Friday, May 04, 2012

FAST TRACK TO OBLIVION


The awful poverty and insecurity of many workers in India is difficult to imagine, but this horror story pinpoints one particularly tragic element of their dire existence. "An estimated 6,000 bodies are found on India's vital rail tracks every year, and 12 are found in every day on Mumbai's celebrated commuter lines alone. Most of them are believed to be passengers who have fallen from overcrowded trains or local residents taking shortcuts across the tracks. Officials believe several thousand bodies are dumped on railway tracks by relatives seeking compensation." (Daily Telegraph, 17 April) This is the same India that can boast of an increase in its numbers of millionaires and even billionaires. RD

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

According to the Congress Rajya Sabha MP, the economic inequality has been growing at a breakneck speed in the liberalisation era. “Rich are growing at a 7000-8000 per cent but the poor have been stagnating at 0.68 per cent.”
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