I started Pnotions, my weekly newsletter, a couple of months ago. I composed the letters for eight weeks, publishing them on Sunday morning.

I started composing the ninth letter, as usual, that week but couldn’t get through with it. Somehow, it turned into this boring task that I had to do. It was safe composing and publishing them. It felt safe.

But I want to do something that excites and scares me, like writing this.

Getting to the topic,

How do large donations work? People donate millions, even billions of dollars. Where do they go? How do they improve the current living/economic conditions of that time? These questions apply to any country.

Recently, the Adani family announced they are donating $7.7 billion (60,000 crore Indian rupees) to charity on Gautam Adani’s 60th birthday. It is just one example I am taking because it is a large amount and a recent one.

It is important to realize how big donations can directly improve the living conditions of people. I will give you an example of what I mean.

Imagine you live in a city and donated some amount to a big hospital to help them buy a few expensive (essential) machines. Those machines improve living conditions by detecting health problems or treating diseases. But it is an indirect effect. To fight this COVID pandemic, the Indian government started inoculating its people free of cost. It is an essential program (because taking the COVID vaccine is not optional) and has a direct-effect that I was discussing.

Now you know what I mean by direct and indirect effect. So back to our topic, how can we spend $7.7 billion directly on people? While casually discussing this with a friend, I learned a new side to this story.

You can only spend so much on people without making them lazy.

Wow, a new angle. Yes, we are helping them, but how many people who are getting the help need that help? This discussion went in a new direction, tax. My friend explained how he has to pay one-third of his salary to the government (as a direct tax) because many failed to file their taxes or keep/submit wrong records of their income in our country.

This discussion got me thinking about my direct-effect approach. We need a direct impact on the country’s system, which is the core of any program. Anyway, it is a discussion for another day.

Adani family is funding essentials like healthcare, education, and skill development with this donation. It is exactly what we need. Teach people fishing instead of giving fish for free.

On that note, do not forget to file your income tax return by July 31, 2022.