ISSN (Print) - 0012-9976 | ISSN (Online) - 2349-8846

InequalitySubscribe to Inequality

Unpacking Inequality

Gini coefficients show that the level of inequality was 0.303 in 2014 and declined to 0.261 in 2021, which fluctuates in the initial years and shows a decreasing trend after 2017. Most notably, the regression-based decomposition approach reveals that the level of education emerges as the primary contributor to explaining the level of inequality, playing a vital role in its reduction. This research highlights the urgent need for the government to intensify its focus on improving education levels in order to reduce the inequality in India effectively.

Lacking among the Have-Nots: The Faring of the Locals in Extractive Industrial Setup

The ability to endure the externalities arising out of environmental disruptions is crucial in understanding environment-related inequalities. This ability is what separates the community that can fare well in undergoing major structural changes, namely, the “haves,” from those that cannot, the “have-nots.” Taking into consideration the extractive industries, this article ventures through the various aspects of inequalities faced by the communities as a result of resource extraction in terms of displacement and externalities in terms of health hazards, livelihood, and issues of agricultural productivity, mining closure, accidents, and gender. Through this process, the relevance of the Marxian arguments of exploitation is examined in the domain of metabolic rift.

The Need to Add Social Viability in the Indian Context

In light of the National Education Policy, which outwardly emphasises on equity and inclusion, this article critically examines the implication of the professor of practice scheme as announced by the University Grants Commission draft guidelines. It is argued that a dogmatic implementation of such a policy holds the potential of keeping the system of Indian higher education exclusionary. There is a need to contextualise such a policy in the Indian social milieu to make it socially viable in the wake of exclusionary consequences.

Unscrupulous Inequality

Can inequality be unscrupulous? If yes, what are the conditions within which such a form could become bearable, if not absolutely justifiable? It is imperative to address the first question with reference to scrupulous forms of inequality.

Rising Inequalities in Income in India

According to a study by Lucas Chancel and Thomas Piketty (2017), the average annual real per adult income growth in India accelerated from 1.7% during 1951–80 to 3.3% during 1980–2015. However, for the bottom 50% income group, it decelerated from 2.2% to 1.9% over the same period, despite acceleration from 1.2% to 5.1% for the top 10% income group and from 0.2% to 6.6% for the top 1% income group. These growing income inequalities in India are part of a larger set of rising income inequalities in several parts of the world; according to the World Social Report 2020 by the United Nations (2020), two-thirds of the world’s population today lives in countries where income inequality has grown. Moreover, “the ratio between the incomes of the richest and the poorest 10% of global population is 25% larger than it would be in a world without global warming,” as, among other factors, “at similar levels of exposure, people in poverty are more susceptible to damage from climate change than those who are better off” (United Nations 2020: 7).

Challenges of Persons with Severity of Disabilities

The paper maps the present status of employment opportunities for persons with severity of disability with an emphasis on their factors of labour force participation and the likelihood of employment in public or private enterprises. The paper employs the two latest comparable databases of the National Sample Survey on disability. The findings reveal that although the Indian Constitution and legislation have provisions for equal rights, disability remains an axis of social discrimination, inequality, and exclusion from employment opportunities. The odds of employment in private enterprises are against the persons with disabilities.

Understanding Globalisation through the Lens of Contesting Narratives

Six Faces of Globalization: Who Wins, Who Loses, and Why It Matters by Anthea Roberts, Nicolas Lamp, Harvard University Press, September 2021, pp 400, `2,434.

Towards the Instrumentality of Inequality

What has been the nature of work and discourse on inequality in India? Has it been more anecdotal and ordinal? Does it sidestep the conceptual and refl ective? Is it an elite discourse even within the subaltern? Does it remain blind to both the subtleties and the macro forces that generate, fuel, and reproduce the condition of inequality? And importantly, has it seriously considered the issue of what inequality does to those at the margins? The recent Dadabhai Naoroji conference at NIAS, on the instrumentality of inequality raised these conceptual, ethical, and practical dimensions of inequality.

Pages

Back to Top