Opinion - Letters to the Editor   

Inhumanity index

It was painful to go through the article “Indexing inhumanity, Indian style” (Oct. 26). Political parties work actively towards seat-sharing and grabbing power for their benefit but are woefully unmindful of the people’s needs. It is saddening to read that people die of hunger even after 60 years of independence. What is more worrying is that the dismal state of affairs exists under an economist Prime Minister. It is time the common man was disabused of his illusive hope of seeing India as a developed nation.

Arun Dash,

The article is a sad commentary on our national policy on hunger. Our politicians are seriously concerned when their interests are at stake (the Sensex being one of them) but they hardly care for the millions who go hungry. Hunger and poverty will not be eliminated as long as they form the basis of vote-bank politics. India is doomed to have hungry people for decades, no matter which government comes to power.

V. Rajagopal,

The only two indices that are discussed in India are the Sensex and Nifty. In fact, we like to believe that every other index is ruled by these two. The scenario in the coming decade too is unlikely to change unless the government starts implementing policies that improve the other, more important indices.

Nikhil Pavan Kalyan,

The revelation that we lag behind Ethiopia in hunger eradication even 40 years after Indira Gandhi launched the garibi hatao campaign is sad. The words of Jules Feiffer come to mind: “I used to think I was poor. Then they told me I wasn’t poor, I was needy. Then they told me it was self-defeating to think of myself as needy. I was deprived. (Oh not deprived but rather underprivileged.) Then they told me that underprivileged was overused. I was disadvantaged. I still don’t have a dime. But I have a great vocabulary.”

K. Panchapagesan,

The rise in the Sensex is not exclusive to the rise in living standards. In fact, increased productivity and cash flow in the economy represented, albeit not fully, by the Sensex lead to the trickle-down effect of improving the lot of the poor. Moral exhortation does not lead to higher social standards. There should be stronger incentives, the economic concessions being the easiest to offer.

We need to change our perceptions and reconcile to the fact that someone getting richer does not mean that somewhere the poor get poorer. Let us suppose the ‘top guns’ had not ‘swung into action’ to restore the Sensex. The inaction would not have suddenly led to a drastic increase in the living standards of a majority of Indians.

P.P. Sanil,

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