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!!!
Warning:Might contain unintended spoilers)