That we have been raising our voice against the killing of a man-eater shows how insensitive we have become to the sufferings of the common people. Avni, the tigress, is believed to have killed and devoured 13 humans at the Pandharkawanda – Relagaon forest of Yavatmal district in Maharashtra over the last two years. Avni was labelled as a man-eater and had been the focus of a massive hunt for the past few months.
It would have been better had the tigress been caught alive. But catching a man-eater alive in a forest is not as easy as in computer games. Some of us are now shedding tears for Avni. But can they ever feel what would have been their reaction if they were the residents near that forest area with a knowledge that a man-eater was roaming around? Do they believe that the family members of those 13 people killed and devoured by Avni are also human beings like their own family members? Can they be as vocal against its killing if one of their family members were a victim of a man-eater? Can they feel the trauma of the local people who celebrated Avni’s death?
It is highly unfortunate that we do not value the lives of the common people. Our attitude had been as callous as ‘hota hai’ type when more than 100 people died on the altar of demonetisation in various places of our country or when nine children were crushed in front of their school by an SUV in Bihar or 13 people were devoured by a man-eater in Maharashtra. Even we remained silent when a former IIT professor, environmentalist GD Agarwal could not halt illegal sand mining on the Ganga riverbed in Haridwar but death halted his 111-day fast.
This showcases how we have been devaluing the lives of the Indians. Ironically, the common people are like Indian rupee that keeps on getting cheaper day by day in terms of some dollar-sahibs. Some people believe that the rich have the merit in them to be treated differently. But there is no merit in inequality and inhumanity. And it does not depend on the merit of a person to be born with a silver spoon in her or his mouth.
