Azim Premji, who transformed a family-owned cooking oil firm into the software giant Wipro, announced earlier this month that he was giving two billion dollars to fund rural education.
The 100 wealthiest Indians have a net worth equal to 25 percent of India's GDP and Premji's donation - by far the largest ever made by an individual - was seen as a challenge to others in the ultra-rich club.
Open displays of wealth are often more admired than criticised in India, where the rich commonly spend hundreds of thousands of dollars - sometimes millions - on lavish weddings.
Mukesh Ambani's construction of a billion-dollar, 27-storey home in Mumbai, where 60 percent of the 18 million population are slumdwellers, raised some eyebrows but little overt resentment.
Wipro's Premji, known for his frugal lifestyle, said conspicuous consumption was common in countries climbing the wealth ladder.
Traditionally, so-called "old money," embodied in the likes of India's 142-year-old Tata Group conglomerate, has focused on promoting the welfare of workers, with health care and housing.
"Initially people thought it necessary to help those closest in their households or villages, but now they realise help needs to be on a wider scale," Sanghavi said.
Together with his wife, Sanghavi runs the Dasra (Enlightened Giving) foundation, helping donors pick charities which can use their money best.
Sunil Bharti Mittal, founder of India's largest mobile company, has set up 237 schools to educate the poor, saying he wants to help children break out of the "generational poverty cycle."
The need for charitable funding in India is self-evident.
Some 42 percent of Indians, or 455 million people, live on less than 1.25 dollars a day, according to the World Bank and India's statistics on health, infant mortality and malnutrition are worse than those for sub-Saharan Africa.
But there's little sign yet of India's rich taking "The Giving Pledge" - an initiative by Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and billionaire investor Warren Buffet that asks the wealthy to donate half their fortunes to charity.
The duo organised a dinner for China's mega-rich last September and say they may host a similar event in India early next year.
Billionaire Shiv Nadar, the founder of tech giant HCL who pledged in June to give 130 million dollars to education, believes India's rich are still not ready to embrace the Gates' concept.
"When it comes to giving, there aren't many people who will happily give away even one percent" of their wealth, he said.
Saturday, January 8, 2011
Philanthropists...........................Universal Citizens
Lets start with a lesser known but VVVIP Dr Kiran Patel and Dr Pallavi Patel, who gave the University of South Florida $34.5 million in 2005 to build a centre that focuses on ‘creating solutions that deliver a sustainable quality of life for all people’.
And what of India’s women philanthropists? Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, who heads a leading Indian biotech firm, has set up a foundation to provide quality healthcare and health education. Sudha Murthy, wife of the founder and mentor of IT giant Infosys, heads Infosys Foundation, while Rohini Nilekani, wife of Nandan Nilekani, CEO of Infosys, describes herself as a self-taught philanthropist, building two foundations committed to education and water issues in India.
British Asians too have their pioneers. Chris Mathias, a UK-based social entrepreneur, has a hands-on, results-oriented approach to philanthropy. He funds start-up charities that are not fashionable in India, recycles computers from British businesses to African schools, and is chair of a new UK charity, Connect for Change, to link British Asian donors with exciting development initiatives in South Asia, starting with a pilot in India.
Azim Premji, billionaire head of Bangalore-based software company Wipro foundation, which he funds through his shares, helps reform India's education sector by implementing on-the-ground assessments of the effectiveness of teaching programmes in thousands of schools in Karnataka, South India. Premji sets the direction and monitors monthly progress but leaves the running of the foundation to a dedicated team.
One interesting anecdote friends......................
Sudha Murthy, Chairperson of Infosys Foundation, recalls that J R D Tata, Chairman of the Tata Group, asked her, at the time of her leaving the company in 1982, what she was going to do: ‘“Sir, I am leaving. My husband is starting a company called Infosys.” “Oh! And what will you do when you are successful?” “Sir, I don't know whether we will be successful.” “Never start with diffidence,” he advised me. “Always start with confidence. When you are successful you must give back to society. Society gives us so much; we must reciprocate.”’
And what of India’s women philanthropists? Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, who heads a leading Indian biotech firm, has set up a foundation to provide quality healthcare and health education. Sudha Murthy, wife of the founder and mentor of IT giant Infosys, heads Infosys Foundation, while Rohini Nilekani, wife of Nandan Nilekani, CEO of Infosys, describes herself as a self-taught philanthropist, building two foundations committed to education and water issues in India.
British Asians too have their pioneers. Chris Mathias, a UK-based social entrepreneur, has a hands-on, results-oriented approach to philanthropy. He funds start-up charities that are not fashionable in India, recycles computers from British businesses to African schools, and is chair of a new UK charity, Connect for Change, to link British Asian donors with exciting development initiatives in South Asia, starting with a pilot in India.
Azim Premji, billionaire head of Bangalore-based software company Wipro foundation, which he funds through his shares, helps reform India's education sector by implementing on-the-ground assessments of the effectiveness of teaching programmes in thousands of schools in Karnataka, South India. Premji sets the direction and monitors monthly progress but leaves the running of the foundation to a dedicated team.
One interesting anecdote friends......................
Sudha Murthy, Chairperson of Infosys Foundation, recalls that J R D Tata, Chairman of the Tata Group, asked her, at the time of her leaving the company in 1982, what she was going to do: ‘“Sir, I am leaving. My husband is starting a company called Infosys.” “Oh! And what will you do when you are successful?” “Sir, I don't know whether we will be successful.” “Never start with diffidence,” he advised me. “Always start with confidence. When you are successful you must give back to society. Society gives us so much; we must reciprocate.”’
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