Oxfam’s report on global inequality, Inequality INC., has been published at the onset of the Davos meeting, which is considered to be a conclave of the richest among the rich. Some numbers in the report are truly startling. According to Oxfam, the top five billionaires of the world have doubled their wealth since 2020, while 4.8 billion people have experienced a drop in their real incomes compared to what they were in 2019. Poverty has sharpened and the wealth gap widened. The biggest firms earned $1.8 trillion in profits during 2022-23 — a 52% jump compared to the profits earned during 2018-21. At the same time, 791 million workers failed to keep up their real incomes in the face of stiff consumer price inflation. Collectively, they lost $1.5 trillion in wages. The wealth of the top five individuals would take 476 years to be exhausted if they chose to spend it at their current rate of consumption. The picture in India continues to be bleak and unacceptable. The top 10% owns 77% of the nation’s wealth. The wealth of billionaires has increased by a factor of ten in one decade. In 2017, out of all the wealth generated in India, 73% went to the richest 1% and only 1% went to the poorest 50%. It is claimed that it will take a rural worker in India 941 years to earn what a top executive in a garment factory receives. In India, the brunt of poverty and deprivation is faced by women and children. The measure of unpaid work for women, in terms of cooking, cleaning and looking after children, is estimated to be equivalent to 3.1% of the national income.
Like India, many parts of the world are fractured in terms of caste, class, gender, and religion. Growing inequalities add another fissure: it concentrates power and influence in the hands of a tiny few. Politics, commerce, government policies, consumer tastes, environmental conservation are all heavily influenced by the members of the corporate club. Politicians are, more often than not, mere puppets in their hands. Economic inequality breeds and reinforces other kinds of inequalities. For instance, income and wealth inequalities lead to unequal access to health services, educational opportunities, credit lines, and social recognition. The quality of life, even if one takes only the average, is not something to be proud of. It is certainly the best of times for a handful. It is the worst of times for most.