Readers' Forum
Definition of poor Parsi
"The definition of BPP (Bombay Parsi Punchayet) of a poor Parsi, as the one who earns up to Rs 90,000 a month…” was front page news in The Times of India of June 14, 2012. The Times contacted my husband, Dara Hakim, trustee of the Vadodara Parsi Panchayet, on what it meant to him and the community in Baroda. Rightly, his reply which they printed was "shocked to read about the new yardstick about defining the poor. It’s completely nonsensical. But then why get shocked, considering that the Planning Commission said that one could survive on Rs 20 a day.”
If deputy chairman of the Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia feels Rs 20 is the benchmark for survival, then surely BPP has its own take, and so for them Rs 90,000 per month was needed for the survival for the poor in our community! These days the BPP thrives on statements which only they seem to understand, because no right thinking person would accept their logic. They are so immersed in controversy that this is normal for them.
What they don’t seem to realize is that it makes shocking reading for our countrymen and a laughing stock of Parsis. Why should we be time and again made to look foolish in the eyes of non-Parsis? It is something that needs to be addressed and stopped.
Up to Rs 90,000 per month is an income that even in Bombay would be considered rich. This raises suspicions about their bona fides as it seems to be one more way of favoring the rich and mighty, friends and relatives of those in power.
A simple fact that seems to elude the BPP is that they are mere trustees, because they were elected, and they have to be unbiased and responsible for the trust reposed in them to take care of our properties, funds and housing and general upliftment of the community.
RODA D. HAKIM
Baroda
vadhakim@yahoo.com
If deputy chairman of the Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia feels Rs 20 is the benchmark for survival, then surely BPP has its own take, and so for them Rs 90,000 per month was needed for the survival for the poor in our community! These days the BPP thrives on statements which only they seem to understand, because no right thinking person would accept their logic. They are so immersed in controversy that this is normal for them.
What they don’t seem to realize is that it makes shocking reading for our countrymen and a laughing stock of Parsis. Why should we be time and again made to look foolish in the eyes of non-Parsis? It is something that needs to be addressed and stopped.
Up to Rs 90,000 per month is an income that even in Bombay would be considered rich. This raises suspicions about their bona fides as it seems to be one more way of favoring the rich and mighty, friends and relatives of those in power.
A simple fact that seems to elude the BPP is that they are mere trustees, because they were elected, and they have to be unbiased and responsible for the trust reposed in them to take care of our properties, funds and housing and general upliftment of the community.
RODA D. HAKIM
Baroda
vadhakim@yahoo.com
The editors reply
The Bombay Parsi Punchayet has since clarified that a family income of Rs 90,000 per month would be the upper limit for persons wishing to avail of ownership flats from the Punchayet and is not the definition of a "poor” Parsi.
The Bombay Parsi Punchayet has since clarified that a family income of Rs 90,000 per month would be the upper limit for persons wishing to avail of ownership flats from the Punchayet and is not the definition of a "poor” Parsi.
◆ ◆ ◆
From the archive