“Charity begins at home but should not end there.” – Sir Francis Bacon.
In early August, 40 billionaires in the US led by Warren Buffett and Bill Gates made a pledge – to give away at least half of their wealth to worthy causes. Buffett and Gates also plan to approach the super-rich in India and China and exhort them to do the same.
The majority of the rich of course leave the bulk of their riches to their children. Whether kingdoms, wealth, businesses, the beneficiaries are children most of the time. It is high time this changed; and no, we don’t need the millionaires and billionaires donating to religious causes, considering that a large number of our countrymen need assistance to even satisfy their basic necessities, require education and jobs.
This habit of refraining from passing on every pie one has made to one’s offspring does have multiple benefits.
The billionaire will have so much money, much more than what his children would require to lead a comfortable life. The bulk of the money can therefore be used for meaningful purposes. After all, the Hitopadesha says “Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam” or “The entire Earth is but one family”. Moneyed men can work for the betterment of people beyond their immediate family, people who desperately need all the help they can get.
Though it may seem that this super-rich man is robbing his children of their rightful inheritance by donating most of his wealth for philanthropic purposes, he is actually going them a favour. How ? One often sees and hears about people whose downfall has been caused by too much wealth; imagine the consequences if one is squandering away the hard-earned wealth of one’s parents! Confident that all comforts and luxuries are theirs, children of parents who have made tonnes of money, may turn out to be spoilt brats, whiling away their time in merrymaking; education, earning a living, creativity, industry will all take a back seat.
If a business tycoon decides to use his money for the society at large, imagine the enormous goodwill he will create for himself and his business. The Bill and Melinda Gates foundation has resulted in Bill Gates as well as his company Microsoft getting a good name. Ditto for the Indian software giant Infosys which has earned plenty of goodwill by promoting the Infosys Foundation.
It is ironical that the Marxist slogan, “From each according to his ability to each according to his need” is today followed by a few ultra-rich capitalists. These businessmen are following this principle in spirit unlike many communists who twisted and turned socialistic principles to their benefit.
This is the right time to voluntarily start following policies like these when the number of billionaires is steadily rising. It will otherwise create discontent among people who have not been able to work their way upwards and may create a revolution-like situation. The only thing these uber-rich need to ensure is that the causes they support are genuine and they actually benefit the people for whom it is intended.
Author: Pratibha Shenoy (Bengaluru)
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