......And then, came man......alone and unarmed, naked and defenceless but only at first. Later he evolved from cave-man to a "state of civilization." If the World were referred to as the veritable stage, then, the last actor to unfold in the drama of life, was man. Man came, he saw, and he conquered. And in this ignoble sordid conquest of man by man, nature and all her innocent offspring suffered. Where is the defense for the Defenseless? Look around, Ladies and Gentlemen; and see that the rest of the inhabitants of our world get a fair chance to survive. The history of the evolution of this planet Earth began with the single-cell creature like the amoeba; graduation to multi-cellular organisms- the fishes, the amphibians, the birds and finally the mammals including the homosapiens-Man. Man, who started life in solitude as a cave man, developed gregariousness as time passed and learnt to live in a family. A number of such small units became a village community to finally develop into larger towns. At this stage, man was governed by no common laws and his life was thus "nasty, poor, brutish and short" due to the constant conflicts between man and man. Man decided to fetter his personal liberty in order that centre of power, a government, an adjudicating authority be appointed to subserve the common good. Thus, we see the creation of the modern state ruled by either a monarch, a dictation or in the form of a republic Man voluntarily consented to citizenship in a nation that he himself was instrumental in creating. Even in nation ruled by a despot, the people had the collective power to unite and overthrow the tyrant by revolutionary means and install a Government of their choice. Each man makes Government possible. There can be no government or governance without the active consent of the people. So, whether it is George Bush, Saddam Hussein, or Mikhail Gorbachev ruling the nation, it is so because of the active mandate of the people. Each and every person is responsible for the acts of the government. And so, if the Allied forces kill a million Iraqis, or if Saddam Hussein causes devastation throughout the Middle East, each man is responsible for the havoc in his own way and he has to be held liable- politically, economically and morally for the decisions of his chosen leaders. And when disease and destruction become the norm of the day, rather than an exception, man ought to blame himself. When man, in his state of megalomania destroys not only is own fellow men, but also the environment and the fragile balance in nature; he destroys a multitude of other creatures of God dependent upon that delicate balance; then it is time to defend the Defenseless. When the air is laden heavy by the dank venom spewed by man in his hatred for man; and when the rivers and lakes are so fouled-up, that the fish-life float belly-up on the surface, in mute testimony of the selfishness o man in his quest for power, that the innocent lives have to be saved, defended and indemnified against further losses, casualties and damage. ....and then came Man.... Forgetting that he is not the sole inhabitant of Earth; and that other creatures do exist with him, forgetting, that he was the last actor in the drama of life, and that in this drama of life, where each actor has a definite and important role in contributing towards the completion of the ecological system, the homespun is the only actor who can easily be dispensed with, without any loss, suffered by the ecological balance on Earth. And whilst resting the case for the Defense, man is sought to be made aware of all that he has forgotten in his hurry to reach perfect "civilization". Government Law College Ms.Sunita J.Masani 1st LL.B(G) 1991
Authored by Sunita J. Masani........ [June, 1991]