Haggling for Life
By: Gigi (May 13th, 2008)Is that all that a life can be valued at? Just Rs 2.25 lakhs?
That was the question which came to my mind over and over again after I read about an incident which happened in Delhi High Court recently.
A story was told about a man named Shambu who hails from Madhubani district in Bihar, who after a silly quarrel with his father Kailash Chaudhary left his home and traveled 1000 km to Delhi to become a vegetable vendor. He was the only son of his father.
On that tragic night of September 26, 1999, as Shambu was sleeping in West Patel Nagar in Delhi, the building collapsed and he died under a pile of brick and mortar. Forensic reports of samples taken from the building debris found that a disproportionate ratio of cement, gravel and sand had been used. A probe by the Special Crime Cell of the Delhi Police ended with a sessions court charging the builders under Section 304 A (death caused by negligence) in August, 2003.
9 years after the incident took place, Chaudhary and his grandson were brought to Delhi by the builders on a promise that they would be paid Rs 1.25 lakh as compensation. In exchange, they had to second a petition filed by the builders in High Court, seeking to quash the FIR registered against them. The Justice declared to the builders that he had no intention to see Chaudhary and his grandson short-changed and called for a higher compensation and said the criminal proceedings should continue.
The builders argued that the building was their first project and since Shambu was not their employee they are not willing to pay a higher compensation. Outside the courtroom, the haggling went on, only to be interspersed with visits to the courtroom time and again. Each time the compensation amount went up higher by a few thousand. By mid-afternoon, Chaudhary was asked if he would be satisfied with Rs 1.5 lakh and a “life-time” job for his grandson with the builders in Delhi – which was declined.
Finally by 5 pm, the builders agreed in court to pay Chaudhary Rs 2.25 lakh as compensation.
But was that all that Shambu’s life was worth? Why did his 80 year old father have to haggle a whole day finally to settle down at this price? Will this money bring him back his only son? Will this money bring any smiles to his surviving son?
Socio-economic view
In an attempt to find an answer to my question, I went to the socio-economic scientists. Their answer was a shocker.
Initially they told me that it is an important issue in a wide range of disciplines including economics, health care, political economy, insurance, worker safety, environmental impact assessment, and globalization.
The social and political scientists told me that it is the marginal cost of death prevention in a certain class of circumstances.
The statisticians were of the opinion that the price of life is the cost of reducing the average number of deaths by one!
They also told me that the value of life is most commonly determined by looking at a person’s willingness to pay or willingness to accept. Willingness to pay can be found by asking a person how much they would be willing to pay for good health outcomes (or to reduce bad health outcomes). It can also be determined by looking at a person’s purchasing choices. An example would be looking at how much more a person would be willing to pay for airbags in his/her car. To determine willingness to pay one would look at the change in the price that occurs because of the added airbags and divide that by the change in the risk of death. Willingness to accept is determined by looking at how much more you would have to pay someone to put them in a position where they are more likely to have bad health outcomes. This could be seen by changing a person’s location from a less polluted city to a more polluted city and looking at the difference in wages between the two areas.
Typically, they said, the value of life can be placed at $3 million per life and $100,000 per year of life.
Hmmm… In a nutshell, they were telling me that
1. It is a fairly complicated issue to find out the price of a life
2. The price of a life would vary depending upon the class of circumstances where they live and also their economical standing.
From the insurer’s desk…
The insurance people told me that the value of life also depends on which mode I use for my travel. In travel, the economic value of life, for safety purposes, varies between around $1,000,000 for trains, and around $20,000 for automobiles.
What did the US army had to say ?
To get a much broader picture I went to the world’s only super power – USA. I asked them as to how much value they put to the life of a human being. This was their reply:
- The value of an innocent civilian slaughtered by Al Qaeda terrorists on September 11, 2001 to his or her family: $1.8 million.
- The value of an innocent civilian slaughtered at Haditha, Iraq, by US Marines: $2,500.
- The value of an innocent civilian slaughtered by US Marines near Jalalabad, Afghanistan: $2,000.
A Biochemist’s view…
Not impressed, I decided to go the Biochemists to find out the different minerals in the human body so that I can put a better stake. See what I found out!
Calculating the chemical and mineral composition of the human body, it breaks down as follows:
* 65% Oxygen
* 18% Carbon
* 10% Hydrogen
* 3% Nitrogen
* 1.5% Calcium
* 1% Phosphorous
* 0.35% Potassium
* 0.25% Sulfur
* 0.15% Sodium
* 0.15% Chlorine
* 0.05% Magnesium
* 0.0004% Iron
* 0.00004% Iodine
Additionally, it was discovered that our bodies contain trace quantities of fluorine, silicon, manganese, zinc, copper, aluminum, and arsenic. Together, all of the above amounts to less than one dollar!!
Our most valuable asset is our skin, which the Japanese invested their time and money in measuring. The method the Imperial State Institute for Nutrition at Tokyo developed for measuring the amount of a person’s skin. Cut and dried, the average person is the proud owner of fourteen to eighteen square feet of skin. Basing the skin’s value on the selling price of cowhide, which is approximately $.25 per square foot, the value of an average person’s skin is about $3.50.”
When we total the monetary value of the elements in our bodies and the value of the average person’s skin, we arrive at a net worth of $4.50!
Haemotology report…
Determined not to give up, I visited the Haematologists. Maybe the blood which is my lifeline could perk up the value of my life a bit more. They told me that I carry around 5.6 litres of blood and at the present rate, if I donate till my last drop, I could fetch around $5600.00
Creator’s report
At the end, I decided to go to my Creator and ask Him how much He valued me. He told me that I was priceless!
Wow! I couldn’t believe that!
He said He doesn’t value me on my socio-economic-political conditions. He doesn’t value me on the basis of the colour of my skin, my education, the dress that I wear, the bike that I ride or the house that I live in.
HE VALUES MY SOUL!
He told me that “For what is a man profited if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? “
There’s no haggling there. He paid with HIS OWN LIFE to purchase me. Hence I am priceless!!!
That’s when I came across a beautiful poem by Dave Griffith..
A basketball in my hands is worth about $19
A basketball in Michael Jordan’s hands
Is worth about $33 million
It depends whose hands it’s in.
A baseball in my hands is worth about $6
A baseball in Mark McGuire’s hands
Is worth $19 million
It depends whose hands it’s in.
A tennis racket is useless in my hands
A tennis racket in Pete Sampras’ hands
Is a Wimbledon Championship
It depends whose hands it’s in.
As you see now it depends whose hands it’s in.
So put your life, your concerns, your worries, your fears,
Your hopes, your dreams, your families and
Your relationships in God’s hands
Because It depends whose hands it’s in.
YOU ARE A PRICELESS POSSESSION OF GOD. WILL YOU GIVE YOUR LIFE TO HIM TODAY?
May 15th, 2008 at 3:19 pm
Yes ! So well researched ! But i like the way you ended it ! Yu are so much more valuable in the hands of the creator, because in HIS hands you are put to the best possible use for HIS great purpose !
As the basketball is magically handled and weaved through the opponents defence and when it is finally thrown with magical precision, with thousands of people just looking on, as it goes and falls in to the basket ! That ball used by Jordan for that Championship Shot is sold for millions
As the baseball bat comes down with speeds ummatched to take on the best pitchers rocketing in their curves , to bring about Mcguires record home run is sold for millions
As the tennnis racket puches the ball in mid air, bursting the speed guns to record Sampras’ record wimbbledon titles, gets sold for millions
Whose hands and what purpose matters !