New Delhi: J&K Governor Satya Pal Malik, who made headlines for dissolving the state assembly last month, has said that the Indian society is not charitable.
Speaking at an event on Monday, Governor Malik said that unlike wealthy people in other parts of the world, donating money is an idea that is still largely missing in India. "The problem with our society is that charity doesn't exist here," he said. "Successful people across the world donate most of their earnings to society. But here, there is a man in Mumbai who has a 14-storey house,but he denied when asked if he does any charity."
While Malik's comment may be a blanket statement devoid of facts and figures, other studies and surveys have pointed in the same direction as well. A study by Bain & Co in 2010 found that charitable giving was only 0.6% of the country's entire GDP at the time. This was more than Brazil's 0.3% and China's 0.1% but fell woefully short of countries like the US (2.2%) and UK (1.3%). The same study said that while Indians tend to give money to friends, family and religious institutions but largely ignore charitable organisations.
Among those noted for their philanthropist ways, Azim Hashim Premji of Wipro figures prominently on top, followed by Nandan Nilekani, Narayana Murthi and Mukesh Ambani.
