Thread by @sanjanaa

okay bear with me, because god knows I've tried all day to wrap my head around the #Elphinstone Road tragedy. But I just can't.

I didn’t even know what word to use for it. No word in my limited vocabulary did justice.

Until the state decided to put a number on it.

They decided to announce a 5 lakh compensation for the dead.

5 LAKH.

Since the state has now decided to put a number on the value of a victim's life. I want to examine this number.

Usually, when courts calculate compensation, they take into account 3 things -

1. employable years left
2. monthly salary
3. increments

For the sake of simplicity, let’s drop increments and come up with a really really basic number.

Consider a 29 yr old earning 35K per month. This means they had 31 employable years i.e. 31 x 12 = 372 employable months left.

You know what the overly simplified monetary loss is?

Rs. 35000 x 372 employable months = Rs. 1.3 crore

Rupees. One. Point. Three. Crore.

Mind you, this is NOT accounting for increments. Also doesn't take into account post retirement earnings (at the very least, a pension)

Change that to a 40 year old earning 15K a month? You get 36 lakh

You know how much our state offered?

5 LAKH

5 FRIGGIN' LAKH

No amount of money can bring a loved one back.

But 5L is a slap in the face.

As a kid in the 90s, I remember governments announcing 2 lakh as compensation.

And 1995 was twenty-two years ago.

So the word I identify with in this tragedy?.

INFURIATING.

I’m infuriated at the peanuts the state has decided to toss at the victims of a tragedy they're very likely culpable for.

22 victims * 5 lakh.

Keep that 1.1crore to yourself, @Dev_Fadnavis and @PiyushGoyal

Maybe you can use it to grow a spine in a lab.