Lending hands to someone is better than giving a dole

“Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach him how to fish and he will eat for a lifetime.”

Many around the world advocate for helping others. The society believes in reaching out, giving a helping hand, providing emotional support, and contributing financially. It is true that each individual can make the world a better place by helping others in some way. On the other hand, it’s relatively clear that anything, including help, can be harm too. 

Helping aids progression, creates an environment of positivism, adds value to the life of another human being. Helping lifts up, but doesn’t hold up; Helping is controlling in a form but not supportive; debilitating and not strengthening; sometimes paralyzing and not mobilizing.

When there is a problem, we think of a help. That help may give a temporary rest. But the real problem is not solved. The real help that can be done to the society that is in problem is to empower them and give them strength to solve the problem by themselves such that they would never face the same problem again in future.  The real help should make the person / society feel more self-empowered, should make the circumstances improve, and should enable the person / society to do his absolute best to help himself. Such help is not just a help but building a system; it is a lending hand, a support to solve the problem!

The history tells with facts that just a help is not useful. Krishna, he being a God in Mahabaratha could have saved Arjuna with his mighty power. But he helped Arjuna to fight his battle by himself but did not choose to fight for Arjuna. Gandhi, in Champaran and Keda sathyagraha did not just help the workers, but taught them their rights and stopped British exploiting them. It is not the money that they got that solved the problem, but learning their rights solved it.  The Seer-Poet of modern India – Tagore, who was born with a silver spoon could have been contended helping poor. But it was his literature and poems which enabled people to fight for themselves. That is the real help. 

In a country like India, giving freebies doles and gifts are off late considered as helping -- Be it during the elections or during a calamity. But it has few dangerous offshoots. Many political parties resort to this thinking it as a help that they do to the society. Few are as follows

1.Wasteful expenditure and diversion of resources

The first obvious problem is the resources that are used to give away the doles. In cases of post-poll doles, the resources that are used is not private spending by a political party or its financier but by the state exchequer for the benefit of a single political party. What's worse is that normally voters are in the dark about the real compromises made in order to fund these programs. Because of lack of information regarding what is the trade-off, it is hard to argue that the voter's choice must be respected. They often make the choice without knowing the hidden cost. 

2.Revenue deficit and other economic problems.

As pointed above, doles pose a large burden on the state exchequer.  In Tamil Nadu for instance, the freebie culture has resulted in a debt of over Rs. 1,00,000 crore. Many economists criticize it for being unsustainable in the long run and not oriented towards wealth-creation.

3. Distraction from real issues

If there is a flood, the real solution is to build roads, check why the flood occurred, punish the guilty, build check dams and educate people on how to prevent the same in future. Giving free doles does not solve any of these problems. 

Before an election doles distort this thinking by giving short-term material considerations and limit rational deliberation of the voter. This called the voters' bias towards instant gratification. From the political parties' perspective too this is convenient since it is easier to give doles across state than ensure fresh drinking water and sound infrastructure in a single district.  As a result, politicians are more likely to reap dividends in diverting state funds into short-term gimmicks such as giving away freebies.

4. Introduction of Inequality in Political Arena

In a just society, all individuals must have equal political opportunities and powers must be independent of social or economic position. However, in a society where doles for votes are common, the wealthy tend to have an unfair advantage as they can fund their election campaigns.

5. Loss of Accountability.

When the vote is treated like a marketable commodity, the potency of this weapon is undermined. The message sent across is that this vote may be bought by doling out sops in the months preceding the election.  The direct consequence of such erosion of the value of the vote is the loss of the accountability. 

India has understood the real meaning of help in the right way and now a day we see the policies of the government taken in the right direction. The governing system is now supported by self-reliance, self-respect and self-dependency. There are three things are important for the shram-yogi: self reliance (swavalamban), self independence (swashray) and self-dignity (swabhimaan). Noo “shram yogi” likes to be dependent. Government has already  launched these pro-poor initiatives for the benefit of shram yogis, especially women and youth, so that they are empowered to fight poverty, This is in keeping with the spirit of “Shrameva Jayate,” 

Gujarat is a leader in the dairy sector. It is the hard work of women with financial independence which made it possible. These women are the real entrepreneurs. The real help here was giving the women a financial independence. 

To help the north east region, under the Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana, activities are undertaken through Bring Green Revolution to Eastern India (BGREI) that includes cluster demonstration, asset building for water management, crop development programme, marketing support and creation of processing and storage facilities. This will boost the economy and trade of the region. 

Instead of just giving compensation to farmers who suffer from draught, in addition to it government does On Farm Water Management (OFWM), Agricultural Insurance. National e-Governance plan in Agriculture (NeGP-A) aims achieve rapid development of agriculture in India through the use of ICT by ensuring timely access to agriculture related information in 7 states in phase-1. 

Educating downtrodden is the best help that we could do. Rajiv Gandhi Fellowships, establishment of equal opportunity cells, opening centres for studies in social exclusion and inclusive policies are in progress to teach their rights to them and to enlighten them about the opportunities available to them. 

The Make in India programme will create more jobs in India and help alleviate poverty. Pandit Deenadayal Upadhyay Dhramev Jayate Karyakram creates a conductive environment for industrial development and doing business with ease and also expanding government support to impart skill training for workers.

We are in the right path of progress. There is help – help in the real sense that is offered to the people by just lending the hand to help them climb the ladder by themselves.

The need of the hour is to strengthen water resources for irrigation and flood control to prevent a calamity like what happened in Chennai recently, improve infrastructure, raise basic educational quality, women empowerment, poverty alleviation and control population explosion, Improve health care, encourage alternate fuels, exploring space,  tax regulations, space exploration

There are lot many policies and plans in place, but the implementation of them is the major problem.

Implementation planners must attempt to cut through the culture of diversified places and to plan in relation to the various competitive environments by identifying the strategies for them. There is no single policy that would fit for all in a country like India

Implementing strategy involves change. Management systems are often in place as a result of past strategies; they are rarely tuned or revised to meet the needs of new ones. The strategies must be revised. 

The following points may also be considered

1. Allocating clear responsibility and accountability for the success of the overall strategy project;
2.  Limiting the number of strategies pursued at any one time;
3. Identifying actions to be taken to achieve the strategic objective, allocating detailed responsibilities fo actions - and getting agreement for them;
4. Identifying a lists of milestones, or major intermediate progress points;
5. Identifying key performance measures to be monitored throughout the life of the strategy project, and creating an information system to record progress.

Through proper policies and their implementations, we would be able to lend a helping hand to many!

May we make a difference each day we live. May we open our heart and learn to help and give. But.. May we help and give the skill such that they do not ask again and solve their problems by themselves