Billionaire's Club

Billionaires’ club Sir, ~ According to the latest report in Forbes, India has the largest number of billionaires in Asia. It may have surpassed Japan, but this is hardly a matter to rejoice over. The comparison must end with the number of billionaires. We tend to forget that in other spheres of life, Japan is far ahead of India. Creating billionaires and computing per capita income of the region/city is a classic example of the maxim “lies, damned lies and statistics”. The strength of a chain depends on the strength of its weakest link. On a parity of reasoning, the prosperity of the country depends on the economic status of the poor and backward. There is no point in creating a few islands of prosperity in an ocean of poverty. Barring exceptions like Narayana Murthy and Azim Premji, most of the billionaires lead an ostentatious lifestyle and spend very little on philanthropy. How many billionaires spend money for social, educational, charitable and humanitarian causes? How many educational institutions or hospitals have these billionaires built to provide free or concessional facilities to the poor and needy? How many billionaires come forward to sponsor sport activities other than cricket? Money is the sole criteria of development and status. ~ Yours, etc., EM Adithyan, Edapal (Kerala), 3 December.