The State of Inequality in India Report released in May last by the Chairman, Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister highlights the nature of inequality and its ramification over our society. The report has focused on both exclusion and inclusion aspects while recommending a setup of solutions to bring improvement in inclusion in the areas of income distribution, employment, health, education and household amenities.
The report has used the data available with Periodic Labor Force Survey, National Family and Health Survey and Unified District Information System for Education Plus by the Union Ministry of Education.
The fact is extreme inequality in socio-economic and political sphere has deprived a vast section of people of living a life with dignity and restricts their access and opportunities to grow at par with the others. It is denial of human rights and the right to development with human dignity.
The issue of inequality is more acute in India due to its ethnic, religious, class and caste –based differences that have continued with very insignificant change. It is said that the current income inequality is higher than its pre-independent period.
In spite of many efforts to arrest extreme poverty, extreme poverty has merely declined at a low rate. The colonization hangover and its enforced socio-economic inequalities have been carried forward even after independence. The inequality in income has many ramifications over our socio-political and socio-economic life that continues to slow down our progress as a nation of largest democracy. It perpetuates violence and social disturbances that affect economic growth, peace and happiness and above all a better quality of life.
The report says about the growing unemployment among educated youths with an increase in the number of educated people because of lack of employment opportunities. It is also said that the rate of employment among women has to be improved to bring gender balance in the labour market. It is found that still people somehow employed in the organised sector are mostly low paid and deprived of social security benefits out of a State fund that is available for organised sector workers, mostly Government and public sector employees. This inequality in dealing with labor forces of the country must be addressed.
Equity and uniformity of scope and opportunities must be provided to all. The labor market also faces ethnic - caste and gender-based discriminations in access to employment because of our socio-religious and socio-cultural barriers that have been enforced for generations. The legislations to protect the labor of diverse social groups and labor from socially excluded groups from backward areas have very limited applications in our workplaces and still our discriminatory social customs are being enforced in the name of religion and traditional values even though it sharply contradicts the internationally agreed modern value system based on principles of UDHR.
The Central Government by formulating national economic policies aiming towards inclusive growth of backward regions as well as social and ethnic groups can play a major role to address inequality. But many of our policy moves are not addressing our core economic issues that perpetuate inequality.
Inequities exist in socio-economic and socio-political spheres. They are interconnected and cannot be seen in isolation. In this context, the State of Odisha is an example for discussion because of its continued backwardness and sub-regional underdevelopment and deplorable condition of its vulnerable social groups, who are still struggling with poverty, distress migration and chronic employment and have a pitiable status in the areas of health, education and household basic amenities.
Odisha is not just featured among backward States of India but also it has a majority of its population belonging to excluded social groups who are featured at the bottom of human development index. The continued inequality is not just economic or social but also political because the States having less political bargaining power with the Center are suffering the deprivation. It is mostly the Centre that took the decision of investment and major economic interventions for development of States in the framework of national planning. It is being observed that economic policies are mostly influenced by political decisions rather than economic needs.
It is told that India is a Union of States; therefore it is also the responsibility of the Union to reach out to the backward States with special financial package for its all round development but the post independent economic policies of the Center have neglected the development of the poor and backward States. Added to this, the resources of the backward States have been used for the overall national growth at the cost of the resource rich poor States. So the inequality debate must revisit our federal governance arrangements to change the dynamics of resource federalism to address the issues of backward States and regions within the nation.
Inequality is being discussed in a time when we encourage a free market economy with competitions and withdrawal of State from all kinds of economic activities such as disinvestment of public sector and specially the welfare activities for poor and vulnerable sections who are being excluded for socio-economic and political reasons. The backward States are denied their due share by the Centre in the name of competitive federalism and economic investment is encouraged in States having good infrastructure. How the poor States will improve their condition if there is less practice of cooperative federalism by the Center is now a moot question.
The backward States as well as ethnic and social groups need more support to change their condition. A hostile competitive environment which encourages competition among unequal States in a free market economy should be discouraged.
(manasbbsr15@gmail.com)