The income of only 13 crore people in the country is double than 65 crore population, the poor also double in a year!
Inequality In India: The number of people who are unable to earn even Rs 150 a day (income based on purchasing power) in India has increased wildly in the last one year. The number of such people has increased by six crore in a year, due to which the total number of poor has now reached 13.4 crore.
Inequality In India: Economic inequality means the gap between rich and poor is an age-old problem. Due to this problem, history has seen many changes from power to the system.
Economy
This gap has deepened in recent years, especially after the corona epidemic. According to a report this month, this inequality is high in India. India is included in the list of countries where the disparity between rich and poor is highest. Many economists consider it a significant obstacle in the growth of emerging economies like India.
50% of the population’s income is one-fourth of the national average
Paris-based World Inequality Lab released the World Inequality Report 2022 this month. According to the report, the top 10 per cent of India’s rich people earned an average of Rs 11,65,520 in 2021. On the other hand, if we look at the 50 per cent poor population, the average income of the people in this class was only Rs 53,610 this year. It is more than 20 times the vast abyss. Even the payment of 50 per cent of poor people is several times less than the national average of Rs 2,04,200 in 2021.
Only 1.25 crore people earning twice as much as 65 crore people
Even more shocking figures have been given in the report. If we look at the top one per cent of the country’s wealth, they have a 22 per cent share in the total national income. If we talk about the top 10 per cent of the rich, this share increases to 57 per cent. On the other hand, the lower 50 per cent population together earns only 13 per cent. The top 1.3 crore people are making almost twice the total income of the bottom 65 crore people.
The number of poor doubled in one year
Earlier, the Pew Research Center had said that people who are unable to earn even Rs 150 a day (income based on purchasing power) have increased rapidly in India. The number of such people has increased by six crore in a year, due to which the total number of poor has now reached 13.4 crore. The number of poor in the country increased for the first time since 1974, but India has again become a mass poverty country after 45 years.
A large number of poor middle class people
According to the Pew Research Center, the middle class has been most affected by the pandemic. Due to this, a third of the middle class has reached the category of poor and a large part of it is from the urban population. A recent report by Oxfam India says, it is not that the situation of economic inequality has arisen due to the arrival of the pandemic. This has been
happening for the last three decades. For three decades, the wealth of the rich has been increasing while the poor are getting poorer.
Experts consider it dangerous for economic growth
Dr Sudhanshu Kumar, Associate Professor at the Center for Economic Policy and Public Finance, Patna, believes that such rising inequality leads to economic constraints and the risk of social instability. Based on research, it can be said that income inequality has a negative effect on the growth rate of GDP. This effect is greater in less developed economies than in developed economies. Economic inequality limits the productivity of a large part of labor, due to which it becomes difficult to fully achieve the goals of human development along with economic development. Nothing could be worse for emerging economies like India than the economic disruption caused by inequality in the current situation. Policy efforts should be made in such a way that this gap does not widen.
Middle class gets ignored while making policies
Dr Sudhanshu also said that the middle class is often ignored while making development policies, especially in times of economic crisis. The middle class was largely ignored in the efforts made by the government to support the people at the policy level during the pandemic. Due to which about one third of the middle class has gone into the category of poverty. This policy lapse is a big factor behind this. In the times of the current crisis, the effect of increasing inequality becomes very sad. The people of the lower middle class are being forced to commit suicide by getting trapped in the debt trap. In the recent past, the increasing cases of suicides due to economic reasons, especially mass suicides indicate this. In such a situation, cooperation is expected at both the economic as well as psychological level.
