आयुष्याची किंमत व अर्थशास्त्र

Friends, recently we had yet another railway accident, something not very uncommon in our country unfortunately. Twentythree people, healthy human beings lost their lives for no fault of their own. The government promptly announced a compensation of rupees 3,50,000.00. The compensation in the past too has ranged from rupees 2,00,000 to 5,00,000. So one thing is certain that the government believes that the compensation for a healthy Indian life is rupees 5,00,000 maximum.

Now my question - how come the value of an Indian life suddenly increases manifold when he/she gets sick? How can the courts grant absurd amounts as compensation for medical negligence? The railway accidents are also caused by human error. While a doctor is severely penalized for the death of a sick and critical patient, the Railways is just getting a gentle tap on the knuckles for the death of healthy people!

The compensation  to the tune of  Rs 15 Crores to Rs 20 Crores has already been awarded to the kin of the deceased in cases of medical negligence in India. So how does it happen that there is a quantum jump in the cost of life of a sick individual if he dies during medical treatment .  Mind you  , Medicine is not a perfect Science. Every day new treatment modalities are coming up. Is it because the Government feels that this is the only field where we can comfortably compete with USA  ? Have our Judicial Officials read and understood the  "Law of Tort " of UK and USA  ? Are they aware of the " Unemployed Allowance " as paid in USA  ? How does that compare with the बेरोजगारी भत्ता as paid by any state government!!

Need to ponder on this !!