Christmas ‘offers’ aplenty, nothing for the poor

SHILLONG: Jesus Christ was born in humility and dedicated his life to the service of the poor. The spirit of Christmas, thus, lies in warding off the suffering of the not so fortunate.
However, the commercialization of festivals in the country has left little in it for the poor man to look forward to. The Christmas offers, for instance, are commercially oriented towards the rich with discounts on cars and other items usually considered a luxury even as essential items are out of the purview of the so-called benefit extended.
In some southern states during festivals, the civil supplies department provides several essential items at subsidized rates to help the people, especially the poor to celebrate the occasion meaningfully but the same has not been the case in Meghalaya.
Giving his views on the matter, Archbishop Dominic Jala said Christmas is the time during which people have to look up to Jesus Christ who was born poor but worked to relieve the suffering of the less fortunate.
“Instead of focusing on things which are not essential, people can do charity and look to remove the sufferings of their neighbours,” the Archbishop said.
Social activist Toki Blah felt that the corporate are seldom bothered about the poor but only focus in maximising profits. He also maintained that very few companies in India actually live up to their corporate social responsibility.
“People think about the poor only during elections,” Blah said.
A city resident Nomina Nongspung said that though none of companies are expected to look into the interests of the poor the State Government can, however, aid the needy thus providing them the best Christmas gift.