The Great Divide

Context: The pandemic has demonstrated the reality of the great divide and the threats with which the underprivileged class has to live day after day.

Rising inequality

• According to the World Inequality Database, the share of the top 10% of the income earners, which was an average of 36% in the 40 years preceding 1990, has gone up to 57% by 2019.
• All-India Debt and Investment Surveys show an increase in the share of the top 10% of wealth owners from 52% in 1991 to 63% in 2012.
  • An analysis of 69 dollar billionaires in 2010 shows that while 17 made their fortune in knowledge-based industries like pharmaceuticals and IT, 18 did so in construction and real estate, and seven in commodity trading.
• Sharp increase in the number of highly paid managers: According to the ASI (Annual Survey of Industries) data, since 1990, there is a 13-fold rise in managerial remuneration compared to the three-fold rise in workers’ wages.
• Social dimension: The privileged classes of rentiers, capitalists, and white-collar workers come mostly from the upper echelons of the social system where wealth is inherited, and quality education pursued.

Impact of the pandemic in inequality:

• In unemployment: According to the CMIE (Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy) survey data, the unemployment rate shot up to 24% in April 2020 and 21% in May 2020, the majority of which are in the unorganised sector.
• In healthcare: The divide was more distressing in health care:
  • Public expenditure on health care (1.3% of GDP) is below the level in most developing countries.
  • The ratio of doctors and nurses to the population is below the WHO (World Health Organization) norm.
  • Private investment in health care is heavily biased towards speciality hospitals in urban areas.
  • As the virus spreads to smaller towns and rural areas, the relative neglect of decentralised primary health care has worsened the impact of the pandemic

Conclusion: In India, the politics revolve around the privileged class (be it Dalit or tribals), keeping the underprivileged quiet with handouts in cash and kind.

• The great divide will not be bridged till someday, we have a political party or a coalition of political parties of the underprivileged, run by the underprivileged for the underprivileged.