A few days ago, Microsoft founder and one of richest people in the
world, Bill Gates declared in New Delhi that designing low-cost toilets
for developing countries was his dream. It came to light that the
co-chair of Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation planned to host the
world’s best scientists and engineers in Seattle, USA in August to see
if they could design cheap, dry toilets which don’t so far exist.
Jest Kidding has learnt that the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation recently organised a business plan competition across premier B-schools in India on the theme ‘Sustainable Philanthropy - A blueprint for India’. The competition was aimed at exploring ways to mobilise financial resources for philanthropic activities in India.
This is what Bill Gates had to say about this competition: “A couple of years back, Warren Buffett and I met several billionaires and as a result forty of the world’s richest families pledged to give at least half of their fortunes to philanthropy. But we were warned that the same approach of asking people to donate voluntarily might not work in India. So we had to think of different ways to mobilise resources in an Indian context and that is when we thought of organising this contest. Honestly, I was a bit sceptical about the outcome of this competition as I am not a big fan of the practice of solving the world’s problems with Powerpoint presentations in B-schools. But I must confess that I was extremely impressed with one very innovative plan submitted by a team from a Mumbai B-school. The solution was very ingenious, quite convincing and tailor-made for the Indian context.
“The plan was about starting a training institute for Godmen and then eventually deploying them in different parts of the country to rake in crores of rupees which can be routed to philanthropic activities. The team had estimated the value of the Indian industry of Babas and Godmen to be several thousand crores of rupees. Given the tendency of many Indians to get easily fooled by unscrupulous Godmen, the team felt that it would be an extremely attractive proposition to train youngsters in chicanery and oratorical skills and deploy them as Babas. The plan claims that people would be readily willing to pay in that case. The team is of the opinion that it would otherwise be very difficult to make people take to philanthropy. In my opinion, this line of thinking looks reasonable and the plan practical to implement.”
Sources told Jest Kidding that the first batch shall have 50 seats to be filled completely on merit, based on a written test to select the smartest but morally most corrupt people who can shamelessly dupe unsuspecting followers without any remorse. The plan has also listed 50 names to be given to the participants once they complete their course. There are names like Pyarananda, Nyarananda, Jhoomananda and many Babas. There is a healthy mix of Babas and Anandas in the list of names. The training institute would have guest sessions by P C Sorcar Jr and other famous magicians to equip the participants with tricks which would come in handy while fooling people and would increase the number of followers manifold. The six-month programme would have courses like ‘Living without regret’, ‘Lying without remorse’, ‘A peek into the scriptures’, ‘Introduction to philosophy’, ‘Effective Public Speaking’ among others. At the end of the course the fully equipped Godmen would be posted at 50 strategically located Ashrams across the country. The initial funding for setting up ashrams, training institute etc would be provided by the foundation. Some investment would also be made initially to set up hospitals and schools to give these Godmen the much-needed initial thrust of legitimacy in the public eye so that people would start donating generously.
According to the business plan, the foundation can expect to break even in just over a year. Apart from food, accommodation in ashram, some perquisites and a modest salary, the Godmen would not get to keep any wealth. The plan envisages increasing the intake of the institute gradually over the years. The entire money collected from the public would be used for philanthropic activities of Bill and Melinda Gates foundation in India, currently in sanitation and later in education, healthcare and other segments, the sources said.
Link: http://www.thestatesman.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=413163&catid=39
Jest Kidding has learnt that the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation recently organised a business plan competition across premier B-schools in India on the theme ‘Sustainable Philanthropy - A blueprint for India’. The competition was aimed at exploring ways to mobilise financial resources for philanthropic activities in India.
This is what Bill Gates had to say about this competition: “A couple of years back, Warren Buffett and I met several billionaires and as a result forty of the world’s richest families pledged to give at least half of their fortunes to philanthropy. But we were warned that the same approach of asking people to donate voluntarily might not work in India. So we had to think of different ways to mobilise resources in an Indian context and that is when we thought of organising this contest. Honestly, I was a bit sceptical about the outcome of this competition as I am not a big fan of the practice of solving the world’s problems with Powerpoint presentations in B-schools. But I must confess that I was extremely impressed with one very innovative plan submitted by a team from a Mumbai B-school. The solution was very ingenious, quite convincing and tailor-made for the Indian context.
“The plan was about starting a training institute for Godmen and then eventually deploying them in different parts of the country to rake in crores of rupees which can be routed to philanthropic activities. The team had estimated the value of the Indian industry of Babas and Godmen to be several thousand crores of rupees. Given the tendency of many Indians to get easily fooled by unscrupulous Godmen, the team felt that it would be an extremely attractive proposition to train youngsters in chicanery and oratorical skills and deploy them as Babas. The plan claims that people would be readily willing to pay in that case. The team is of the opinion that it would otherwise be very difficult to make people take to philanthropy. In my opinion, this line of thinking looks reasonable and the plan practical to implement.”
Sources told Jest Kidding that the first batch shall have 50 seats to be filled completely on merit, based on a written test to select the smartest but morally most corrupt people who can shamelessly dupe unsuspecting followers without any remorse. The plan has also listed 50 names to be given to the participants once they complete their course. There are names like Pyarananda, Nyarananda, Jhoomananda and many Babas. There is a healthy mix of Babas and Anandas in the list of names. The training institute would have guest sessions by P C Sorcar Jr and other famous magicians to equip the participants with tricks which would come in handy while fooling people and would increase the number of followers manifold. The six-month programme would have courses like ‘Living without regret’, ‘Lying without remorse’, ‘A peek into the scriptures’, ‘Introduction to philosophy’, ‘Effective Public Speaking’ among others. At the end of the course the fully equipped Godmen would be posted at 50 strategically located Ashrams across the country. The initial funding for setting up ashrams, training institute etc would be provided by the foundation. Some investment would also be made initially to set up hospitals and schools to give these Godmen the much-needed initial thrust of legitimacy in the public eye so that people would start donating generously.
According to the business plan, the foundation can expect to break even in just over a year. Apart from food, accommodation in ashram, some perquisites and a modest salary, the Godmen would not get to keep any wealth. The plan envisages increasing the intake of the institute gradually over the years. The entire money collected from the public would be used for philanthropic activities of Bill and Melinda Gates foundation in India, currently in sanitation and later in education, healthcare and other segments, the sources said.
Link: http://www.thestatesman.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=413163&catid=39
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