JACOB PEENIKAPARAMBIL: The pandemic Covid 19 affected negatively almost all aspects of the individual and social life of the people all over the world. According to the Oxfam report of 2021, Coronavirus exacerbated another virus, INEQUALITY. The report of Oxfam released on 25th January 2021 is titled, ‘The Inequality Virus Report’. It highlights that the pandemic Covid 19 increased the existing inequalities across the countries in the world. The situation in India is not different from other countries of the world.
As per the report, the wealth of the 100 billionaires in India increased by 35% during the lockdown and by 90% since 2009 ranking India sixth in the world after USA, China, Germany, Russia and France. “Income increases for India's top 100 billionaires since March 2020 was enough to give each of the 138 million poorest people a cheque for Rs. 94,045”, the report said. In stark contrast, 170,000 people lost their jobs every hour in the month of April 2020”, the report points out.
The informal sector in India was the worst affected by the pandemic, as it constituted 75% of the 122 million jobs lost due to the lockdown. The informal sector workforce did get fewer opportunities to work from home. 40 to 50 million seasonal migrant workers were greatly distressed and a large majority of them had to return to their villages.
The report also has pointed out the stark inequalities in education and health care. Only 3% of the 20% poorest in India had access to a computer and only 9% could access to the internet. As regards sanitation, only 6 percent of the poorest of the 20 percent households had access to non-shared sources of improved sanitation, compared to 93 percent of the top 20 percent households in India.
As per the report, Covid 19 increased the gender disparities. The unemployment rate among women in India rose from already high 15 percent before Covid to 18 percent. Poor women suffered health-wise because of the disruption in regular health services and Anganwadi centres.
The report has made a few very relevant proposals for the countries to act upon. The first proposal is that fighting inequality must be at the heart of economic rescue and recovery efforts. This must include gender and racial equality.
The second proposal is to invest more in universal healthcare, education, and other public services. It includes making available to the people Covid vaccines urgently.
Thirdly, incomes should be guaranteed and maximum wages could be introduced, as the virus has shown us that guaranteed incomes are essential. Ensuring job security with labour rights, sick pay, paid parental leave and unemployment benefits if people lose their jobs are the suggestions made under this head. The report states bluntly that billionaires are a sign of economic failure, and extreme wealth should be ended.
The fourth suggestion is related to the second and the third ones. In order to raise funds for investing in human resource development and providing guaranteed income to all, the rich are to be fairly taxed. In this regard, the proposals include increased wealth taxes, financial transaction taxes and an end to tax dodging. “Progressive taxation of the richest members of society is the cornerstone of any equitable recovery from the crisis”, the report asserts.
