What a Journey:
Bharat 1917 to India 2025!
Destitution to Dazzling Diamonds
How much
times have changed. What amazing progress our great country has made. What an exciting
journey. What a glorious transformation; Bharat 1917 to India 2025; from despicable destitution to dazzling diamonds!
Bharat 1917
After the
Congress Annual Session held in Lucknow from December 26-30, 1916, Gandhi
proceeded to Champaran for a personal investigation into the pathetic plight of
the indigo farmers. Congress was not formally associated with this
investigation.
At Champaran,
Gandhi had his first exposure to life in rural Bharat. Hoping to make a little
difference, he mobilised a few volunteers, organised rudimentary medical care,
and opened six primary schools in the villages.
About the
abject poverty in rural India, he narrates a heart-rending incident in his
autobiography:
“Bhitiharva
was a small village in which was one of our schools. I happened to visit a
smaller village in its vicinity and found some of the women dressed very dirtily.
So I told my wife to ask them why they did not wash their clothes. She spoke to
them. One of the women took her into her hut and said: 'Look now, there is no
box or cupboard here containing other clothes. The sari I am wearing is the
only one I have. How am I to wash it? Tell Mahatmaji to get me another sari,
and I shall then promise to bathe and put on clean clothes every day.'[i]
India 2025
At a recent big bash Diwali party in Mumbai, plebeian celebrities gawked and gasped when a very rich lady flaunted her bejewelled bag studded with 3025 diamonds.
“Though the
sequinned Manish Malhotra saree and the boulder-sized emerald
earrings mesmerised the internet, the real pièce de résistance of her look,
however, was the Sac Bijou, Hermès’ bejewelled reincarnation of its most
popular bag—the Birkin.….
According
to Sotheby's, the rare Sac Bijou bag is the most expensive Hermès Birkin
bag in the world. There are only three Sac Bijou Birkins in existence, and each
comes with a $2 million (approximately ₹17,73,24,200) price tag.”[ii]
Gandhi on Wealth and
Trusteeship
· “Supposing I have come by a fair
amount of wealth—either by way of legacy, or by means of trade and industry—I
must know that all that wealth does not belong to me; what belongs to me is the
right to an honourable livelihood, no better than that enjoyed by millions of
others.”
· “The rest of my wealth belongs to the
community and must be used for the welfare of the community.”
· “I do not want to dispossess the rich
of their wealth. I want to make them the trustees of it.”
· “A trustee has no personal interest
in the wealth he holds. He uses it for the benefit of those in need.”
India’s Poor
Key numbers
· With reference to World Bank
international poverty line ($3/day in 2021 PPP), about 5.3% of Indians were
living in extreme poverty in 2022-23.
· Bottom 20% (poorest quintile)
household income
· A survey by PRICE in 2022-23 found
that the poorest 20% of Indian households had an average annual income of about
₹1,14,000.
· National poverty lines (domestic
consumption-based thresholds)
According to
the RAS-India poverty line table for 2022-23, the monthly poverty‐line
consumption expenditure threshold (rural) is about ₹2,515/month per person. In
urban areas, it's ~₹3,639/month.
Annually,
that’s ~ ₹30,180/year (rural) and ~ ₹43,668/year (urban) per person.
The very
rich lady’s Sac Bijou Hermes Birkin bag is worth
· annual income of 1555 poorest 20% of
Indian households; and
· rural poverty-line consumption
expenditure of 5875 Indians.
Carbon Footprint
What’s the
bag’s cost to the environment? ChatGPT estimates the carbon footprint to be 70–100
tonnes CO₂ to offset which it would take 667 trees 30 years or more.
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