The impossible dream?

Relying on government to do things for one is like buying a lottery ticket on the assumption the buyer will become rich. In both cases winners will emerge but chances of being amongst them are three or four in a million. In community interactions with the secretary, Ministry of Minority Affairs (MOMA) and the chairman of the National Commission for Minorities (NCM), one message came across clearly: They can guide, goad, assist, recommend, but not much more. If anyone expects results, they would have to do a lot of lobbying. And even then, success would depend on what is sought.

If the request impacts other communities or raises fresh or additional demands, forget it, say the officials. One is better off fending for oneself. At the two meetings held in the Bombay Parsi Punchayet (BPP) boardroom on November 20, 2014 and March 27, 2015 the government officials and appointees listened patiently to the wish list prepared by the community leadership. They then gently and patiently informed the gathering of the numerous pressures on the exchequer and the body politic. MOMA secretary Arvind Mayaram said the chances of getting further government funding for surrogacy births were slim while NCM chairman Naseem Ahmad said the Commission could make recommendations but the follow-up would have to come from the community.

Ahmad informed a cross section of the Bombay community leadership (see "Mandate for the minorities," pg 24) what was within the purview of the NCM and what was not, and to distinguish between matters concerning minority rights as versus other issues. For example land acquisition for road widening was not a minority issue as much as a public one. Land for public purpose was acquired from all communities, not only Parsis or Muslims or Christians. Where a matter was pending before the courts, the NCM cannot intervene.

But even where minority rights are being trampled on such as the string of attacks on churches in many parts of India, Ahmad explained that the center was hamstrung as law and order was a state subject! While the NCM could make representation to government, they had no executive powers. This is why the very first chairman of the NCM, the late Minoo Masani gave up the post. He realized the government had no intention of empowering the body.

Even today several states in India, including Gujarat do not have a state minorities commission. And with the Bharatiya Janata Party coming to power in Maharashtra, the State Minorities Commission has been suspended, barring the post of the chairman, stated BPP chairman Dinshaw Mehta. There is therefore justifiable unease amongst the minorities. In Nagaland, a man accused of rape (falsely so, it appears) was lynched by a mob who claimed he was an illegal Bangladeshi immigrant which he was not. A 72-year-old nun was raped in West Bengal; the 19 Provincial Armed Constabulary and police accused of rounding up and killing 42 Muslim residents of the Hashimpura locality of Meerut in Uttar Pradesh in 1987 were all acquitted 28 years later for lack of evidence.

Beef, a staple food for Muslims, is banned in Maharashtra with a five-year imprisonment for those found in possession of the meat. (In contrast the jail term for sexually harassing a woman is two years.) The former police commissioner of Bombay and erstwhile Indian ambassador to Romania, Julio Ribeiro says as a Christian he feels unwelcome and threatened in India.

This has all become par for the course in India, regardless of which party is in power. For minorities the lesson to be drawn is to be self-sufficient rather than be part of the herd that at every opportunity turns to government for succor. Certainly try your luck but be prepared to do things on your own.

Perhaps the community could draw inspiration from the new hospital planned by The B. D. Petit Parsee General Hospital (TBDPPGH) on their spacious grounds thanks to the magnanimous donation offered by Jal and Pervin Shroff of Hong Kong. For years TBDPPGH has coped with humongous losses ranging recently in the vicinity of nine to 10 crore rupees (around US $ 1,600,000) per annum. Over the years the Hospital managing committee refused to relax its Parsi-only tag, stating that any compromise would be "the thin edge of the wedge." When finally faced with enormous deficits they considered utilizing a portion of their existing premises for a cosmopolitan hospital, Mehta objected.

While the TBDPPGH property is owned by the BPP, as in the case of the Parsi Lying-In Hospital (PLIH), the management vests with a managing committee. Where the owners and management disagree, any development is stalled (in the PLIH matter six of the seven trustees have finally signed consent terms permitting the defunct Hospital to be converted into a specialty orthopedic hospital run by Krimson Healthcare Private Limited and several prominent orthopedic doctors). Fortunately for the TBDPPGH, the BPP approved the Shroff proposal.

Some observers believe the TBDPPGH does not have the expertise to run a state of the art, 200-bed cosmopolitan hospital and recommend the entire project should be outsourced to a professional outfit as in the case of the PLIH. They point out that with new specialty hospitals in South Bombay, there could be intense competition to fill beds and be profitable. But the case of The Dorabji Nanabhoy Mehta Sarvajanik Hospital (TDNMSH) in Navsari, which observed its centenary year this January (see "The vision and benevolence…" pg 32) belies this apprehension. Here a young, energetic managing committee from different walks of life, along with farsighted trustees, have converted a four-bed maternity home meant only for Parsis into one of Navsari’s leading cosmopolitan hospitals. The TDNMSH chairman Farrokh Mehta, who resides in Bombay but has his ancestral home in Navsari, says people come to this facility because it is run by Parsis. Patients believe they will not be cheated.

In his talk at the TDNMSH centenary celebrations, Sir Jamsetjee Jejeebhoy, eighth baronet spoke of the lack of ethics in medicine today, the exorbitant charges levied, the performance of non-essential surgeries and so on. He urged the medical profession to follow ethical norms.

This is the selling point the TBDPPGH brand will have. The TBDPPGH has been rendering yeoman service to the disadvantaged in the community since its inception. While managing the new facility they will have to look to the bottom line. It is unlikely they will compromise on ethics and fair medical practices. The Shroffs would not have bestowed such a generous gift (Rs 135 crores or around US $ 22 million), the largest monetary donation ever given to the community, if they doubted for a moment the integrity of the TBDPPGH’s management.

If the TBDPPGH and the TDNMSH can lead the way in the field of medicine why not repeat the exercise in the field of education? Parsis were pioneers of female education in India. The city is dotted with the schools they founded. What prevents new schools or colleges from being set up, aside from a lack of will and vision. Why can the community not raise the resources for new ventures instead of relying on government largesse?

It’s time to stop asking government for handouts and instead offering them our assistance to better the lot of the other minorities who really need the help.