A few months back, Panchayat elders in Katleri village near Karnal, Haryana snatched away a ten day old baby away to punish his young parents for daring to marry within the same gotra. When the child was reunited with the parents, not one of the interfering old men or even the girl’s family showed any remorse. So deep-seated is this aversion for marriage within the convoluted configuration of family names and clans in Haryana that even the police tries not to interfere in `family matters’ and ministers like the appallingly uncultured Meena Mandal (who snapped at the TV cameras, claiming she did not know that a baby was involved in the whole case) refrain against taking a clear stand against the rigid and sometimes murderous caste systems. No wonder then that a marriage  against the community’s wishes ends up in tragedy. Recently, a brother in Rohtak committed a `honour killing’ by murdering his sister for marrying errantly.
What is it about institutionalized ideas, hegemonies of religion, marriage or caste that people are willing to forget the basic tenets of humanity to protect them? Is it that people identify themselves so strongly with their names, their rituals, their castes that anything even remotely threatening provokes them into defensive rage? Every bloody war or riot or street fight through history has been fought to defend the collective identity of one  group against another.
Any society where individuality is considered less important than collective identity will always engage in dehumanizing practices. A righteous mob or collective ideology without a conscience is the most dangerous thing in the world. Whether it takes a baby away from his parents or bombs Hiroshima or attacks Iraq or spawns suicide bombers or takes on the Babri Masjid with Trishuls in the name of Rama or  turns WTC towers into melting human and steel rubble in the name of Allah or rapes and murders in the name of honour/revenge, the justification is always the same. Every murder, every bomb, every crime is always about avenging or reiterating a cause that is bigger than the individual. The human cost of such beliefs is immeasurable and yet, there is no respite. Or maybe, there is. Atleast, now the media can report such falsehoods and we can become aware of the immoral morality of those who proclaim that they are acting in our best interest.       
Recently I received a call from a Delhi correspondent of an Irish newspaper, asking for information about the sweat shops being run by an international denim brand in Bangalore. I did not know of any such practices but a few days later Guardian, a London-based newspaper, reported that workers in Bangalore making clothes for prime UK brands are being paid a pittance for a 48-hour week.  For a long time, we have known about companies from Europe and America callously labour shopping in our hungry third world but nothing has been done to stop this.
Exploitation of child labour is not restricted to the 10,000 children in Punjab who stitch footballs for foreign brands but is rampant in local fire cracker industries, cheap eateries and homes. How many laws, inquiries and newspaper reports will it take before businesses, both big and small learn the importance of ethical practices?