Wednesday, May 06, 2009
Posted at 10:06:00 AM
The run up to the Lok Sabha election in Tamil Nadu has intensified the trend of new parties being formed to appeal to smaller and smaller groups of people. Generally, the groups tend to be castes. With votes being split among more and more parties, each with narrow interests that often come at the expense of other groups, the social scene in the state is remniscent of the tragedy of the commons. Multiple groups, each acting in their self interest, are likely to eventually entail a cost on the whole society. With caste being the primary rallying.