October 15, 2006	Sunday	Ramazan 21, 1427

KARACHI: Here are some credible statistics which should move the stoniest of hearts: over 600 million children in the world live in absolute poverty; every day 24,000 people die from hunger and 800 million people go to bed hungry; every day more than 100 million children are denied the chance of going to school; and 1.1 billion people have to drink polluted water.

The three richest people in the world control more wealth than all 600 million people living in the world's poorest countries. (The last is a quote from Christian Aid).

In September 2000 Millennium Summit, world leaders from rich and poor countries alike committed themselves -- at the highest political level -- to significantly reduce poverty, illiteracy, inequality and disease in poor countries and help achieve the Millennium Development Goals. Every year citizens around the world hold governments to account for the unfulfilled promises they made at the summit.

The world today has the money and knowledge to achieve those goals but lacks the political commitment to make this happen. The poorest of the earth depend entirely on the action of the richest. Where governments have miserably failed, the wonderful world of philanthropy has come to the rescue. Warren Buffett, the legendary investment guru of the 21st century and one of the two wealthiest men in the world, only recently donated $37 billion or 85 per cent of his total wealth to The Bill & Melinda Gates foundation. Bill Gates, the man who gave birth to Microsoft and the second richest man on the planet, has also contributed most of his fortune to the foundation. The two men of business and industry are working in reaching out to the poor, on a scale that hasn’t been seen before.

But raw money is not enough. It should go where the mouth is. And that perhaps is the toughest of the tasks. Much of the moneyed class in Pakistan give out more than the rich people anywhere in the world. They are ever willing to loosen their purse strings. A shining example of it was seen in the days that followed the great earthquake of Oct 8, 2005.

From both, within and outside Pakistan, tons of money was donated to the earthquake relief fund for those in need of food, housing, medicine and rebuilding of schools. Much of the dollars and rupees have gone unaccounted for.

“Where is the balance sheet?” an officer in charge of rehabilitation was asked in a TV talk show on the occasion of first anniversary of the quake that killed 70,000 people. “What balance sheet? People gave with their own hands what they wanted to give, we received nothing and have nothing to account for,” the officer replied without batting an eyelid.

Industrialists and businessmen do not trust the government with their money. “I don’t know about the ‘goals’ that you are talking about,” says a businessman with interests in real estate, industry, stock broking and others. “But look at the biggest hospital in the slumps of Karachi that God gave me the means to build.”

It is clear that he has not heard about the millennium goals and ought to have just as much knowledge of Unesco and Unicef as he has about Andrew Carnegie and Richard Armitage, but he is quietly perusing, in his own way those very MDGs. He is supporting a chain of schools, hospitals, dispensaries, maternity homes and is instrumental in feeding countless mouths.

But it is just one small example. There are so many others who don’t even want to reveal their identity. Philanthropy also flourishes on community basis. There are many that take care of their members from cradle to grave. Corporates make a big bash of their work on social sectors. This is not to say that the government does nothing. Far from it. Newspapers regularly sport ministers and advisers who flash smiles of generosity as they distribute a bag of flour among rain affected under-nourished, scantily clad man and cut ribbons on Independence Day in government schools that lack books, furniture or even a teacher.