Polity and economy intersects: philanthropy a flash in point

Billionaires who run the global corporations’ control – from agriculture to industrial to technology to medicine to education to entertainment and all human activities which entail our lives – what should we eat, drink and dress. The entire gamut of production, distribution and consumption are in the hands of these oligopolistic transnational corporations (TNCs). Their control over technology, technical know-how and technology transfers and also media including social media adds absolute control over everything including our thought processes.
The wealth of these billionaires exceeds countries that are poor and underdeveloped. Having absolute control over economy, labor, production, distribution and consumption that determines the functioning of any society makes them to influence governments’ policies and programs. Over the years, these billionaires in association with the bureaucracy and those who govern the countries of the world made the people to believe that entrepreneurs and those who control capitals are indispensable – without them economy and society shall never run and so be taken maximum advantage and thus be given concessions and privileges.
Having established the fact that they are the engines of growth and backbone of countries’ development, progress, growth and prosperity which the leaders of countries of the world affirm and endorse that polity is indeed dependent on economy and vice versa and so politics and economics compliments one another which dismisses the very basis and assumption that economics is to be left on its own and politics should never meddle with laws of economic fundamentals. Therefore, politics and economics are indeed the core factor that are to be reckoned with. And so, there is a clandestine understanding between politicians and capitalists.
A classic and flashy example to illustrate the point of how politics and economy weave together are Asia’s richest man Gautam Adani and India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Gautam Adani’s family has pledge Rs. 60,000 crores towards charity to mark the 60th birthday, marking one of the biggest philanthropic commitments in India thus far. The Adani Group founder and chairman turned 60 on the 24th of June 2022. Adani in his statement said: “In addition to being the 100th anniversary of my inspiring father, this year also happens to be the year of my 60th birthday and therefore the family decided to contribute Rs. 60,000 crores ($7.7 billion) towards charitable activities related to health care, education and skill development in the rural region.”
The Adani foundation helmed by Adani and his immediate family will administer the corpus. He plans to rope in sectoral experts to lead each initiative. His pledge of Rs. 60,000 crores which is about $7.7 billion is equivalent to about 9 percent of Adani’s net worth of Rs. 7.16 lakh crores as of 23rd June, 2022. Ranked as number one in Asia and ranked as the 11th richest man in the world, he opened the gates of philanthropy in India. If this is background, how does economy meet polity? A classic and flashy case that happened in recent times is that an official document has been in the Sri Lankan Finance Ministry’s records since November, 2021.
In it, Sri Lanka’s electricity board chief says that a project by Adani Group in Sri Lanka was backed by the Indian government. It was in fact seen, as a ‘G-G’, i.e., Government to Government proposal. He has also mentioned about Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s allegedly putting pressure on Sri Lanka’s President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to give green signal to Adani’s deal. Deals are mutually agreed upon and made to realize in practical terms so as to enhance interests of each other. Entrepreneurs want to maximize his/her wealth, while political leaders harvest the deals by ways of donations to their political parties, remittances, deposits, luxury trips, private jets, resorts and many others. Can we call this a nexus or symbiosis?
While pledging $7.7 billion which is equivalent to Rs. 60,000 crores for charity initiatives and works, Adani’s family has shown strong philanthropic interests. For instance, in fiscal 2021, Adani donated Rs. 130 crores towards disaster relief, ranking him eighth in the EdelGive Harun India philanthropy list. While Adani Foundation donated Rs. 122 crores to fight the coronavirus pandemic across the country. With the latest move, Adani joins notable pledgers like Meta (Facebook parent) CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffet and Blackstone CEO Stephen Schwarzman who have committed to give a significant part of their wealth to Philanthropy. Is it a ‘philanthropic globalization’?
The dynamic between polity and economy is such that vibrant. As a result, it is always reverberating and rewarding. It is nothing but a nexus that works out well and in the process both mutually benefits. Recently we have seen in the ‘vaccine brand push’ global pharmaceutical corporations and vaccine manufacturers were competing with each other and the political clout agreeing upon particular brands over others. It is big business and huge stakes are involved and major forces into it especially when politics and economics come together. As we move on these two, polity and economy tend to be natural allies showing inter-dependency – parasitical alliance. What we perceive and come across in all these are just a tip of the iceberg.
Dr. John Mohan Razu