Great philanthropy from Azim Premji ..

I was really taken aback this morning to read of the great and magnanimous acts of philanthropy shown by one of India's richest persons, in fact, India's second richest person.

It  heartening to read of the huge philanthropic endowment corpus promised by Azim Premji, the Chairman of WIPRO (Western India Palm Refined Oils Ltd or more recently Western India Products Limited) the IT giant from India. Azim Premji committed 67% of his holdings in WIPRO to philanthropy.

I am reminded of the great philanthropy from US John D Rockefeller in the beginning of the 20 th century kickstarting directed philanthropy from the Rockefeller Foundation. (click here for the facts of that kind act..)

The Bangalore headquartered IT Czar has been known for his philanthropic activities  for a long time, and recently to top it all , he promised a $7.5 billion contribution to this corpus increasing his total endowment corpus to the Azim Premji Foundation to $ 21 billion ( or approximately INR 150,000 crores..).

I request the PM of India to come out in the open to acknowledge Azim;s great actions and to felicitate this kind soul for his magnanimous deed to humanity. Azim Premji Foundation funds almost 150 non-profit organisations in India.

Click here for the Hindustan Times report ..

By this great act of humanity and by endowing so much resources to the Azim Premji Trust, Azim Premji is setting an example for the whole of India and the world.

I doubt whether any other business conglomerate in India other than the Tata's have done such great social service in the country. The Birlas, the Ambanis, the Singhanias, the Bajajs have all failed the country in giving a hand of solace to it's citizens. They have throughout history of the past hundred years been sapping the country's resources for their personal benefits.

I know of a bunglow which Aditya Birla purchased for INR 430 crores in Mumbai Malabar Hill in 2018, on the beach, which is unoccupied and unutlised. It fails for our common sense to understand why these people who have sapped the society of resources legitimately or not, fail to give back to society in equal measure for the loot they have sapped.

May the MNCs of the world also start similar Foundations by earmarking a fraction of their profits yearly, the legitimately or illegitimately earned wealth and riches from the developing, less developed and developed nations of the world with the less fortunate in the society.

George..