NEW DELHI (Sputnik) − Income disparity is rising in India with the richest 1% of the population owning 58 per cent of the country's wealth, according to an Oxfam report released on Monday. The rights group releases its report annually a week before the World Economic Forum at Swiss resort town of Davos. This year was its fourth edition.
The report paints a grim scenario. Just eight men own the same wealth as the poorest half of the world. Over the next two decades, 500 people will bequeath $2.1 trillion to their heirs — a sum larger than India's GDP — while the majority is finding it harder to break their shackles of poverty.
"Oxfam's research has revealed that over the last 25 years, the top 1% have gained more income than the bottom 50% put together," the report stated.
In India, it found the richest 1% own 58% of total Indian wealth.
"The Budget for 2017-18 provides a major opportunity to reverse the increasing inequality trend," said Nisha Agrawal, the Oxfam India CEO. "It should also attempt to put in place policies that will raise more taxes in a more progressive way, which should be spent on basic healthcare and education in order to create a more equal opportunity country," she suggested.
The report states that 57 Indian billionaires have the same amount of wealth as the bottom 70% of their countrymen. It wants an increase in public expenditure on health from 1% to 3% of the GDP and expenditure on education to double from the current 3% of GDP.
It feels the rising public discontent due to income inequality has fuelled political developments like the election of Donald Trump (US) and Rodrigo Duterte (Philippines) and Brexit (UK).
The report, ‘An Economy for the 99 percent', suggests that big business and the super-rich are fuelling the inequality crisis and urges governments, multinational corporations and other stakeholders to work towards more inclusive economic reforms.
