Indian Philanthropists
This op/ed from the Times of India is worth a read. It discusses the rising wealth of many Indians, and argues that a rise in personal philanthropy is not coming along with it. India has 52 billionaires, the most in Asia. But it has only 4 people on the Forbes list of 48 top Asian philanthropists.
Of course, it depends a lot on how you measure philanthropy. A lot of Indian billionaires might be giving generously but unanimously, or giving to poor family members even. But it does indicate that India’s wealthy are not sharing their wealth. I wonder how much this is an Indian thing, though. The op/ed gives prominent examples of US philanthropists, but that isn’t statistically meaningful. There must be more US billionaires than Indian billionaires. A few examples of the generous doesn’t demonstrate a Western priority on giving.
But the author does give a great qute from US philanthropist Christopher Hohn, “‘A man who dies rich, dies disgraced”.
May 5th, 2008 at 12:48 am
Coming from a person familiar with Indian culture, who has spent some time there, I can say the following:
Philanthropy is a major part of the real Indian culture. Anyone who goes to India and can get past the hawkers and beggars will realize that India is one big throbbing heart. So it pains me greatly to see the burgeoning middle class, upper class, and particularly the younger generation throwing away these Indian values. Today’s youth have become wealth obsessed like none other, and they are very much into flaunting their wealth.
I have been to and worked in a number of developing countries, but in none of these has my own poverty been so obvious as it is in India where there is SUCH a stark contrast between the rich and the poor, and such contempt for poverty. Such an attitude is pathetic and sure to lead soon to problems.
However sadly, this attitude is true of other “wealthy-ites” in other developing countries. i wonder why they are so loathe to share their wealth. Someone needs to think about that.