Abraham George - Uncovering the Truth Behind Poverty

On May 9th, Shanti Bhavan will be holding its first major benefit at  The Bowery Hotel  in New York City. Please join us for an evening celebrating the success of the  Shanti Bhavan  education program.  With this  Benefit Event , we hope to introduce our educational model to philanthropists, global business executives, social entrepreneurs and new friends.  This occasion marks our 15th Anniversary and the year that our first class will graduate from some of the best universities in India and move on to work in renowned institutions like Goldman Sachs and Mahindra. The success of these children has exceeded any expectation we might have held when they started with us as four year olds.  This is a very special occasion for me and the children - and it would mean a lot to us if you are there. Please join us in celebrating their achievements by purchasing an individual ticket or becoming a sponsor for one or more of our ch...

The national budget announced today, March 1, 2013, tells a lot about the nature of India’s prosperity being experienced in recent years. It is not so much the lower growth rate of 6% projected for next year that troubles ordinary people most, but the skewed nature of that growth.  Let us start with some hard facts. Only 3% of India’s population – 35 million – pays any income tax. All others do not have sufficient income – Rs. 200,000 ($3,650) per annum -- to be “qualified” for paying taxes. Of these eligible taxpayers who are considered “above water,” 1.5 million earn over Rs. 1 crore ($182,000) in annual income. They are the 0.125% of the population considered rich enough to pay the newly instituted 10% surtax for incomes above that level.  If these declared incomes are indeed true, where is the often trumpeted prosperity? The government has introduced in the budget several new incentives for infrastructure, textile and broadcasting companies. Companies like ...

The recent Delhi rape incident has elevated national attention about nonconsensual sex and violence.   There is no doubt that most reasonable people disapprove sexual violence against women. Yet, the picture about what constitutes rape is not clear in India. The subject is further complicated without any legal guidance on incest. For the starter, let me briefly describe the laws in India. Marriage for girls is permitted after 18 (except Muslim girls who may marry at 15) and 21 for boys.  But many underage marriages take place, and the government does not intervene. Sex with a “minor wife” below the age of 15 is punishable. But no one bothers if a man marries a girl below 15 as long as the couple does not disclose that they had sex with each other. There is no law in India concerning incest, often described as having sex between a parent and a child, or between siblings. If one is to believe ancient Indian writings, incest was not very uncommon. Today in India, sex w...

The events surrounding the brutal rape and death of a young woman in Delhi last month have raised some serious questions on the moral conscience of a nation considered to be a peaceful ancient civilization. It is not just the terrible deeds of a few criminals that have come to question, but the actions and inaction of different constituencies of people that paint a worrisome picture of a nation. Let me briefly explain what I mean.  First, there are the alleged rapists who physically violated a young woman and her male companion.  Not only was she repeatedly raped by these men, but was brutally attacked by inserting an iron rod into her stomach and pulling out some of her intestines. Second, this terrible incident took place in public transport – a bus – that was used by its driver during off-hours for extracting large sums of money from unassuming passengers and for criminal acts for pleasure. There was no accountability on the part of the transport department in the ...

Recent events in the Middle East that are collectively termed as the “Arab Spring” have so far been a “Winter of Discontent” in most of the liberated countries. Dictatorship in Egypt under president Mubarak is replaced by a pro-Islamic totalitarian regime that calls itself democratic. In Libya, ruthless rule by Gadhafi is now substituted by militias and sectarian groups within a pro-democracy movement. It appears that a new form of authoritarianism or a new form of totalitarianism is taking hold where only their form of Islamism is allowed.  The tyranny of the majority over the minority is the rule of law in most, if not all, the newly “freed countries.” It is obvious that transformation to genuine democracy doesn’t come easy. When the Soviet tanks rolled over into most of Eastern Europe soon after the Second World War, the first item in the agenda of the conquerors was establishing a powerful secret police. The second was total control of news disseminated through the radi...

If you are as disgusted as I am from learning the headline news on what is going on in India every single day, you will agree with me that there is something terribly wrong with the way the government functions regardless of the party in power. Politics has become simply a means to hold on to power and manipulate it for personal gain. The general population accepts that reality for what it is. We seem to judge our leaders for their cleverness in outsmarting the system and the opposition, displaying no apparent concern about what they do as long as we are not directly affected. As a result, we allow our country to be governed by mostly those who are exceedingly corrupt, untruthful and arrogant enough to subvert the laws. Sure, India has made considerable economic progress since 1991, when progress is measured by aggregate yardsticks such as GDP growth rate. It was the result of being forced to open up the economy to foreign investment that was attracted to India by the abunda...

In 2011, the Indian government redefined rural poverty level at Rs. 26 ($0.50) per day per individual and urban poverty at Rs. 32 ($0.62). Anyone earning more than these cannot be classified as poor, claims the government. These amounts are supposedly enough to meet food, clothing, rent, education, medical and other personal needs, especially since the government subsidizes some of these expenses. This lower poverty threshold set by the government has reduced the poverty rate in India to 37% of the population. OECD and World Bank still maintain the poverty level at $1.25, and as per their estimates, India’s poverty rate is around 42-45%. Not wanting to embarrass national governments, these international organizations were reluctant to raise the poverty level from $1.00 for over a decade until recently when it raised it to $1.25. However, the cost of living in practically every developing country had more than doubled during the same period. So, in reality, these organizations...