While the Bombay Parsi Punchayet (BPP) is unable to pay its employees and the Poona Parsi Panchayat has been without six of its seven trustees for the past six months, the robust Surat Parsi Panchayat (SPP) has launched a scheme to encourage Parsi couples to have a third child (see "Surat’s incentives," pg 8). An incentive of "Rs 5,000 per month, per child from the third child onwards…till the child completes 25 years of age," on an all-India basis has been introduced effective April 2023 onwards.
A similar third child program had been introduced in 1993 under the stewardship of industrialist Jamshed Guzder when he headed The Federation of the Parsi Zoroastrian Anjumans of India and the BPP. The scheme was in force till a few years ago when the BPP ran out of funds. The Jiyo Parsi scheme launched by the government of India to help boost the Parsi population under the auspices of the Parzor Foundation in New Delhi is now to be reportedly managed by the BPP with funds from the government being directly wired/dispatched to the recipient.
While any and every scheme to increase the Parsi population is to be welcomed, none has changed the declining demographics of the community. They may at best have slowed the pace of the downward spiral. Monetary incentives in the past neither seem to encourage Parsi parents to have more children nor Parsi athornans to become practicing priests. The most prosperous nations in continental Europe, Japan and South Korea are the ones facing the greatest demographic decline.
Deterrents to increasing family size include both parents working, cramped homes, difficulties in securing admission to reputed schools, tuition fees (if required), the rising cost of food, medication, lack of open spaces to play, other demands on time, different lifestyles and priorities.
So what can the community do? Improve the quality of life. The decision by the SPP to defray interest on marriage loans or to prioritize housing allotments to those getting married, are steps in the right direction. The SPP also intends to make their moribund Sheth Rustomji Dhanjibhai Tarachand Surat Parsi General Hospital cosmopolitan. That would provide more up-to-date medical facilities to Parsis at reduced rates. The Delhi Parsi Anjuman (DPA) turned their loss-making Mengusi Dharamshala into a profitable venture by making it cosmopolitan. The leadership of both the SPP and the DPA has shown that taking necessary and appropriate measures can enhance the trust’s fortunes.
The main achievement of the BPP trustees who completed one year in office on May 29, 2023 is that they have outwardly maintained peace. Whatever be their internal differences, the seven have managed to confine their disagreements within the four walls of their D. N. Road boardroom. This is no small achievement, allowing for a three-decade legacy of internecine warfare that prevailed. But the once apex trust will need more than bonhomie to rise above their present morass. Salaries to their 250 or so employees are only partly paid. They are faced with an unfair labor practices suit for not honoring the commitments made in their contract with the Mumbai Mazdoor Sabha (MMS) (see "BPP workers protest-II," pg 10). The trustees cite their present financial plight as the reason for defaulting on their agreed, written commitments. Fortunately for them, the MMS is not a militant union. The union also represents the workers of The B. D. Petit Parsee General Hospital. So far only red caps have been donned as a mark of protest but as the nonpayment continues, relations are bound to deteriorate. If there is a go-slow, a refusal to do overtime (assuming it is required), mass absenteeism or a strike, the upkeep and cleanliness of the BPP managed colonies will suffer.
Even here there is a dichotomy. The employees at baugs managed by the affiliated N. N. and R. N. Wadia Trust are paid their full salary because the Wadia scion Nusli reportedly insists the money earned from auctioning Wadia flats and the monthly service charges (up to Rs 1,100 from around 1,600 flats) be used for the upkeep of the five Wadia baugs. On the other hand, the BPP trustees, despite having empty pockets, in a populist move waived the monthly Rs 750 service charge on their 2,730+ flats three years ago. That act of fiscal irresponsibility has contributed to the present impasse.
The primary concern of any trust or institution is financial stability. It is apparent the trustees do not have any credible plan to meet costs other than breaking fixed deposit receipts. The steady flow of donations which is essential for any charitable institution to function is not forthcoming. Instead of garnering monies from the community, the BPP believed they could fill their coffers by dabbling in real estate, auctioning tenancies/licenses, developing property. Former BPP trustee and legal luminary Shiavax Vakil rightly labeled the trust "a glorified real estate agency." But now with the shrinking Parsi population and the latest judgments governing commercial activities of trusts, those monetary channels are drying up. Individual trustees manage to raise funds for select projects, but as a body the BPP’s image is negative. BPP trustee Xerxes Dastur at one election rally mentioned he used to carry a BPP visiting card but later refrained from doing so because but it elicited such a hostile reception.
In the past, without auctioning flats the BPP managed to build housing colonies, publish statistics, reports, books and honor their financial commitments. Today, even with the additional income from transferring tenancies/licenses for profit, they are unable to pay salaries. Donations are non-existent as the trust is viewed as inept, fractious and unwieldy.
How does one change an institution’s image for the better? It’s a daunting task, but not impossible. The 350th anniversary of the BPP falls between 2022 and 2025. Most organizations capitalize on such milestones to burnish their image, raise funds. But that requires devoting considerable time, effort and resources coupled with foresight, innovation and organizational ability. The seven trustees cannot manage all this on their own. They need the assistance of capable people who would be willing to associate with the trust. Committees will have to be formed, responsibilities assigned, deadlines set, reports prepared, newsletters circulated, a social media presence established. These are the commitments one makes for holding public office.