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94
ECONOMICS OF MAHAVIRA
business crimes or political crimes. Those who are poor and those who do not possess the means of high living go in for small crimes.
The Deficiency of the System Two students study together at the same school. One possesses all modern means of living in his house - radio, TV, fridge, and so on. The other student does not possess even the ordinary means such as a cycle. Seeing the well-to-do student, a feeling arises in the mind of the resourceless student that he is poor. Because of comparision, a feeling arises in his mind to acquire these means somehow or the other. This mentality has thrived because no thinking is done on the purity of the means and moral values. This is the principal deficiency of the system. Crime has increased enormously. Perhaps, for this, man is not at fault. If there were only the middle or the average class, perhaps, so much of crimes would not have taken place, But it is not so and so the crimes have multiplied.
Today three different classes have emerged: high, middle and low. With this, crime and violence have received great encouragement. In the minds of the class living below the poverty line, high aspirations have arisen, but they remain deprived of the means of achieving them. Under these conditions, morality, truthfulness and spirituality, all these vital elements, have become a casualty and the profession of adherence to them is only hyprocrisy. Today's man regards all these elements to be shields raised by the bourgeoisie class to serve its own self-interests. After rejecting everything, he takes recourse to the world of crime. This is the mentality which thrives with the economic system. If we do not give attention to this social psychosis, even after attaining complete economic development, utter unhappiness will prevail.
The cherished world economic system should be such under which one nation cannot exploit another nation and cannot establish its technological, economic or ideological sovereignty. If such a system is evolved, some answer will be found for today's problems. It cannot be said that any system would become permanent. There is nothing permanent whatsoever.
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