“Are they human beings?”
Some years ago when Parsiana wanted to write about poverty in the community, we were told and we observed that the abject poverty one witnessed in many parts of India did not appear to exist among the Parsis. They had the basic necessities of food, shelter and clothing. Mostly all are literate. They had support systems, either from family, neighbors or trusts.
Last month when we visited the Parsi inhabitants residing in the villages around Sanjan, we observed this was the case. The rural residents are disadvantaged but desire to be part of the country’s burgeoning middle class. They have motor cycles, cars/vans, small shops and other businesses. Their children aspire to be doctors, dental hygienists, office or factory workers. And with the assistance of the WZO (World Zoroastrian Organisation) Trust Funds (WZOTF) they have brick and mortar houses.
Without the aid of generous donors who entrust the disbursements of funds to the WZOTF, most of the rural residents would have found it difficult, if not impossible, to raise the five lakh rupees or so required to construct a rudimentary home. And the supervision of the WZOTF team ensures the money is utilized for the purpose given.
Several of the donors to the Sanjan villages are from overseas as witnessed from the names on the marble plaques on the facade of the newly constructed houses. The largest institutional donor to the WZOTF is the Zoroastrian Charity Funds of Hongkong, Canton and Macao (ZCFHCM). It is not surprising, therefore, that the magnanimous donation of USD 22.5 million (around Rs 160 crores) for The B. D. Petit Parsee General Hospital was made by Jal Shroff, a former president of ZCFHCM, and his wife Pervin. But here, unlike in the villages where the recipients are grateful, a handful of dissenters have vilified the donors and questioned their motives. If matters are not resolved by March 31, 2019, the generous offer may be rescinded.
Most of the rural homes were constructed or are being constructed by the beneficiaries using local contractors, with neighbors and family members assisting. Cement, bricks and iron rods are the materials used. They are basic structures comprising two or more rooms. Most are bereft of the fittings/furniture one would expect in an urban home. WZOTF chairman Dinshaw Tamboly pondered whether the Trust should provide them cupboards and other furniture. Though several may be able to afford furniture, purchasing the items would not be a priority.
Historian Tariq Ali in his book, A Local History of Global Capital: Jute & Peasant Life in the Bengal Delta cites a passage written in 1947 by J. C. Jack, a government official: "A wealthy Bengali… has as little furniture as a member of the poorer classes. Cupboards are rarely to be found even in the houses of the most wealthy; linen is usually kept in boxes or chests... A Bengali always eats off the ground, from a sheet or mat and squatting on his haunches. He will not eat off a table… If he sits on a chair at all, he selects a very low stool, for to sit on a chair of the ordinary size is to him not at all restful… To beds there is not the same objection... In truth, the absence of internal decoration and of furniture is not a question of money, but a question of taste. The wealthiest Bengali who is untouched by foreign influences keeps as bare a house as his poorer neighbors and eschews ceilings, painted walls and furniture as completely as they do."
While the local anjumans and punchayets may assist the mofussil Parsis, trustees are often doubtful of the applicants’ bona fides or even if they qualify as Parsis, as many are of mixed parentage. When this was pointed out to one enlightened donor, her reply was, "Are they human beings? If so, they should be assisted."
It is from these surrounding villages that many of the chasniwallas in the Bombay fire temples hail. If they are accepted in the most sacred abodes of the community, there should be no basis for any discrimination. The agiaries offer board and lodging but the salaries are low and the tips not always generous. As local opportunities improve, luring the villagers to Bombay may prove more difficult.
In Bombay, a family may have an income that permits them to lead a middle class existence but the dream of one day buying a home or paying a high pugree (fee) to became a tenant in a decent neighborhood is beyond their capacity. For assistance they have to rely on housing loans (if they have the capacity to repay) or community founded trusts or the government. The government has millions of applicants. The Bombay Parsi Punchayet (BPP) has a few hundred.
As children marry, they want their own accommodation. But moving out of the family home is nigh impossible. Though there should be adequate housing for Parsis in a city like Bombay where the community population has halved over the past 80 years, this is not the case. Large flats have one or two occupants; often accommodation is tied up in litigation or kept unused as Parsis seek greener pastures elsewhere but want to keep a foothold in Bombay.
The object of community charity is thus evolving from raising people out of dire poverty to improving the quality of life. When Parsiana first visited the villages around Surat in 1979 and Bardoli in 2004, many rural Parsis lived in straw thatched homes. In 1932 when the Sir Ratan Tata Trust commissioned Sydney F. Markham, a British Member of Parliament (later knighted), to conduct a study of poverty in the Parsi community, he found amongst other things that "infant mortality is much higher than it should be... Unemployment has increased considerably… The literacy figure (is) 75%" (see "Creating ‘professional beggars,’" Parsiana, July 2004).
For this state of affairs Markham did not fault the beneficiaries of charity as much as complacent trustees. "There has been practically no check on the activities of ‘the professional applicant.’ How many years of so-called ‘philanthropy’ has it taken to produce this class of ‘professional beggars?’ Those ‘charitable’ persons who by their lack of common sense have helped to sap the spirit of self-reliance in the community cannot be regarded in any sense of the word as benefactors."
Markham, however praised the efforts of The Parsee Charity Organization (PCO) formed 14 years earlier that coordinated the efforts of 20 to 30 trusts. In 1929-30 PCO investigated 985 cases of which they found 365 "applications for help (were) made on frivolous grounds."
The Liaison Committee (LC) was created to better coordinate the workings of the trusts and to ascertain as far as possible the bona fides of the applicants. Much benefit accrued, conditions improved but like many other bodies, the LC was neglected and ceases to be a force.
If charity is to be meaningful, both the donors and the recipients have to work in tandem, as is being done by the ZCFHCM and the WZOTF. Then the phrase "Parsi thy name is charity" would ring true.