According to Oxfam Global Davos 2022 report, India’s richest people have more than doubled their wealth during the Covid-19 crisis that has ravaged the country and exacerbated poverty, and the government should revisit its redistribution wealth policy.
The country’s billionaire population rose by 40 to 142 last year, when a second wave of infections overwhelmed its health infrastructure and pushed crematoriums and cemeteries to the brink. Their combined wealth of nearly $720 billion exceeds that of the poorest 40 percent of the population, the group said in a report on rising inequality released Monday.
Global wealth has exploded during the pandemic, as the value of everything from stock prices to cryptocurrencies and commodities has soared. The net worth of the world’s 500 richest people rose by more than $1 trillion last year, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. India’s urban unemployment rate climbed to 15 percent last May, food insecurity worsened, and it now has more billionaires than France, Sweden and Switzerland combined, Oxfam said.
National policies, including the abolition of wealth tax in 2016, slashing corporate taxes and increasing indirect taxes, are factors that have helped the rich get richer, while the national minimum wage has remained at 178 rupees ($2.40) a day since 2020 , Global Report’s India added. Amid the increasing privatization of the health and education sectors, federal funding to local governments has declined, further exacerbating inequality. The country is home to a quarter of the world’s undernourished people, Oxfam said, citing the World Food Programme.
“Unfortunately, the Indian government’s tax policy has not only benefited the wealthy, but has also deprived Indian states of vital financial resources – which is particularly damaging in the context of the Covid-19 crisis,” the report said.
Oxfam recommends that the government impose a 1% surcharge on the richest 10% of the population to invest in health and education. It noted that the wealth of India’s 10 richest billionaires will be enough to fund the school and higher education of the country’s children for more than 25 years.
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