Problem With India’s Philanthropy: Maharashtra Gets A Third Of Funds, Jharkhand Just 1%

Indian philanthropy needs to allocate resources in an equitable manner across all regions of the country, the Dasra-Bain & Company's India Philanthropy Report 2020 has said.

“When we go deeper and move beyond national averages, it's clear that significant pockets of vulnerable populations still require support,” Deval Sanghavi, co-founder of Dasra, said in an emailed statement. “By focusing on these populations and driving work at a systems level, a massive untapped opportunity exists for a philanthropist to transform India where a billion thrive with dignity and equity.”

The report pressed for accelerating towards more resilient and inclusive development. “India will struggle to meet the Sustainable Development Agenda 2030 without that catalytic support from philanthropy,” it said.

Sustainable development goals are a collection of 17 targets set by the United Nations General Assembly that aim to address poverty, hunger, health, education, global warming, gender equality, sanitation and social justice by 2030.

The SDG India Index, launched in 2018 by NITI Aayog with the help of the United Nations took into account 16 out of 17 goals as SDGs. The index this year ranked states based on 54 targets spread over 100 indicators out of 306 outlined by the UN.

Regional Disparity

The report cited the example of “mismatch” in receiving philanthropic funds between Jharkhand and Maharashtra to project the disparity. Maharashtra, India's richest state, receives 34 percent of the country's philanthropic and corporate social responsibility funds funds—the largest among Indian states—while Jharkhand, one of the poorest states, receives less than 1 percent of the funds despite faring far worse in development indicators.

Also, this disparity can be witnessed in SDG scores of various states where there was a 20-point difference between the best and the worst-performing states— Kerala and Bihar.

TADP-Early Success

In 2018, Indian launched the Transformation of Aspirational Districts Programme to improve the performance of 117 districts by focusing on five parameters: health and nutrition, education, agriculture and water resources, financial inclusion and skill development.

The exercise emphasised the need to invest in those lagging geographies, the report said, as the majority of the “aspirational” districts under the programme recorded 0.5-4 percent higher growth in per capita income, compared with other districts in their respective states.

Performance on social development is also showing improvement. Home births attended by a trained health worker have grown to 50 percent from 38 percent over the previous year while 7 percent fewer children under six years are living with moderate or acute malnutrition, the report said.

Darsa-Bain & Co's study said improvement shown in these indicators makes a case for philanthropy to invest more capital for systemic and sustainable development of India's vulnerable geographies.