Charity comes from an honest heart.

A World Giving Index 2014, devised by Charities Aid Foundation based in the UK, put India in the 69th position among 135 countries, when it comes to giving for charity. Which is surprising when the government forces companies to allocate 2% of earning for social schemes under the Companies Act 2013. This index measures charity only in monetary terms leaving out the value of time. Kailash Satyarthi received the Noble Peace Prize this year because of his work for preservation of childhood, and against child labor. Admittedly this is a political prize because it was shared equally between and Indian and a Pakistani, Malala Yousufzai but the fact that Satyarthi was chosen among 1.2 billion Indians makes it significant. Perhaps the reason why Indians do not want to donate to charities, despite getting tax relief on donations, is because they do not trust anyone. Politicians are seen as criminals with one third of the present MPs declaring serious crimes, such as murder, kidnap and rape, registered against them. The rest are seen as beggars whose sole purpose in getting elected is to occupy luxury bungalows, show off false status by getting Z+ security and beg for various perks, such as free tickets for ' companions ', a generic term which could include voluptuous pulchritude. Giving money to NGOs is also not safe because India has 200,000 of these, one for every 600 people. Since they do not reveal their detailed accounts no one knows how they spend the money they raise. You will see many politicians running NGOs and educational institutions, masquerading as charitable institutions when they are siphoning money into their own pockets. There are stories about charities fooling people by raising money on false promises. Once you have handed in your money you have no control on how it is spent, rather like the taxes we pay. And therein lies the problem. But surely rich people can control the way they spend on charities? Indeed they do as Azim Premji and Narayan Murthy have shown. These men entrepreneurs who became rich through their own ideas but most businesses in India are owned by families. Since independence India has been ruled by the Congress or its surrogates, except for 6 years of BJP government from 1998 to 2004, and pursued a most pernicious form of crony capitalism which meant that only friends and families were given licenses to run businesses. These are bandits and bandits do not engage in charity. Secondly, to run any business requires hefty bribes to be paid to politicians and civil servants, leaving little for profits, let alone charity. Altruism comes from the heart but needs a clean mind.