BANGING ON EMPTY PLATES

Despite the Centre’s massive welfare schemes, the pandemic saw poverty increase and the emergence of two Indias. The budget continues with the one-size-fits-all approach

- KAUSHIK DEKA

In November last year, stand-up comedian Vir Das created a nationwide stir by talking about two Indias that coexist. While his idea of two Indias remains debatable, economic disparities are clearly creating conditions that mirror the sentiment. Sample these numbers. A report on equality published by Oxfam India in January says the richest 98 Indians control as much wealth ($657 billion or Rs 49.15 lakh crore) as some 555 million poor people in India. The World Inequality Report 2022, authored by economist and co-director of the World Inequality Lab, Lucas Chancel, along with economists Thomas Piketty, Emmanuel Saez and Gabriel Zucman, says India stands out as a “poor and very unequal country, with an affluent elite”, where the top 10 per cent holds 57 per cent of the total national income while the bottom 50 per cent’s share is just 13 per cent. The average annual national income of an Indian adult was Rs 2,04,200 in 2021 but the bottom 50 per cent earned just Rs 53,610, while the top 10 per cent earned over 20 times more (Rs 11,66,520), as per the report.

AN UNEQUAL INDIA

142 No. of Indian billionaires in 2021, up from 102 in 2020

84% Indian households suffered a decline in income at the beginning of the pandemic