A great gesture

USD 1 Billion roughly translates into Rs8500 crore and this amount is roughly 4 times the money purportedly spent by Ambani clan on Anant Ambani’s grandiose marriage ceremonies.

I have nothing against the rich splurging their money on the events or for purposes that they hold important or dear. After all what’s the purpose of making do so much money, if it’s not to be spent as per one’s whims and fancies! If the money earned is not to be spent, then the millionaires of the world should not own islands, villas, private planes, yachts or buy rolls Royce, alpha Romeo’s or the most precious designer jewellery. In this matter, I am at odds with the popular trolling against Ambanis for having splurged their money on Anant’s marriage.

However, the above quoted figure of USD 1 Mio is donation by one Ms Ruth Gottesman to Albert Einstein College of Medicine with an objective to making education at college tuition fee free! She’s the former professor of the medical school and the current chairman of the Board and the donation money came from her late husband’s investments who advised her to use it as deemed fit! And what an incredible use has she made of the inherited money by making it possible for students to study medicine free indefinitely!

Billionaires of the world should splurge their money, because splurging also gives a boost to the economy. There have been fringe benefits of Ambani’s events on Jamnagar, Mumbai, fashion industry, precious gold and jewellery makers, hospitality etc and they have all the right to use their money as they like it. I am also aware of several charitable initiatives by the family trust and by Neeta Ambani in particular. But a donation like Ms Gottesman is something that kind of makes a deep impact on humanity and such initiatives are expected from all the world’s billionaires that would ultimately cause a visibly change on the ground situation marred by hunger, poverty and lack of access to medical facilities.