Musings Own Thoughts

THE GREATER COMMON GOOD Renunciation, sacrifice, living for others, giving up individual rights for the benefit of society are the different terms used and abused by those in power all over the world. A few days ago the Supreme Court used this phrase in the context of the judicial reference made to it in the 2G spectrum allocation case. The basic question that needs to be answered is that in a welfare democratic state where inequalities exist, should the Government intervene for the welfare of the disadvantaged? If the answer is yes as our leaders with socialistic leanings from the Nehru-Gandhi era thought, then why did the welfare state go horribly wrong? The next question that needs to be answered is can the state allow market forces to rule the roost and believe that such market driven GDP measured growth will benefit the poor by the so called “trickle down theory”? The last question to be asked is that are the present policies favouring corporate India at the cost ...

It is a quirk of fate or a sign from the celestial that India saw two judgements pronounced on the same day, supreme court giving the verdict on the Pakistani terrorist Ajmal Kasab and the Gujarat courts giving a verdict on Dr Maya Kodnani and Babu Bajrangi. Both courts found the accused guilty and deserving the maximum punishment there are many similarities and differences between both actions. Both crimes were committed in the name of religion, but both crimes could never be considered as religious acts, by even the wildest stretch of imagination. Both of them represented their masters, who conspired to get their foot soldiers to kill indiscriminately and brutally persons of a particular religion who were defenceless and innocent bystanders. While Kasab claimed that the crimes committed in Gujarat gave him enough reason to do what he did, the Gujarat accused claim that act of burning Kar sewaks in Godhra prompted them to do what they did. Fundamentalist attitudes fe...