Here’s what the American business magnate and philanthropist, Bill Gates has to say about India. India is the richest country in the world. But the funniest thing is that people fail to understand that they are like servants in their own country owing to which a farmer commits suicide cursing God for his misfortunes. The poor people in this country also fail to recognise the true culprits behind their poverty. The youth is unaware of the people responsible for their unemployment. Do you gather punya by offering hair to God? Does prosperity come to you by offering a coconut? In reality, hair and coconuts offered to God make a big business for the temple priests. What does one achieve by offering gold and silver ornaments to gods? In fact, these are just auctioned off by the temple priests. Instead of all these, one should — donate seeds to farmers so that they can grow more crops, try to help in a poor girl’s marriage, adopt an orphaned child so that his/her future may get secured, feed a hungry person, help a handicapped person, donate something to a village school library, donate money to an old age home or orphanage, schools in several villages have no shelter but temples have marble floorings. On other hand, parents make a lot of queries when they are asked to donate Rs 200 to a school but donate in thousands to a temple without asking any questions. Will such a nation become a superpower in real sense? The answer is No, because we call ourselves an agriculturist nation while our farmers commit suicides in almost every state of country.
(The views expressed by the author in the article are his/her own.)
