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Most Indians, with the exception of aberrations like Mahatma Gandhi, Baba Amte or Mother Teresa, are callous bastards with little or no concern for their fellow human beings.

So, it’s with regret we notice from stray newspaper reports that the widespread pernicious Western business practice of layoffs is starting to creep into India too adding to the misery quotient of the hapless people in that benighted land.

But did you schmucks know that layoffs have a serious human cost beyond just the loss of wages and self-esteem for the victim and suffering for the family?

Bet not. After all, you dickheads are still choking over chewing into Sachin’s dick lodged deep into your collective throats.

According to an article in today’s New York Times, layoffs can trigger suicides, unexpected fatal heart attacks and other serious health problems:

A growing body of research suggests that layoffs can have profound health consequences. One 2006 study by a group of epidemiologists at Yale found that layoffs more than doubled the risk of heart attack and stroke among older workers. Another paper, published last year by Kate W. Strully, a sociology professor at the State University of New York at Albany, found that a person who lost a job had an 83 percent greater chance of developing a stress-related health problem, like diabetes, arthritis or psychiatric issues.

In perhaps the most sobering finding, a study published last year found that layoffs can affect life expectancy. The paper, by Till von Wachter, a Columbia University economist, and Daniel G. Sullivan, director of research at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, examined death records and earnings data in Pennsylvania during the recession of the early 1980s and concluded that death rates among high-seniority male workers jumped by 50 percent to 100 percent in the year after a job loss, depending on the worker’s age. Even 20 years later, deaths were 10 percent to 15 percent higher. That meant a worker who lost his job at age 40 had his life expectancy cut by a year to a year and half.

You can read the full story on the New York Times web site.