Ratan Tata gives $50 million to Harvard Business School, just days after Anand Mahindra announces a donation of $10 million, and a few months after Narayana Murthy's $5 million, to the same institution. The three stories generated a fair amount of debate over why an American institution was favoured over more 'needy' Indian counterparts, a debate made more vociferous by the sheer scale of the donations involved.
Yes, the Tatas, the Murthys and the Mahindras are known for their philanthropy — in fact, they have made 'giving' an institution by itself — but their focus has always been on the fruitful utilisation of the funds. Narayana Murthy's donation went towards the creation of the Murthy Classical Library of India, which will house, among other things, 100 books from Indian languages translated into English. Mahindra's donation went towards the upgrade of the Harvard Humanities Centre. And Ratan Tata's $50 million will fund a new academic and residential building on the Harvard campus in Boston for students of the school's Executive Education programs.
Now, the question is, have our corporates invested such large amounts in Indian institutions?
The answer, obviously, is yes: Indian companies have made contributions towards enriching education in the country. However, the scale and the frequency of these contributions have been abysmal when compared to the enthusiasm in the West. Consider this: The most prominent fundings were the $5 million and $1 million donations to IIT Delhi and IIT Mumbai by Vinod Khosla, the co-founder of Sun Microsystems and Avi Nash, Advisory Director of Goldman Sachs back in 2003. Yes, 2003.
Before that, former minister and journalist Arun Shourie pledged his Rs 11-crore MP fund towards a new Biological Sciences and Bioengineering department at IIT Kanpur.
It is Infosys Chief Narayana Murthy, one of the noted alumni of the IITs, whose continuous contribution towards his alma mater has, till date, resulted in around $8 million.
Add all of these and the sum still falls short of the $65 million pledged to Harvard in the past five months. And this is where the India-vs-the West debate arises. Why haven't Indian bigwigs loosened their purse strings like the Gates and the Buffets (who have pledged half their wealth to charity)?
Trust is the big factor. People are afraid that their money will not reach the right channels — a reason, probably, why big corporate houses build their own charitable foundations within the organisations.
Bharti head Sunil Mittal runs the country's largest affirmative action project imparting quality education to 30,000 underprivileged children in rural India across five states. About 70% of the 30,000 students — that is about 21,000 students — in these schools are from the SC/ST and OBC categories. These schools are being run at an annual cost of Rs 28 crore and the aim is to increase student strength to 100,000, for which a corpus of Rs 200 crore has already been announced.
Hundreds of other companies have similar stories — while some have established schools, others have sponsored children's education and even adopted children. India Inc calls this Corporate Social Responsibility, a term often misused, twisted, manipulated to suit personal agendas. But in its purest form, CSR is a lifeline for India's struggling education scene. And as CSR becomes a part of the corporate landscape, more aligned with Western sensibilities of functioning, people are increasingly becoming aware of where to give. They are also clear that if they are giving money, they want to monitor it the way Bill and Melinda Gates do.
And the focus, today, is not on giving for giving's sake, but stressing on making a difference. Mexican billionaire, and one of the world's richest men, Carlos Slim, says: "The only way to get people out of poverty is by giving them jobs, and not just charity." Low-cost flying pioneer Capt Gopinath echoes the same emotion. "I feel the biggest philanthropy is to create jobs," says Gopinath. "Give youth a livelihood, not spurts of charity."
The Wadhwani Foundation, the brainchild of Dr Romesh Wadhwani, an IIT Bombay and Carnegie Mellon alumnus, has launched an 18-month program covering 1,500 physically disabled youth aged 18-30. The goal is to impart job skills and leadership qualities to differently abled youth, and at the same time, bring down the need for re-hiring and re-training in the job space. The program will then be implemented across eight states in India — Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Punjab, Chhattisgarh, West Bengal, Rajasthan and Jharkhand. The foundation aims to cover 1,00,000 physically challenged beneficiaries over the next five years.
The Jindals have started a co-educational school in Raigarh, as well as adult education schools in the region. They have launched an IT certification course which already has 200 pass outs. Jindal Steel supports self-help groups for imparting vocational training in tailoring and embroidery for women. The staff, material cost, and other infrastructure are borne by JSPL. The group also conducts a beautician course for women, having already trained more than 70.
Working with educators, governments, and industry to design and deliver innovative education programs in more than 50 countries on six continents, Intel has invested more than $1 billion worldwide in a variety of education efforts, including $10 million for the development of schools. In India, the Intel Teach to the Future program is an initiative to help teachers learn how best to use technology to improve teaching and learning, so as to develop higher-level thinking skills among students. A total of 3,11,382 teachers have been trained under this programme.
Xansa India has taken up projects to impart basic education to peons and their families and has facilitated computer literacy for an orphanage for girls in New Delhi.
For every story told, in this case, there are dozens that have not gone unheralded.
So, coming back to the original question. When you think of it, Tata's contribution to support executive education at Harvard fails to make a real impact. Harvard stands among the top three institutes for management programs. Hence, a $50 million addition, is well, just that, an addition. Only it will now be called Tata Hall.
The real power of money is the power to give it away: It is an oft-repeated quote. And our philanthropists are beginning to say it, too. But now it's time to shift the focus to India.
Source: India Syndicate
