Why not teach India fishing!?

On Sunday, Andrew Mitchell had a compelling argument about why we in the UK have a moral duty and obligation to financially aid those impoverished families in Indian – which according to studies are more destitute than all of Sub-Sahara Africans. Hearing his argument I could not stop thinking about the Chinese proverb “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime”

If India can afford a space programme, develop nuclear capabilities, house most of the world’s call-centres, have a formidable army, and of course Bollywood but still needs our help. Then something is seriously wrong with the way they do business and manage their finances!

These days I have no money to spare and barely enough to go around, Louboutin (the Mecca of shoes) have these to die for pair of nude heels, they are just the right shade of nude for my skin tone, and I have been looking for something similar for sometime now, two years to be precise. But guess what, I will not run out and buy them, because it will be a foolish irresponsible purchase. I’m not alone in thinking before buying either, many households and business are watching where their money is spent.

The moral of my shoe story is we all have a pot of money to manage on. All nations, especially today, had to cut their coat according to their cloth, why can’t India do the same – they have the means and the capabilities!

Instead of year after year we give India a hand out, how about teaching them how to prioritise and mange the what they make. Why can’t India do what the rest of us are doing and look at where and how they spend their money. Of course it’s the responsibility of the international community to lookout for each other and specially the weaker members, but that responsibility should be founded on helping communities help themselves to break from the cycle of dependency.