Where death is cheaper than life itself

Brutal but true.

Dying from adulterated or fake drugs is quite common in India. Only when you have a high number of cases from a single cluster does it catch the attention of the media or of the authorities. Otherwise, it is just another statistic of dying unnecessarily in India. Human life is cheap in India. Almost 70 years ago, the famous poet Sahir Ludhianvi wrote this about life in India:

यहाँ इक खिलौना है इंसाँ की हस्ती
ये बस्ती है मुर्दा-परस्तों की बस्ती
यहाँ पर तो जीवन से है मौत सस्ती
ये दुनिया अगर मिल भी जाए तो क्या है

Translation:

Human dignity is worth a plaything here

In this society that’s long lost its soul

Where death is cheaper than life itself

Every pursuit seems pointless here

From the same article:

Instead of continuing to maintain a high quality of production and coming down hard on manufacturers who were responsible for exporting adulterated drugs, the Indian government went down the tired, old route of conspiracy when faced with the cases of adulteration in The Gambia, Uzbekistan and other countries. The head of the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) accused the WHO of amplifying a global narrative to defame the Indian pharma industry. The then Indian health minister, Mansukh Mandaviya, alleged that deaths from diarrhoea were being passed off as deaths from cough syrups to malign the successful Indian pharma industry. This is our best excuse these days. That India is fast becoming a superpower / vishwaguru, and a jealous world is working overtime to prevent it. A pliant media does its best to spread this canard.