Do not donate blindly in name of religion!

 Do not link donation with religion

All religions state that one should donate to help humankind. They are ONLY PARTLY right. Because blind donation in the name of religion may in fact be dangerous for society especially in countries like India where begging has become a profession.

On religious occasions that are ample in most religions, people donate either money or food to the poor. But such blind donations may be harmful. Take for example, the case of food donation to beggars. When people donate food during festivals, the food donated is in abundance and exceeds what the beggar population can consume. Hence, the excess gets spoiled and is thrown away. This leads to food waste and loss of resources that had gone into its making. Moreover, this organic waste leads to greenhouse gas emissions that can damage the environment and planet.

Religious beggar 

And if you donate money to the beggars, you see that it does not reach the people who need it. The money does not go to buying food or clothes for themselves or their family, but it might end up in getting the beggars their daily dose of alcohol, drugs, or harmful addictive things such as gutka. Do you know how much the beggars earn daily by begging? Well, the amount varies but it is more than what they would earn doing hard work. Hence, they prefer to continue to beg rather than work. Begging is a profession for them, a full time job. And they teach their children the same occupation. I remember once a shopkeeper told me that when he told a beggar to work at his shop in return for Rs. 200/- daily, the beggar point blank refused because he said that he earned Rs. 500/- per day by begging. Imagine when one person earns that much per day, how much would a family of five earn per day? Enormous.

Read here on how begging is a profession in India 

There are some foreigners who have the impression that India is a poor country and they buy some costly clothes and shoes for these beggars when they visit India. But they find that the next day, the person neither has those clothes nor shoes on him or her. So where did these expensive things go? Well, the beggars sold them and got money in its place. This money would go into buying alcohol or cosmetics etc rather than food or other essentials of daily life.

So, I hope you understand what I mean to say. Do not just keep donating money or food or expensive items to people on the roads. Donate only when you are sure that the person is indeed needy and cannot make his or her ends meet. Such truly needy people also have self-respect and would rather ask for a job rather than beg or take the money you gave them. A renowned Chinese philosopher had said:

‘Instead of giving a bowl of rice to a hungry person, teach him or her how to grow rice.”

You can donate money during the crisis but it should not become a habit.

Do not use religious occasions to donate in large amounts. Do not make it an excuse to donate. Use your wit to donate. Delink religion from donation. And make the world beggarfree and a worthy place to live.