Comments on: Is Jain-To-Jain Better Than Jain-To-Many?

By: PC

PC — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 13:21:10 +0000

“CHARITY BEGINS AT HOME”, hope all of us have heard this sometime in our life and if answer is affirmative then we all should appreciate the endeavor of various Jain charitable outfits who are dedicated to their community. I am not a Jain however I have closely worked with various such organizations and entire argument that they assist only Jain is inappropriate.
Regarding various commentators who were immensely concerned about disparity and widening of gap between rich and poor or communities, I sincerely request them to stop adding to problems of this country. The biggest problem of this country is the so called educated class or intellect breed, as soon as they realize that they may have some grey cells they start blabbering philosophical. Please understand the truth that people who are poor are meant to be poor or remain poor. It’s very hard to believe or to digest such a blunt remark however you may authenticate this in your day to day life without launching a big research. In our country almost every poor wants a quick and easy relief and we call it charity or subsidy. Please go ahead and find out a single organization where there is no vacancy at class 4 levels or even simple go ahead and try finding someone to clean your choked drainage or clean weeds from your lawn or clean junk from your backyard and I guarantee you will understand my viewpoint. Those who wish to come out of poverty have made it in past and will continue to do it without any assistance or reservations, hope we know people like APJ Kalam, Rajendra Prasad, LB Shastri, DB Ambani and list continues. We are too engrossed in to the proverb “ squeaking wheel needs oil” however we also need to understand that if oil has not worked in 60 years then it’s time to understand that the wheel needs hammer to align better or may need a replacement. I guess this is a very practical approach we take in our day to day life however shy away to accept the same when it comes to forum as someone shouldn’t consider us dud or non INTELLECT.

By: Daman Prakash

Daman Prakash — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 18:30:25 +0000

Except religious aspects Jains are not at all known to keep charity confined to their own community. Jain to many had been hallmark of their charity

In a globalised environment, many Jains even within a family have surpassed others while their own kith and kin suffer. This realisation have made Jains to create some common platform to help fellow Jains and new concept Jain to Jain has emerged.

Jain community is arguably the only community in post Independence India, never made any demands on public funds nor resorted to agitational methods like many others.to seek Government patronage or reservations or political mileage. Their thinking of self help need to be lauded and emulated.

Numbers may vary but in post indepedence India every community has many neo rich who can take care of their fellow brothers and sisters. Their attitude will decide the altitude community takes.

By: Guru Gulab Khatri

Guru Gulab Khatri — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 03:44:26 +0000

There is nothing wrong with what jains are doing. A BIG MIDDLE FINGER SALUTE to those giving it a bad communalist casteist wag of finger.

I dont know if indian govt will go anywhere with regards to anything and perhaps each community doing its own thing may work. BTW I had proposed a government oriented suggestion to an earlier prashant’s post called bhartiya vidya sena http://indianeconomy.org/2005/10/27/still-a-long-way-to-go/

I am DISGUSTED with government in india, and perhaps this is the only way it can work. Simply put its being run by folks without vision(and perhaps an anti indic( cultural vision

By: ARUN

ARUN — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 12:45:35 +0000

It is dishearting to read that even after sixty years of independence we are still cradling the age old caste system and reservations based on that. If they are really keen to develop the country let them educate all. No reservations No quotas only on merit basis. This will help to develop a bright future and level playing ground for the future indians.

By: Salty

Salty — Sun, 18 May 2008 16:26:53 +0000

Joydeep had sent a link to his post. The link talks about Jains paying 15% of national taxes with a population of only 1.5% . The Jains are setting up 4 knowledge societies (including universities )developed on 100 acres of land, each in 4 metros.

Assuming the figures are correct , this wealthy community is working on getting commensurate representation in civil services as well providing for quality higher education, free, for it own community. They are not asking for dole or quotas in the limited number of government-sponsored institutes.

Some other minority communities in India do extend help in funding higher studies abroad for meritorious students from their ilk.

With the reservation system in place in government institutes (& to continue till so-called social justice is delivered to all kind of backward groups); funding & quality education for increasing numbers of needy-but-meritorious students have to be undertaken by somebody.

And who better than one’s own community?

Maybe , this idea is not equitable but when the politicians are hell bent on doing social engineering at the expense of merit, this reaction by the Jain community is one of the more civilised-yet-powerful reactions than fighting out the reservation battle on the streets.

By: dhruval

dhruval — Tue, 13 May 2008 03:33:32 +0000

I am not opposed to the Jains or any other group, focusing charitable efforts on their ethnic group in principle. All else being equal, higher quality education is a good thing.

But on a larger scale, in the long term, I think this type of thing is likely to lead to greater economic inequality between social groups within India.

You have to realize that concentration of wealth within small privileged ethnic groups leads to resentment among the majority. Within a democratically elected society this manifests itself in the form of largely ineffective illiberal government policies designed to uplift the masses (i.e. linguistic chauvinism, reservations, regionalism, job protection etc). Outside of a democratic system the result can be even more dramatic (eg. naxalites)

Consider that it is beacause of popular but stupid government policies, such as the ones likely to result from inequal distribution of wealth between social groups, that India’s public primary education system is ineffective to begin with. The consequences of a widespread adoption of ethnic group charities could well be far more negative than most would anticipate.

By: Aakash Shah

Aakash Shah — Sun, 04 May 2008 11:50:49 +0000

Hi,
I think the idea of donation / charity prevails in all the castes and communities . It all matters how do the individual organization use them.
Some donate to temples / church / Gurudwara / Mosques and some for other purposes.
Its good to hear that Jain Community is using part of these donations to knowledge as this will be a stepping stone to the prosperity and growth as a whole.
Upto my knowledge ( strictly my POV ) Jain community has got many businessman and are self dependent. The literacy rate in the community is high too. Also as far as I know the Girl : Boy literacy ratio is almost equal. So as its always stated “Charity Begins at Home” so starting by motivating people to donate for the community and developing the community and then getting bigger by working on wider range is the best option.
The Most Important Point I would like to state is
Starting as a community its better to manage and keep proper surveillance on How the donators money is used. Your faith on the organization is not lost by this and you can even donate more for wider work for nation / humanity as a whole.

* All points I covered are in general terms and applicable to all the castes and communities.

By: Rohan

Rohan — Sat, 03 May 2008 16:35:07 +0000

The idea of charity is to help the needy. As long as the needy are correctly identified, it doesn’t really matter what community or sect they belong to. As long as the Jains or the donor group is donating to someone who needs the money, irrespective of the recipient group’s community, why should there be a problem?

By: Observer

Observer — Fri, 02 May 2008 17:18:25 +0000

I am not a Jain. But I think there is absolutely nothing wrong with this idea at all. Each group has the right, and I may say, even an obligation, to preserve its own distinct culture and traditions. And to support its own members. As long as the group is not interfering with others, or oppressing others, I think this represents a stable Nash equilibrium in the social context. I believe successful societies are those which encourage diversity, as well as tolerance at the same time. If everyone were to think alike and act alike, the world would be a very boring place. Similarly if everyone were to fight with each other constantly, the world would be a hellish place indeed. A philosophy of live and let live probably confers long-term stability to society.

When it comes to caste, I believe that as long as one caste does not treat another as “lower” or “higher”, but just as a unique endogamous group with a desire to preserve its own unique traditions, language, customs and culture, most of the conflict evident in today’s Indian society would go away. So instead of destroying castes, the focus should be on destroying casteism. Similarly, instead of destroying religion, the focus should be on maintaining communal harmony.

More importantly, Jains, like many other groups, pay taxes to the Indian Govt. These taxes are used by the Govt for the welfare of various disadvantaged groups. Thus, by being honest taxpayers, Jains already help other groups that the Govt decides are disadvantaged. And then there is absolutely nothing wrong in a Jain foundation seeking to help its own members succeed in life. Jains must maintain and strengthen their identity so that Indian society can remain diverse and tolerant for another 5000 years.

By: RK

RK — Thu, 01 May 2008 20:16:03 +0000

You dint have to take it personally :-)

Appreciate your idea though.

We were not talking about any specific community or JITO.

I think the topic was generic in nature.