A helping hand?

Yesterday I had this argument with my friend on whether bringing up the so-called poor classes was really necessary. According to Darwin's theory of evolution, only the fittest of the species survive and their genes are passed on to the next generation. Thus, our genes are selectively screened and only the useful ones are kept in the gene pool. If we keep giving life support to the people who do not possess this 'survival' gene, won't the poor continue to depend on us and not come up on their own?

Nature has its way of screening. The swift tigers get their prey. Hence, speed is a desirable trait in tigers. Likewise, the swift deers stand a sporting chance of escaping death. This is nature's way of balancing things. The slow tigers die of starvation and the slow deers die an early death. If, suppose, we interfered in this by providing a helping hand to the slow deers and tigers, are we not guilty of not encouraging talent? Breeding animals with this trait will defeat the purpose of evolution.

Some may argue that man is above the other animals, hence the theory of evolution does not hold true for him. But I disagree. Man is a product of evolution.

I have this theory that if a person has ambition, he will come up no matter what caste he is born in, in spite of his financial situation, regardless of physical disabilities. Take Helen Keller for example, she suffered from multiple disabilities. Our ex-president Dr. Abdul Kalam was also not from a very affluent family. And there are so many people from the so-called 'backward classes' who now have a comfortable position in life. If these people could make it, why can't the others? The reason is that the ones who haven't come up don't have the ambition to do so. There are plenty of opportunities, yet these people choose not to take them.

Many people have this flawed concept of altruism. It is not selflessly giving to those in need, it is giving to those who deserve it. Once a poor drunkard, always a poor drunkard. You can't change him even if you give him enough money to start a business. He will spend it on booze, run the business to the ground and stay poor, and also blame you for his failures. Once you start giving, people will try to swindle you by telling you their sob stories, how desperately in need of money they are. The people who ask repeatedly are generally the ones who least deserve it. All the beggars you see on the streets should be discouraged. They are too lazy to work because they get things free, while we have to work for each and every paise we earn. And we pay taxes so that the government can help these people.

A relief camp was set up in Orissa during one of their never ending natural calamities. The first day the victims took refuge there, they were grateful. Soon, they started demanding more. They wanted more money, better living conditions. They start asking as though it is their birthright, 'cos they are 'victims' of a cruel nature. Even a few years down the line, they were still 'recovering'. Why the heck should anyone even lend a helping hand to such people? They should be left to their own devices, even if they starve and die it is good riddance.

The tsunami victims, many of whom were from the poor fishermen community, took the help of the NGOs to rebuild their fishing boats and went back to the same sea that had claimed the lives of many of their kin. These are the people who bounce back from any obstacle that fate throws their way. It is the same case with the earthquake victims in Bhuj. They bounce back. Once they get over their emotional turmoil, they face hard reality and realise that they can either spend their entire lives thinking of themselves as victims to circumstances, or they can rebuild their old life. They make a choice. It is such people who really need the helping hand of society, not all the lazy people who expect things to fall on their plate just because they are poor. For such people, society has always been there to help.

A beggar in front of the India Gate revealed that he earnt Rs. 500/- a day begging. It was a major news article. He even had a bank account. A hardworking labourer earns Rs.100/- a day. That is a big sum for him. He feels proud that he is earning so much and coming up by sheer effort. Say this beggar meets this labourer. He will jeer at him for working so hard and still earning less than him. The labourer quits his job and starts begging. India loses a worker and gains yet another person living on charity. Every coin you toss a beggar demoralises the labourer who feels he is not getting just compensation for his efforts. You are working against the very cause you support by encouraging begging, even more so if it is a child beggar.

Now some wise ass will remark that not all beggars earn Rs. 500/- a day so it is ok to give them money. Do you know that a lot of these beggars are actually people who have escaped from the various welfare or rehabilitation centres set up by the benevolent NGOs? If you ask them why, they will tell you that the conditions there are terrible. In some cases, it is genuinely so. Afterall, corruption has its hold on even the social workers. But most of the time, they escape because the NGOs will put them to work to make them atleast contribute a little towards their keep. They don't want to work. They want things free. So they come to the streets and beg, and by supporting them you undermine the cause of these welfare homes.

Sudhir and Mathi are two students in Class XII. They both work hard and secure 90% in the Board Exam. Sudhir gets his seat in the college and course of his choice. Mathi doesn't. Reason: Sudhir belongs to the backward community whereas Mathi does not. Seeing how the system is against him, although he is equally meritorious, he goes into depression. His parents cannot afford to pay capitation fees to get him into college. His hopes and dreams shattered, he reflects on just how unjust the whole caste system really is. There are many people in India like Mathi. Eventually, they forget and accept our society with all its flaws. But deep down, this injustice rankles. Later on, Sudhir will proudly proclaim that although he was from a backward community, he rose up through sheer merit, and he will produce his mark sheet to bear testimony to his statement. The media will eat up his story and we will believe it. Only Mathi will know the actual truth.

We Indians call our nation as secular, yet we slowly widen the rift between the various castes and religions by our practices. Are we all not guilty of hypocrisy? Looking at the state of our country, where hard work and effort is not rewarded but laziness, lethargy and caste are amply rewarded, can any Indian feel proud about his country?