Myra Blogs

Is Utilitarianism in terms of Cost Benefit Analysis Moral? Cost Benefit analysis(CBA) is the simple process of comparing costs with benefits to see which outweighs the other. A method that has been in use since the beginning of time by the government, Private companies and agencies and even the members of households before making a simple investment. Cost Benefit analysis; So elementary and conclusive yet so accurate. Within a matter of minutes and calculations, the value of your deliberated action is in front of you. Then where does Utilitarianism come into the discussion? Cost benefit analysis is based on the principals of the Utilitarian moral theory as presented by Bentham. Utilitarianism is defined as finding balance of pleasure over pain or happiness over suffering. Its primary aim is to maximize the overall level of happiness. It is the most influential version of consequentialist moral theory i.e theories that locates morality in the consequences of an act. CBA goes hand in han...

Do the Russians get an actual say in the Russia-Ukraine Conflict? One important issue that I believe needs to be discussed at length is how Russian citizens truly feel about the conflict. Only when we discuss this at length do we actually see the depth of human rights violation and the restriction/violation of the freedom of speech. Current Polls- however varied- show that Majority of the Russians(about 60%) are in support of Putin or the actions taken by him. However there is much reason to believe that this response of people is rigged or self sabotaged and false under pretenses. There are many reasons to believe so. Firstly many of the Russian research organizations like FOM and VCIOM are state controlled and not reputable independent polls and therefore inference drawn from them is not reliable. Hence it is impossible to establish any genuine evidence of Russian public opinion. The brainwashing being carried out through media censorship, disinformation and opaque functioning of gov...

Sri Lanka's Economy was always on Fire With an economy that goes down crashing within a matter of days, and a sudden burden of the debt that they had so far been oblivious to, it is correct to say that discussing Sri Lanka’s Deteriorating Economy is essential.  Sri Lanka is currently undergoing a dual crisis i.e debt and foreign exchange crisis. This led to an acute shortage of many basic commodities. While COVID may seem to be the Primary culprit, the truth is it only sped up the process. The economy was already crumbling. Yes, the international travel restrictions due to COVID have negatively impacted the tourism-based economy, and the reduced export of tea and spices has led to severe economic crunch. However, I would like to focus on the 3 main reasons that have severely caused an impact on Sri Lanka’s Economy.  The First Reason is the Crippling Foreign Debt that has amounted over the past decade. For eg- China has lent $5 billion for massive infrastructure projects. But t...

Establishing a legal framework for Cyberwarfare There have been almost 500 documented geopolitical cyber attacks around the world since 2009. Between 2009 and 2018 there was a 440% increase in global cyber warfare attacks. Other statistics show that 20% of g lobal organizations consider cyber espionage to be their number-one threat. Cybersecurity is not only important for safekeeping but is also an important factor in the social and economic development of countries. There is a need for a proper legal framework on Cyber Warfare. Keeping this in mind, I suggest some modifications to the current information system. The international community should take initiative aimed at building confidence and trust among states to reduce the risk of conflict stemming from the use of ICT. There is a need worldwide to increase the budget for cybersecurity and capacity building.  I believe that the exchange of information with regional partners through agreements made by b...

What Freedom of Speech means in today's Day and Age? I believe that Freedom Speech and expression, especially to criticize and express sentiments and opinions about the government/party in power has been curbed in India in the current rightist government regime! Most people today including me are too afraid to speak out or criticize government policy due to fear of false charges slapped on them by the government or the trolling/ bullying/ threats on social media by the battery of staunch supporters of the party in power. Even while collecting my thoughts to write this article, I tried to choose my words very carefully to ensure that I do not aggregate anyone! The free and fair discussion on any issues is the essence of democracy. However, in the Ultra-rightist Regime, any contrarian view or criticism of the Government policy/ action is branded as anti-national, even if its genuine concern! To illustrate with an eg- In Karnataka, a school head-teacher and student’s mother were booke...