Modern barbarism

Shame on us. The Supreme Court has to remind us that disadvantaged people like the widows of Vrindavan have not only the right to lead a life of dignity but when they leave this world they should do so with their dignity intact. It is beyond comprehension that the helpless should be left to fend for themselves like this in a country that boasts of several safety nets, like the public distribution system for food, which costs the exchequer several thousand crores every year.

What happens to such destitute people — who keep their vow to live in penury upon losing their husbands — after they die is an unspeakable blot on a civilisation that goes back 5,000 years. How callous we are is proved by the fact that all this is happening after their plight has been portrayed by several filmmakers like Mira Nair in Water.

Not having money to even cremate them sounds bizarre in today’s economy so as to warrant the outright condemnation of the apex court as well as members of civil society who are supposed to keep a hawk’s eye over such matters. It would appear we have no system of accountability in anything, least of all in matters concerning humanity. There are many systems for the care of the living. But any designed for those who die destitute must be especially sensitive to the dignity of a human life that has been lived in pain and extreme hardship.