Why economic inequality in India is raising phenomenally? । ECONOMIC INEQUALITY । INDIA BILLIONAIREShttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AE1ycar995I Discussion with Arun Kumar
Why inequality is India’s worst enemy https://www.downtoearth.org.in/blog/economy/why-inequality-is-india-s-worst-enemy-75778
India’s per capita gross domestic product (GDP) increased five times between 2000 and 2019; to $2014 in 2019 from $443 in 2000.
This doesn’t mean that income of the entire population has increased. The top one per cent in India earned 21 per cent of total country’s income in 2019. This was 11 per cent in 1990.
The top 10 per cent earned 56 per cent of the country’s total income in 2019; the bottom 10 per cent earned only 3.5 per cent.
Wealth distribution tells a similar story. The richest 10 per cent Indians owned 80.7 per cent of wealth in 2019.
The Gini (inequality in income distribution) coefficient points to an increasing inequality in India. The coefficient in 2014 was 34.4 per cent (100 per cent indicates full inequality and 0 per cent full equality).
India’s economic growth has slowed down significantly. This is the time when states need to invest: Money has to go into the hands of the marginalised.
States earn money through taxation. Increasing tax on the wealthy people is the obvious solution. Piketty also proposed a similar measure to reduce inequality. A higher rate of income tax for billionaires can be a way to generate more revenue for the state.
In any case, disinvestment of Central Public Sector Undertakings and public sector banks can’t be a permanent solution in an economy where inequality is rising sharply.
There is a need to track what is happening in the poverty pockets of India. A periodic study may help policy makers to think about the issue more seriously and come up with better ideas to reduce inequalities.