What: Calcutta’s Festival of the Spoken Word, organised by the Calcutta Debating Circle at the 45th ISAAME Forum 2017 of the International Association of Lions Clubs, in association with The Telegraph 
Where: ITC Sonar. 
When: December 19 
Motion: This house believes that charity prevents sustainability 
Verdict: The motion was rejected by a show of hands.

“Charity is donating money without reducing your own bank account, and sustainability means surviving without charity or a bank account — that was the essence of the topic ‘charity prevents sustainability’. One side said it is human nature to have candles which burn themselves out to extinguish the darkness, the other side opined it is better to teach people how to live in darkness,” said moderator Sandip Chatterjee, neurosurgeon.

FOR

Paranjoy Guha Thakurta, author and journalist, opened for Team Proposition and spoke about the difference between greed and need. “When we as individuals cannot distinguish between our need and our greed, that’s where the problem arises and that’s when we clear our conscience by giving some charity. Yes, she or he will be happy if you give that person a piece of fish, but a better way to go about helping the issue of hunger is to teach that person how to fish. That’s the way forward and that’s what sustainability is all about,” said Guha Thakurta.

Richard Ngo, a graduate in computer science and philosophy from Oxford University, argued that majority of charity is not doing much good, rather it is often harmful to the very people it is trying to help, so by no means can it be called sustainable. “It leads to the cropping up of corrupt governments. A government who would otherwise change their policy, now continue on their track given the aid they receive. For example the North Korean government, which perhaps would have had to change their policy if they were not receiving a lot of aid,” added Richard. He also mentioned that if the governments of the poor countries take up loans, which they do not know how to pay back and become a burden in the decades to come, then that is not a sustainable answer to the problem they are facing.  

David Herman, a graduate in statistics from Harvard University, spoke about the negative externalities associated with charity. “The prime example of the negative externalities that it can produce is evident in the US relationship with Uganda over the last few decades. An excessive focus on military solutions for the problem of the local rebel groups that does horrendous things like use child soldiers and commit atrocities has undermined governance,” said David.

Paul Banks, a graduate in history of science from Harvard University, stressed on how charity often goes to the wrong sectors. “Lack of discipline means charity persuading the wrong path for decades, if not longer, offering the wrong medicines, unproductive training and wasteful application. They are not spending their own money, so it’s not a risk. A consideration introduced by the opposition is whether or not the spirit of charity is sustainable in itself. This very question is only to be asked by an unsustainable charity. The intended goal of the charity is the improvement of the impoverished and the unfortunate and not the satisfaction of the donors,” said Paul.

AGAINST

Kunal Sarkar, cardiac surgeon and CDC trustee, opened for the opposition and got the audience clapping when he mentioned that when governments betray and economic models collapse, it is the people who come forward with their little endeavours and small steps to bridge the gap of the rich and the poor. “India today is hovering somewhere around the fifth or sixth largest economy in the world. If the Indian GDP has been growing somewhere around five per cent to seven per cent, remember the contribution of Indians as a part of their charitable expenditure is growing annually at the rate of 12 per cent to 15 per cent, which is twice the Indian GDP growth. Every citizen of every country in the world is doing their own little bit to address the loopholes of the society and it is that ethos and philosophy that tells us that the song of charity is going to be sustainable,” said Sarkar.

Moyuree Mukherjee, a third-year student of Presidency University, emphasised the fact that charity is not only about donating money but also giving one’s time and skill. For her charity is the first step to breaking a toxic cycle. “There are a lot of disadvantaged communities around, especially in a country like India, the land of Mother Teresa, the land of Ramakrishna Mission, the land of the Lions... we see what these people do. They go to the disadvantaged communities and they try to get some people out of this community to build a more sustainable future. This could be to take one underprivileged child out, give him or her a good schooling so that he or she could learn and get a job and help other people in their community. Look at the system of governance in this country, whether it is subsidy on health or tax subsidy or subsidy on education or on travel — they are doing this to equalise the field on which we stand and the reason this can happen is because charitable acts lead to sustainability,” argued Moyuree.

Lakelyn Taylor, a first-year master’s student in communication studies from the University of Central Florida, talked about how charity is the channel that helps everyone achieve greater success. She highlighted the fact that charity is not just about giving someone food but also about teaching them how to fend for themselves. “The idea that if you give a man a fish you feed him for a day, but if you teach a man how to fish you feed him for a lifetime — as the opposition we argue that both are charity,” said Lakelyn. She added that just because bad results exist does not mean we have to get rid of charity, we just need to do it better and more strategically. 

Imran Mateo, a law student at the University of Cambridge, concluded the debate by stating that in order for people to be sustainable in the long run, it is necessary to see that they have enough funds, material and support so as to sustain their lives at that point of time before they are able to become self-sustainable. “There is no point saying that individuals need to learn to better themselves and have skills in order to live and survive because without charity they probably would not be able to get to that point,” said Imran.

Malancha Dasgupta. Pictures: Rashbehari Das