Corporate Citizen Claps for the magnanimity of Wipro Chairman Azim Premji, in his most recent philanthropic milestone, committing Rs.1.45 lakh Crore ($21 billion) as part of his social commitments
This means that all earnings from approximately 34% shares of Wipro — worth about Rs.52,750 crore ($7.5 billion), would be transferred to the grant that supports the Azim Premji Foundation. While this fresh donation from Wipro’s coffers makes it one of the five largest private endowments worldwide and one of the biggest in Asia, it also positions the 73-year old Premji, alongside global philanthropist billionaires the likes of including Bill Gates, Warren Buffett and George Soros. A Forbes report had quoted Premji Inspired by Mahatma Gandhi and his mother, Premji says that “to whom much has been given, much should be expected.” This new infusion comes at a time when social donations have been on a decline. The Indian Philanthropy Report by Bain & Company estimated that excluding contributions by Wipro, donations in the category of Rs.10 crore and above have declined by 4% in India since 2014 even as the proportion of the ultra-rich with a net worth of over $50 million grew by 12%. “Premji’s grant for the nation matches only what Jamshedji Tata and Dorabji Tata have done from a historical perspective,” said Amit Chandra, Managing Director, Bain Capital. “Over the last 150 years, he stands out remarkably tall for what he has really done in the last 10 years,” he said. Lauding Premji, philanthropist Rohini Nilekani said, “Premji’s largesse has stretched everybody’s target”. Rohini Nilekani, and her husband, Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani, have also committed half of their wealth to philanthropy. “It takes a bold mind like Azim (Premji) to commit so much,” she said. “He will really be able to innovate and find ways to address increasingly complex societal problems in India.” The Azim Premji Foundation is extensively committed to fieldwork in education across some of the most disadvantaged parts of India, for improving the quality and equity of the public (government) schooling system. All this work has been in close partnership with various State Governments across Karnataka, Uttarakhand, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Puducherry, Telangana, and Madhya Pradesh and some north-eastern states.
Corporate Citizen Slaps the unsoliCited claims made by godmen and scamsters Who play With the health of vulnerable citizens
In recent times ‘scam-babas’ have created Twitter handles to lure unsuspecting individuals for curing their illnesses including diseases as grave as cancer. As World Cancer (awareness) day gets celebrated on Feb 4th every year, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has predicted that the cancer burden on India is on the rise. As per a WHO report, India has had an estimated 1.16 million new cancer cases in 2018 and “that one in 10 Indian will develop cancer in their lifetime and that 1 in 15 will die of the disease.” The estimation sure is a disguised opportunity for those practising ‘spiritual cure’. In such a scenario, scamsters lure individuals to non-scientific regimes of cure and tout ‘prayers’ for relief but aren’t they adding to the woes of the less privileged or those unknown to the vagaries of the disease? #CureCancer_By_TrueWorship is a handle that claims “There are many devotees who got their cancer cured by following the spiritual path shown by saint Rampal Ji Maharaj”. But, any cure needs validation and can patient testimonials and ‘spirituality’ alone justify the ‘cure’ sold under its’ guise? Unfortunately, health expenditure remains a burden on families; further pushing them below the poverty line; the middle-class remain particularly vulnerable. The WHO report has pinpointed that, “Cancer patterns in India are dominated by a high burden of tobacco-related head and neck cancers, particularly oral cancer, in men and cervical cancer in women; both of these cancer types are associated with lower socio-economic status”. The launch of cheap indigenous cancer detection kits like OncoDiscover, does open up the potential for research and development in the area. However, government directives, social awareness and enhanced campaigns by healthcare organisations and not-for-profit are the more apt steps. Besides, invoking social media awareness is a must not just to flush out quacks online and offline but also tread a balanced treatment line in an industry that is annual worth at nearly $160 billion.