In the end, 'the means' becomes the 'end'

'End justifies the means' is a highly popular excuse to justify drastic and unfavourable action and in Hindu mythology, Lord Krishna resorted to it with guile and being the incarnation of god, it is a perfectly fine way of doing things. But what we see these days are that the 'ends' fade from the picture very soon and the means become an end in itself.

India initially established reservation for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in government jobs for a period of 10 years so that they can come out of the backward status(the ends) and it has been extended and continues to this day. In fact, reservation is now provided for Other Backward Classes too or OBCs a highly flammable three letter word in India (I do not wish to go into the need or lack of need or misuse of this provision) and now it has become an end in itself as various communities want themselves to be included in the OBC category to avail the benefits of reservation. Achieving reservation has become an end in itself and thus achieving 'backward' status is the means towards the reservation!

Governments were established to serve the people, but now we have governments taking policies that are detrimental to the interests of the people (Think Greece and austerity), whether it be dictatorships propped up with the military and financial might of super-powers or legitimate democracies that trample upon human rights and basic living necessities of its citizens to provide 'economic growth' and generate statistics that will be given 'thumbs up' by rating agencies headed by individuals whose sole purpose in life is to crunch numbers for the benefit of industrialists and manufacturers without considering the impact of the letter grades they award. It does not matter whether governments displace hundreds of thousands of citizens from their homes or deprives millions of them off their livelihoods or poison the air we breathe and water we drink, but we must encourage FDI and mining no matter what the cost.

Money was the means to easy transaction of goods and now making money has become an end in itself (what else can explain the stock market and government efforts to pacify investors who are actually traders and vultures merely trying to cash in on a scoop). It does not matter if we divert farm land for shopping malls and multiplexes, it does not matter that half our country's population is poor (estimates vary, but even under the current poverty line of Rs.22.35 for rural and Rs.28.42 for urban areas, 36crore Indians are poor) we must encourage foreign investors and give them tax exemptions to kindly spend their money here. What our government does not understand is that Europe and USA have got stagnant domestic demand and the only market they have is India (China won't let them in and there are good enough Chinese manufacturers as they learned the tricks of the trade when all western manufacturing shifted to China) and we have the opportunity dictate terms or atleast negotiate as equals rather than waiting for the benevolence of the white-man.

The purpose is lost, the means become a self-serving machine, perpetuating its existence and holding the end as a distant mirage or at times erasing it completely from everyone's mind. Is there a purpose to life? I am glad I do not know of one even if it exists and that means I haven't figured out the means and so I am going to be just fine.