the statistics at the bottom line is really poor. More than 1 million Children die very young every year due to malnutrition. The so called economic development does not even benefit 20% of the population and this 20% of the population happily raise their standards of living and create a completely disrupted living environment for others.Poor people are not overtaken but are simply ran over by the rich limousines, mercedes and the BMWs.
So what do we do about it? How much of money is required ? How much of awareness do we need to create? Are there people to create awareness? Yes there is. The media and the news channels and all of these information does not reach the right people. Nobody even knows about some of the statistics, mainly because they are not doing their jobs. Very happy to host a show dedicated for 3 hours debating whether Richard Gere should have kissed Shilpa Shetty on an AIDS awareness show? Spend all their time showing Sachin being out of form or a spat between Ganguly and the rest of the cricket team.
Spending money and time on such trivial things and not giving importance to larger problems on hand. Broadcasting the news is fine, but debating about it for hours and days together jus blows my mind! Spending money on panelists, host, the rent spent for the place, and so much of money on articles related to it, are all a mere waste. It serves no purpose. Ultimately they say its for the viewers. Harldly 3% of indian population know to read and write english and these news channels which have the money power should concentrate more on creating regional language channels and reach out to many people and concentrate on showing sensible stuff in order to create more leaders in the country rather than satisfying a minor portion of viewers.
From an individual's point of view while we can continue to enjoy our lives with what we have got, but when we are in a comfortable position to live(comfort does not mean staying in a big Villa and owning a ferrari) we should start thinking on how much we can contribute to people who are really suffering and yearning to come out of problems. Even a minor thought in your mind will someday materialize and be of lifetime help somebody down the line. For we are all interconnected in this world and all of us deserve to enjoy peace and lets try to build a stronger web and create a safe place to Live!!!
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11 comments:
India is agro based caste ridden nation and Indian economy primarily based on rural social structure. However, during the last years in the post-Independence period,Indian villages have not yet developed a progressive approached like that of Western countries. About the Problem of poverty has observed that, “Deprivation is not a simple phenomenon. In social terms, deprivation is reflected in what we call poverty. Individuals or groups of individuals may be deprived of physical and intellectual or they may be deprived of various opportunities in the absence of which their full development cannot take place. There are many reasons for this poverty, but major reason behind this is the communication gap between the Developmental Agencies and Beneficiaries. Further, wide gap between urban and rural areas as Arjun mentioned, as well as between super classes and backward classes. In order to bridge this gap all round self
sufficient and well-developed ideal villages must be multiplied in a rapid manner, in which farmer must be happy and free from exploitation.
What Say! :-)
Very nicely thought out.
numero uno: well laid out pattern of thoughts and I use plural intentionally here.
The choice to cross the lines from blatant misuse of viewership exposure by online and television media (all privately owned are being judged here) to the ever widening urban-rural gap to Indian mentality seems to be a good train of thought. Though it is equally important, to not get mixed up in all of them at once.
An inspiring piece, that reminds us of what we could do. Even though I agree in principle, for solidifying the web by extending support for other nodes, practical aspects which extend over time would deter me.
Another interesting aspect I found is that we can now look at things from an outsider's perspective. Had we not left the daily struggle for existence, we would not have realized this probably.
Interesting.... although I'd like to point out that attitudes towards social responsibility are changing in the corporate world. Companies do not necessarily advertise their contributions to the world at large even with the possibility of being seen in a more positive light. There is a conscious effort by some (not all) companies to come up with systems and processes to give back to the community. Only a sustained effort can make a change in the long run. But each of us can do our bit by contributing to the changing mindsets in the workplace.
I know the companies do take efforts to reach towards community.... its not about who ... but its about how many?? the really big organizations are taking some efforts..but not sure abt the small ones makin truck loads of money.. like tax cuts, there should be some rule governing those companies to spend towards the betterment of the community....
Thoughts are noble. Where does the thread begin? How does the helping process work? Who are the persons capable of organizing the relief - (The present and temporary and also the long term relief). The Non governmental organizations have failed as badly as the government did. The corporate companies in India have just won their freedom to do business and expand their wealth and they are like young men yet to know the race of the world. Compassionate men should adorn the position of CEO/decision maker in such rapidly growing companies to take decisions on such matters.
Prevention is better than cure and so a mechanism must aim at providing immediate relief, long term relief and also contingency measures.
Congrats arjun, you have kindled the thoughts in a new direction in our country I wish it catches on and produce us the desired results.
Hey, a good blog..but finally it ended in the thing that u have talked about.. ppl started commenting abt ur blog and u would have replied i dont know..also may be u r helping ppl out..i may not know that..sorry if it is that way..but if u did not know the way how to contribute to society, i am commenting here for asking u to join us in contributing towards the society as i thought u r one of our kind..if u r interested, put a comment below this one witin a week or fortnight.. i will tell u the way..
thts wht they have csr for.....well once u get into ur mba u will know how much of a farce that is!
ok cool
Anonymous.. we need ur identity..lemme know will be happy to be associated with your team..
one striking thing my dad told me yesterday when we were discussing about this is, A common man whose earning is really poor has to completely depend on the government for his survival and its a big challenge in this country with ever growing corruption.. whereas the rich class can define their own lives ignoring the presence of government...
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