Need for a financial motivation?

As much as we would love to talk about charity or such generous acts, I strongly believe that in most of such cases there are self-centric reasons for doing so. One of the biggest motivation for such charitable acts is tax advantages in our country. Under section 80C of the Income Tax Act, donations given to specified institutions are deductible from your taxable income. So, if your taxable income is Rs.100,000 and you donate Rs.20,000 to a charitable organisation notified under the Act, you will have to pay lesser tax on Rs.20,000. So tax would be levied on Rs.80,000 only.

I have personally observed that donations to such specified institutions are significanlty higher than others who also strive for the same cause but are not notified under the Act. Also, such donations are claimed for tax deduction in most of the cases by the donor. Please note that claiming for such tax deductions are completely voluntary under the Act. Unfortunately, rather than seeing this tax advantage as a positive by-product of donating for a noble cause, people donate so that they could claim this tax deduction!

Now, I am nobody to preach about what people should or should not do. But if tax deduction is what could motivate people for working towards a good cause, then adoption should definitely be covered under the Act. However, just a simple tax deduction would not work at all. There should be more to it than just a deduction from taxable income.

A concept where adoptive parents are given concession in terms of time and cost for all government transactions would work well, I believe. For instance, such parents should get a privilege for applying for passport, ration cards, driving license, etc. The idea is NOT to motivate people this way, BUT to treat them at par with a priveleged set of citizens. For, I believe adoption is one of the most noble causes one could do and a very long term but structural solution to poverty, unemployment, illiteracy, etc. More about this later....

Regards,
Harish