The aam aadmi has his own views on P Chidambaram’s budget but he leaves you in no doubt about one aspect of it. When you ask him about the surcharge on the income tax on the super-rich, he grins and there are others as well who join him on this, all grinning and nodding in agreement. There is an added incentive too – the increase in duties on the vehicles that the rich prefer to drive.
But Chidambaram’s proposal has not come just as a proposal. In a style that is his very own, he has very quietly given a mild kick to the super-rich by invoking the name of Azim Premji. Not just that. He has tried to soften that blow by expressing confidence that everyone would have the spirit of the Wipro chairman.
Premji has made two remarkable contributions to philanthropy in a span of two years. His first contribution was in 2010, when he transferred Rs 8,846 crore to his foundation for use in the field of education. Last week, he repeated the gesture, putting a figure of Rs 12,000 crore on his cheque to the foundation. Education, again, is the focus.
The first time he made his contribution, Premji shocked many. His focus and determination in implementing what he had always talked about, education for a better future, was highly appreciated. The attitude to contribute to philanthropy was something that many who have watched him from close quarters have raised their hat to.
In fact, it is the attitude that makes a difference, the difference between Bangalore and Mumbai, which does not have something equivalent of the Bangalore Agenda Task Force (BATF). The BATF was an informal body set up in 2000, when SM Krishna was the Karnataka chief minister. It had personalities like Nandan Nilekani and Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw and others to contribute in terms of ideas for a better Bangalore.
After Krishna’s term was over, some sincere people in Mumbai got together and asked a BATF member to brief them and do some hand-holding to improve the Maximum City. When the BATF member pointed out that several toilets were built across Bangalore with a donation of Rs 8 crore by Sudha Murthy, wife of NR Narayana Murthy, the audience was apparently taken aback.
“There was a peculiar reluctance to let go of money,” another BATF member had said then during an informal discussion. Naturally, when Premji contributed not Rs 8 crore but Rs 8,846 crores, eyebrows just went up.
Asked at a press conference some years ago why he felt embarrassed when asked about being named as one of the wealthiest man in the world during the heydays of the growth of Indian IT, Premji just smiled and said: “Some people are just made that way. This wealth and all this is just a notional value. If I say that I am going to sell 100 shares, what do you think will be my value? So, let’s not talk about it.’’
It is this spirit that Chidambaram has tried to invoke. From the initial reactions, it appears that not many have it. Even if some do, they are hoping fervently that the UPA does not come back to power. For fear, that if it comes back, this one-time 10 percent surcharge may continue.
All that it calls for is just Rs 3 lakh from a person earning more than Rs one crore. For the government, it is estimated to be an earning of Rs 13, 300 crore. For Chidambaram, it is a political gesture that he hopes the aam aadmi will appreciate.
