This refers to the article “The social question, who cares?” by Jan Breman (June 9). The findings of the Arjun Sengupta Commission should be regarded as a landmark revelation. Not that we did not know about poverty and low wages all these days. But the statistical findings of a panel should surely stir the nation's conscience.
Betraying the notion of a “model employer,” the governments at the Centre and the States have themselves lent credence to exploitative methods of industry by employing a good chunk through casual and temporary means. The jobs that are cut citing cost are invariably at the lower end. There is a virtual ban on employment in banks, insurance companies and other PSUs.
N. Sekar,
Salem
When democratic principles are forgotten, alienation creeps in. As Rajni Kothari argues, we have seen the emergence of two Indias. Naturally, the question that comes up is: for whom does the state exist? Meaningful existence is shattered for the Indian poor when they degenerate into homo sacer .
Sherin Jose,
Idukki
The article reinforces the fact that our rulers are least interested in ameliorating the conditions of those who exist in the lowest rungs of the social and economic ladder. It is a stark reality that the unskilled and semi-skilled workforce is prepared to work on starvation levels of remuneration today, notwithstanding the laws prescribing minimum wages.
Rajender Samala,
Hyderabad
Marx said “capitalism will increase the economic impoverishment of the proletariat so rapidly that they will be forced to make the social revolution just to stay alive — they probably wouldn't even get to the point of worrying that much about self-activity.” I am not a critic of capitalism. But I believe that in present-day conditions, the association of common people with insurgent forces is a result of their effort to just stay alive.
Ghanendra K. Nath,
New Delhi
