A brutal lockdown brought to the fore the gaping disparity between India’s rich and poor like never before
Through April and May of last year, this was the most common sight across the country. File pics
At a time when the privileged lot was busy showing off its culinary capabilities on Twitter and getting innovative with Zoom, countless men, women and children walked for hundreds of miles without food and water for survival.
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Migrants wait for transport to take them to their hometowns, in Mumbai weeks after the nationwide lockdown was imposed to check the spread of COVID-19
If the coronavirus pandemic shook the nation to its core, it also made the social and economic faultlines wider and longer. The poor faced untold hardship as the rich amassed wealth. A health crisis and a harsh lockdown apart, COVID-19 also triggered a pandemic of inequalities.
In its latest report on inequality, non-profit group Oxfam has highlighted the uneven impact of the virus in India and elsewhere. Besides grim statistics, it has suggested ways to lessen the effect. The report will be launched during the World Economic Forum in Davos today.
In the absence of trains and buses, lakhs of migrant families hit national highways on foot to reach their native places in the initial days of the COVID-induced lockdown. File pic
Rise of the rich
The global billionaires’ wealth rose 19 per cent, with the world’s 500 richest people gaining $809 billion. Jeff Bezos saw his wealth zoom to $185.5 billion and Elon Musk’s net worth was $179.2 billion as of January 18, 2021. The wealth of Indian tycoons grew 35 per cent during the lockdown.
Plunge of the poor
Amid the COVID outbreak, 100 million people were pushed to poverty. In India, 84% of the households suffered a loss in income in April 2020. The Atma Nirbhar package doled out by the Centre to lessen people’s suffering comes to just a little more than R2 lakh crore or 1 per cent of the GDP.
No classes for the masses
At the peak of the pandemic, the virus hit about 32 crore students. Of these, 84 percent live in rural areas and 70 percent go to government schools. About 40 percent teachers fear a third of the students might not return to school. Only 4 percent rural households had a computer.
The way forward
>> Government should involve civil society organisations and think tanks to monitor inequality
>> It should have an annual plan of action to reduce social disparity
>> Commit to regulating private healthcare providers
>> Raise or maintain public education expenditure
>> Revise minimum wages
>> Impose an additional 2 per cent surcharge for taxpayers earning more than R50 lakh
>> Cut GST on essential goods for the benefit of the poor
Beyond reach
Social distancing was near impossible with 32 per cent and 30 per cent of households living in one room and two room houses respectively in urban India. About 66 per cent of SC households didn’t know about free testing under the PM-JAY scheme.
Crushed livelihoods
Labour participation fell from 43 per cent to 35 per cent from Jan to April 2020. Eight in ten households earned less during lockdown. Of 122 million who lost jobs, 75 per cent were in the informal sector. There were 2,582 cases of human rights violations of migrant workers in April 2020.
72%
Rise in Mukesh Ambani’s wealth during pandemic
2.5%
Health budget vis-a-vis GDP suggested by Oxfam
1.7L
No. of people who lost jobs every hour in April 2020
(Source: The Inequality Virus — Davos India Supplement 2021)
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