Destructive Criticism
I am deeply upset about a recent blog post against extraordinary personalities like Irfan Alam and Shaheen Mistry. To a reasonable reader both of them are doing laudable things and there is no reason why anyone should criticise their activities. Irfan Alam is an entrepreneur who changed the lives of many people through his innovative enterprise. He found that the lives of rickshaw pullers in India were quite miserable. There are some 10 million rickshaws operating in India.
Most of the rickshaw pullers don’t own the rickshaws. They hire the rickshaw for Rs. 30 or 40 per day. Irfan Alam founded an organization called SammaaN which would help rickshaw pullers to get bank loans to get their own rickshaws. The rickshaw pullers were also taught how to make some extra money, by allowing advertisements in the rickshaws and selling items like water, fruit juice, and prepaid cards for phones in the rickshaws. Irfan has thus made the lives of rickshaw pullers and their families better.
Shaheen Mistry is a social activist and educator. She is the founder of Akanksha Foundation. She is also the CEO of Teach for India since 2008. Moved by the sorry plight of slum children who had no facilities for education,’ Shaheen Mistry found Akanksha. Its basic principle is providing underprivileged children with opportunities for learning. Akanksha wants the classroom to be just a safe place for the children where they can forget, at least for some time, their troubles at home and study and also enjoy. Akanksha came into existence in 1991. Now it has more than 3500 children, with 58 centres and 6 schools.
Thus we see both Irfan Alam and Shaheen Mistry are doing some laudable services to the society. But the blogger seems to be unhappy with what they are doing. He says that selling things in rickshaws reduces the business of the shopkeepers and the centres and schools run by Akanksha reduce admissions in private schools. I strongly believe that this blogger is an agent of big shopkeepers and school managers who want to exploit people.
I would say to Irfan Alam and Shaheen Mistry to continue with their excellent work aimed at the welfare of the society. They should not pay any attention to the destructive critics who are paid agents of profiteers.
