Reduce uncertainty at the base of our socioeconomic pyramid

A reduction in road accident injuries will raise household savings and foster a sense of well-being among large numbers

- INDIRA RAJARAMAN

The air in early May was thick with threats from across the border of drones and debris. Do these threats affect people differently depending on where they are situated on the socioeconomic ladder?

For people at the base of the pyramid, cross-border threats just add to everyday uncertainties. These are plain ordinary uncertainties, unconnected to job threats from artificial intelligence or tariff threats to export sector jobs. In urban India, dwellers in informal settlements live under the perennial threat of eviction. As gross domestic product (GDP) goes up, and with that urban real estate values, eviction possibilities increase. Service shacks in upscale localities supplying tea and other essentials operate under the threat of demolition, a threat directly proportional to their success.

After six decades of research on poverty, to which I was an early contributor, we really know very little about coping strategies at the base of the pyramid. There are those who are poor with stagnant incomes but stable. There are those whose fortunes fluctuate, accompanied most usually by locational uncertainty. I have researched the mutual insurance function of groups which put together a uniform monthly sum and allocate these pots sequentially to all members according to need (the highest bid). But these require locational stability among group members.