Oh lady Themis! How
great is thy balancing act!
Blindfolded and unbiased in the marble you seem!
Yet, in real life, can you ever level your tilted
scale!
Can two faces meet,
when two heads are turning away?
Two torsos pulling in opposite directions
Two hands, yet hoping to shake and greet!
But tell me oh miraculous one!
Can your scale of justice be kept at balance, in this world
of inequality!
In a world where existence is inequality!
And inequality is existence!
From night and day, to food and water
Unequal are properties
Unequal are qualities
Unequal are resources
Unequal capability; unequal availability
Yet, what equality can you claim; when you claim justice!
Justice is fairness;
and fairness is justice; once said Rawls
Equal rights for basic liberties he says
But who decides the scales of the basic!
Greatest advantage to the least advantaged, he says
But, what qualities do you choose
When conflicts arise, with multiple choices!
Many are disadvantaged, based on many a different property
Which one of the many will one choose?
With limited resources and multiples of disadvantaged
On what basis does one comparatively distribute?
Can one compare pain with poverty?
Can one compare hunger with disease?
Who can compare; and who can choose!
Can anyone be just- when he can just choose?
The Rawlsian veil of ignorance; hiding its inherent quality
With reasoning minds
and rational beings
Within the cosy fair comfort of the original position
Even to an omniscient man, with omnipotent capability
Are they not finer points of imagination?
The hard problem of justice is real; and when its reality
strikes you
It strikes you hard as a rugged rock
To chisel into this, justice must deal with the rocky reality of
the real man
The shrewd man next door; the unkempt man round the corner!
The man within; still grappling with greed hate and delusion!
The man with a preference for us over them; family over
friend; friend over stranger
A preference for the known over the unknown
A preference for the fearsome over the fearful; more over
the less
With limited resources and limited facility
With Limited man’s
cognitive capability
Can any real system of man, ever be Just!
Upholding the hands
of justice on the Indian ground
Nyaya and Niti have long been around!
Tested and tried to be sound
Nyaya and Niti are wisdom profound!
Nyaya aims at fairness; Niti goes by the rule
Niti is human society’s only protective tool
Protecting the powerless from the powerful
Limiting the reign of power; and setting the rule of
security
Nyaya on the other hand is of implementation
Nyaya is of practise : Nyaya is considerate
Nyaya is comparative; Nyaya is compassionate
To be effective and just in, wisdom and action
Nyaya and niti must go hand in hand
Nyaya and niti; hand
in hand to control power
Aiming to restore equal opportunity, in world of inequality
Striving for equanimity, protecting the weaker from the
stronger
Nyaya and niti
ultimately aim at balancing power!
But to handle power and balance it , one must accept its
inherent responsibility
For the hard handle of Power is attached broad basket of
responsibility
The Power to utilize; brings in responsibility to conserve
The power to access; brings in responsibility to share
The power to influence; brings in the responsibly to be
truthful
The power to distribute; bring in the responsibility to be
fair
Responsibility produces motivation
Motivation produces the will
The Will produces action
And If action is non violent and the will is good
And motivation is devoid of greed hate and delusion
Action tends towards the ideal !
And the ideal tends towards the idea!
The ideal idea ; the
idea of justice!
Tell me friend! Is
this not a pragmatic solution?
Only a pragmatic solution to the mere idea of justice!