Touching an all-time high of 35.37 percent, inflation numbers are showing no signs of slowing down. The tide is about to go out even further as the finance minister warned of a steeper graph in the coming days. Thanks to them bowing down to every demand put forward by the IMF, the second-round effect of energy and fuel price hikes and rupee freefall would soon come into play. In an ideal world, such dreary times would have called for everyone in the state to step in the ring with their strongest resolve and busy themselves with the redressal business. After all, they are heading a nation, in which more than 37 per cent already lives under the poverty line, and the errors in their “high-pedastalled” ways are burning holes in the pockets of the rest daring to survive. Sadly, our side of the world could not be bothered to think of anything other than the millionth way to reinvent the wheel. The most recent of the public relief masterstrokes has become the new ruthless killer: stories of poor dying in their quest for a few kilogrammes of wheat flour are hitting headlines every single day. Something as basic as wheat that forms the crux of sustenance is being handed out like liquid gold while making a mockery of the masses’ deprivation should have been enough for the entire coalition government to hang their heads in collective shame. Quite interestingly, not only are they passionately defending these cosmetic measures, the mouthpieces refuse to try something new, for a change. Feeding the vulnerable segments of society was a noble initiative, indeed, given the holy month of Ramadan that encourages Muslims to be sympathetic towards their brethren. Nevertheless, this act of welfare could have been designed without pushing thousands in front of a speeding bus. Seemingly endless queues of hapless women (many of them, fasting) outside distribution centres as they brace every fibre of their being to be the fastest they can, the strongest they can, to snatch the coveted bag before getting trampled are a scorching reflection of our dire straits. There is a lot that can be learned from the loss of 12 precious lives in Karachi. But, life and marketing schemes tend to move on from such tragedies as if they never happened. *