Articles

Who is Responsible for Human Disasters?

Opinion | Articles | M L Satyan | 21-Jun-2025

Passport Photo for L M Satyan

Soon after the Air India plane crash in Ahmedabad we have witnessed mixed feelings expressed by public – shock, sadness, anxiety, fear, suspicion and anger. Also, various theories are evolving like bird-hit, technical fault, high temperature, pilot’s mistake and manufacturing defect etc. Can we consider it just as an accident or is there some other serious reason as the root cause?

The plane tragedy has claimed not only the lives of 241 people on board but also 38 medicos (medical students and doctors) of BN Medical College. Air India released the list of the dead passengers. But the medical college has not revealed the names and details of the dead students and doctors. The media focus is more on the dead passengers and less/nil on the medicos. It is sad to note that till date no one has been held responsible for this terrible tragedy.

We always pay attention only to major disasters. But we tend to forget that there are numerous disasters that are widespread. In this context I wish to invite the readers to reflect on various human tragedies occurring in our day-to-day life. If we analyse every human disaster, we will find that no one is held responsible for almost 95 percent of tragedies or disasters.           

Here is the list of various types of tragedies:

  • Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) and Maternal Mortality Rate (MMR) are on the increase in India. Who is held responsible? No one.
  • Starvation deaths are also on the rise. Who is held responsible? No one.
  • Young students die due to over-pressure of studies, fear of failure and failure in exams. Reference: NEET deaths. Who is held responsible? No one.
  • Numerous women die due to domestic and sexual violence. Who bears the responsibility? No one.
  • Dowry deaths and rape killings are on the increase. Who is held responsible? No one.
  • Aged people die due to lack of family care. Who is held responsible? No one.
  • Human organ stealing racket kills hundreds of vulnerable children, homeless and economically backward people. Who is held responsible? No one.
  • Train accidents have occurred in many parts of the country claiming the lives of innocent travellers. Reference: Recent Mumbai suburban train deaths. Who was held accountable? No one.
  • Road accidents happen every hour and many die. Who is held accountable? No one.
  • Even bad roads and huge potholes on the roads cause accidents and people die. Who is held responsible? No one.
  • Collapse of old as well as under-construction bridges have claimed the lives of common people. Reference: Recent bridge collapse in Pune. Who is held responsible? No one.
  • Tourists have been killed by terrorist attacks. Reference: Pahalgam attack. Who is held responsible? No one.
  • Religious pilgrims have died due to stampede disasters. Reference: Maha Kumbh Mela. Who is held responsible? No one.
  • Cricket fans were killed in a stampede. Reference: Stampede in Bengaluru. Who is held responsible? No one.
  • Common people are killed due to natural disasters like flood, storm, cyclone, tsunami, landslide and earthquake. Reference: Deaths in Wayanad and Uttarakhand. Who is held responsible? No one.
  • Fake doctors, counterfeit medicines, and improper treatments lead to the deaths of many uninformed patients. Who is held responsible? No one.
  • Adulterated food items and contaminated water claim the lives of people. Who is held responsible? No one.
  • Air pollution caused by vehicle smoke on our roads and also poisonous gas in the industrial areas cause slow death among common people. Who is held responsible? No one.
  • Pious religious people get killed due to religious violence created by religious fanatics and fundamentalist groups. Who is held responsible? No one.
  • Suicides among marginal farmers are ever on the increase. Reference: Deaths of farmers in Maharashtra, Punjab and Haryana. Who is held responsible? No one.
  • Organised robbers kill innocent people mercilessly to loot money and valuables. Who is held responsible? No one.
  • Honour killings continue to happen in rural areas of the country. Reference: Killings of young lovers in UP and Bihar. Who is held responsible? No one.
  • Political-corporate-criminal mafia join hands to loot the lives of marginalised communities. Reference: Attacks on tribal/indigenous communities in MP, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Odisha. Who is held responsible? No one.
  • Leaders of developed nations initiate wars and continuously kill innocent people. Reference: Recent wars between Russia-Ukraine and Israel-Iran. Who is held responsible? No one.

 Our life today has become so mechanical that we brush aside every human tragedy and move on. Human lives are sacrificed on the altar built by visionless politicians and greedy corporates. They have wrong priorities. Their only motto is: “capture power and loot the resources”. In fact, they have buried the basic human values.

Mahatma Gandhi described the valueless scenario in seven sentences naming as “seven crimes”. They are: pleasure without conscience; politics without principle; wealth without work; worship without fellowship; commerce without sincerity; science without humanity; and education without character.

Article 51-A of the Constitution of India mentions: “Promote harmony and spirit of common brotherhood among all people of India transcending religious, linguistic and regional or sectional diversities.” This can be achieved only by citizens and leaders who are accountable and responsible.

To create a society/world worth living in, we need to revive and practise the basic human values such as love, fellowship, forgiveness, hard work, honesty, selfless service, mutual respect, tolerance, self-discipline, courage, compassion, non-violence, cosmic solidarity, accountability, and responsibility, etc. 

 (The author is a freelance journalist who writes columns on social and religious issues. He can be reached at mlsatyan55@gmail.com. Views expressed are personal)

 

 

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