India, June 3 -- How can the loss of life be compensated? While the law continues to grapple with this question, the philosophical underpinnings are even more complex. While risk and injury form the bedrock of the idea of compensation, the brazen normalisation of negligence is causing grave systemic and societal harm. Compensation is often used as a de facto response to anything that could be avoided but was not.

In India, the first response to any man-made tragedy, like the fire in a bed and breakfast establishment in Delhi's Malviya Nagar on Wednesday that claimed more than 20 lives, is the announcement of monetary compensation from the government. In disaster after disaster, victims get sops in the name of compensation instead of any ...