Page 2 - Inequality

Lower inequality amid slower growth: A mixed bag

What other broad macroeconomic implications can be inferred from the household consumption expenditure survey factsheet?

Many countries bouncing back from Covid-19 but poorest are not: UN report

Many countries are bouncing back from the COVID-19 pandemic, but the poorest are not and a significant number are seeing conditions deteriorating, a report from the UN Development Progamme said on Wednesday. Achim Steiner, head of the agency, said that after two decades during which rich and poor countries were coming closer in terms of development, the finding is a very strong warning signal that nations are now drifting apart. The Human Development Index that the agency has produced since 1990 is projected to reach record highs in 2023 after steep declines during the pandemic years of 2020 and 2021. But development in half of the world's poorest countries remains below 2019 pre-pandemic levels, the report said. It's a rich person's versus a poor person's world in which we are seeing development unfolding in very unequal, partially incomplete ways, Steiner said at a news conference. Why does this matter? Not only because it creates more vulnerability, it creates also more misery a

Google celebrates International Women's Day 2024, depicting gender equality

Google Doodle is also celebrating International Women's Day 2024 commemorating women's economic, cultural, social and political achievements

Education key to achieving equality transformation, says VP Dhankar

Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar on Sunday said education is the most impactful transformational mechanism to bring about equality and cut down inequality. Addressing a function in Gondia district of Maharashtra, he said young parliamentarians with vision, mission, and talent have a big role to play in building Vikasit Bharat of 2047. Dhankhar also suggested that "value addition" to farm produce will bring qualitative improvements in the lives of farmers. "Today, the world is seeing the change in India and the change is imminent when the leader is aware of the ground reality and has the ability to change them. Today, we have the able leadership at the Centre and in the state who are well capable of bringing the change," Dhankhar said. He said India is fast emerging as a strong nation. "In 1989 when I became MP for the first time, it was a difficult time for our country. The country had to send its gold reserve by air to France where it was kept as a mortgage in two banks so that ou

Addressing the land question: Focus on equity

Indian elites consider it their divine right to have first claim over our Commons - and the Indian state, a petty landlord obsessed with revenue crumbs, actively collaborates

Land and the problem of inequity

By 2050, India will be the most land-scarce major economy in the world, but any solution first needs to recognise the unequal deployment of land

Inclusive growth

Inequality can affect economic prospects

Cumulatively ravaging effects of inequality

The drumbeats of corporate inequality are being heard in many ways - from compensation differentials and working hours to work-from-home and gender pay parity

Anti-migration operation on French African island of Mayotte stirs tensions

Facing a migration quagmire on the French island territory of Mayotte, off Africa's east coast, France's government has sent in 2,000 troops and police to carry out mass expulsions, destroy slums and eradicate violent gangs. But the operation has become bogged down and raised concerns of abuse, aggravating tensions between local residents and immigrants from the neighbouring country of Comoros. It is also laying bare entrenched poverty among both communities, tensions over the island's status and deep inequalities between Mayotte and the rest of France. While Mayotte is a part of France, Comoros 100 kilometers (60 miles) to the northwest across a strait in the Indian Ocean was also once a French colony but has been independent since 1975. Mayotte is by far the poorest corner of France, but its average annual income of around USD 3,500 is still more than double that in Comoros. This has created a powerful pull. How can they imagine for a second that (the operation) will make thi

Government eyes higher capital gains tax for rich to curb inequality

The government tried to address this issue partially in the recent budget by taxing debt funds at the income tax rate

C20 conference discusses inequalities, seeks justice for African kids

Inequalities in the world, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa where a large number of children are out of school to work as labourers, was among the highlights of the second day of the Civil20 India 2023 inception meet here on Tuesday. The conference had 'Civil Society Organisations and Promotion of Human Values' as its theme. C20 is one of the official Engagement Groups of the G20 that provides a platform for Civil Society Organizations around the world to voice the people's aspirations to the world leaders of G20. Owain James, global director of the 100 Million Campaign, a youth-led call to action for a world where all young people are free, safe and educated, called for justice for Africa's children, said a government release. He said there has been a rise in the number of Sub-Saharan Africans living on less than $2.15 a day since 2015. The number of child labour and children out of school is also increasing in Sub-Saharan Africa, he said. The continent has some of the best natu

Covid-19 laid bare elements of inequalities in India, says P Sainath

The Covid-19 pandemic was an "extraordinary revelatory moment" in the history of India when the elements of inequalities in the society were laid bare, columnist and writer P Sainath said on Wednesday. Sainath said even though the inequalities existed earlier, it was the coronavirus pandemic that gave a "most searing, unsparing, brilliant and thorough autopsy of the society". "It showed us the society we are. What it showed was there earlier also, but this time we couldn't turn our heads away," Sainath said at the Sunil Memorial Lecture, which was held in the memory of socialist leader Sunil Gupta, at the Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi. Speaking on the topic "India in the age of inequality", he said it became difficult for people to "turn their heads away from the corpse of Indian inequalities" during the time. "The corpse is on the table and every nerve, sinew, vein, artery, every bone, organ is on naked display. All the elements of our inequalities were laid bare on the

Central banks battling inequality? West might be catching up with India

A paper asks whether central banks should care about inequality. In India, the RBI has been doing it for decades

Development incomplete unless poor are free from inequality: Narendra Tomar

Development of any country cannot be complete unless poor people are freed from inequality and brought into the mainstream, Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar has said, asserting that the Modi government has been working on this objective in a planned manner. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been striving hard to increase the credibility of the country globally, he said. Tomar was addressing the 8th General Meeting of MahaFPC, a state-level farmer producer company, in Pune on Thursday as its chief guest. "The development journey of any nation cannot be complete unless the poor are free from inequality. Similar was the situation in the country as almost half of the population did not have bank accounts, crores of families did not have toilets, electricity, gas cylinders in their kitchen or houses to live in. PM Modi took the initiative to remove these inequalities," a press release quoted Tomar as saying. Now, houses for the poor are being built under the Pradhan Mantri

Dangerous divergence

Growing regional inequality must be addressed

Social Stock Exchange: What kind of organisations can list on it?

Sebi says non-profit organisations that work on eradicating hunger, poverty, and inequality, among other activities, can list on exchange

Job creation, reduced inequality should be key targets for India: Report

Study says growth in prosperity also needs to be environmentally sustainable and must be solid and resilient in the face of external shocks

The record of 75 years: How will India be more whole-heartedly admired?

If India addresses its institutional and policy failures, reduces its inequalities and addressing its iniquities over the next 25 years, that would truly make it an Indian century, writes T N Ninan

Governments need to take urgent action to combat inequality, says Oxfam

The combination of COVID-19, rising inequality, and rising food prices could push as many as 263 million people into extreme poverty in 2022, Oxfam said

The ethics of inequality

It's not good enough to be rich if you are a Dalit as well