QUES . “While we do our good works let us not forget that the real solution lies in a world in which charity will have become unnecessary.” Bring out what it means to you in the present context.
RELEVANCE : UPSC GS MAINS PAPER IV ; TOPIC – Contributions of moral thinkers and philosophers from India and world.
HINTS :
This statement by Chinua Achebe reflects that lending a helping hand is better than giving out a dole.
The world currently is grappling with several issues such as poverty, extreme inequality, environmental degradation to name a few. Several well meaning individuals do their own bit with the intention of alleviating these issues. This happens mostly in the form of charity.
However most of the charity today originates from a sense of ethical egoism which makes people feel good about themselves. It hardly tackles the root cause of the problems.
Amartya Sen in his capability approach has outlined that in order to truly empower people, they need to be given capabilities that enable them to live the kind of life they wish to lead. These capabilities in turn would give people freedom in the truest sense.
When people have capabilities and are able to achieve what they want to, charity will become meaningless. It is aptly said that “give a man a fish and he will be fed for the day, teach a man how to fish and he will be fed forever”.
Realizing this, Indian government has also been working towards achieving enablers of development which would enable people to not be dependent on the largesse of either government, corporates or well meaning individuals.
The emphasis on digital literacy, education, Stand Up India ,etc. is focused on enabling people to stand up on their own feet and take charge of their life.
Mahatma Gandhi has rightly mentioned that if each one of us perform our own tasks honestly and to the best of our abilities, the world will be a better place to live in. While performing these actions we need to remember his talisman, that we need to judge our actions by realizing whether our work would have any positive impact on the poor and the desolate. If this becomes the parameter to judge our actions, charity would become meaningless and the world would be a better place to live in.
