Covid-19: Economic inequalities exacerbate disparities in access to essentials

By Arjun Kumar, Ritika Gupta, Sunidhi Agarwal, Anshula Mehta, Swati Solanki, Mahima Kapoor*
The Covid-19 pandemic has had a devastating impact on the existing disparities in earnings of the various stakeholders of the economy. To address the same and pave the way for solutions, the Centre for Work and Welfare (CWW) at the Impact and Policy Research Institute, New Delhi (IMPRI) and Counterview organized a #WebPolicyTalk on the State of Earnings in India: The Crisis of Inequality Amidst the COVID-19 Pandemic as part of the series on the State of Employment and Livelihood.
Dr Anjana Thampi, Assistant Professor, Jindal Global Law School, Sonepat began with the introduction of the current economic situation of the emerging markets and the global economies. The experts have called the current state of the country’s economy the worst downward spiral. The workforce of India being an extensively heterogeneous lot, the majority of the salaried or the daily wage segment earn less than the median income that is 10,000.
Caste and gender also play a pivotal role in demonstrating the earning of an individual. A considerable section of women who are a part of the workforce and work in their family fields are not paid and thus, do not participate in the decision-making process. In addition to this, the female segment in the workforce is minimal. That is 18-19% and has been declining significantly since the 1980s.
Workers from the disadvantaged castes are also more prevalent in the jobs that pay less and where they can be replaced by automation but are not. The years leading up to the pandemic have shown sinking in wages. The workers at the bottom have been the worst hit since they already had very little savings.

Disproportionate impact of pandemic

During the lockdown, unemployment peaked. Delayed payment of wages and nonwage has also been registered at a large scale. Issues like food and nutritional security also surfaced majorly due to the absence of income sources for many. Keeping in mind the status of economic inequality, 2020 was a good year for the wealthiest people of the country. The combined net worth of these billionaires increased by a staggering 35%. While 1.7 lakh people lost their jobs every hour in April 2020, according to Oxfam.
Economic inequalities get combined with the stark disparities in access to essentials. About 905 million people did not have access to piped water, and 287 million did not have access to toilets. One-fourth of the population lived in single-room dwellings, while 5% of the population lived in dwellings with more than 5 rooms. Disparities in access to online education and economic distress can increase the number of dropouts and worsen access to employment opportunities.
Dr Priyanka Chatterjee, Assistant Professor, Department of Economics and International Business, School of Business Studies, Sharda University established that the status of employment in India was already not in good shape prior to the pandemic. Access to paid work was also discussed under the gender lens. Since the majority of unpaid work is undertaken by women, it makes them as vulnerable as the unemployed.
The surveys conducted to study the status of employment have all stated that the ratio of unemployed women working at home has increased considerably in the pandemic. The workforce had been hit devastatingly in the first wave of the pandemic than the rural.

The construction and manufacturing sector being hit the worst in the pandemic, the recovery has not been as well as it had been anticipated, since the third wave has hit the rural areas also, along with the urban. Unemployment from the construction sector has been the highest, along with the manufacturing sector, with the service sector accounting for the least unemployed.

Sectoral disparities

According to a Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) report, 13.3 million people lost jobs in the construction sector, 8 million in the manufacturing sector, and contrastingly 20 million in the service sector that has a sizeably small share in the labor market. The reason for this situation in the service sector is the nature of unorganized services.
The construction industry being shut from the day of the commencement of the lockdown has led to the unemployed men and women from the industry shifting to independent work. But statistics have shown that self-earners are equally economically vulnerable, if not more. Women in the independent sector earn as much as one-third of the men’s pay and are unable to access basic infrastructure to run and hold small-scale businesses.
A few questions were raised by Dr Simi Mehta, regarding the gender roles and how and when can we expect a paradigm shift in the areas of divided unequal income. Questions were put by Swati Solanki, a Researcher at IMPRI, regarding the support the minimum wages are able to provide.
In response to these questions, Dr Anjana said that the acknowledgment and active concern that these issues have been and are receiving is a move towards change. As compared to the previous times when these issues were not a part of the public dialogue. In addition, to accelerate the process towards more equitable income and access, better policy frameworks need to be implemented. Concerns regarding the working status of the ASHA workers and their honorarium were also discussed. The need to institutionalize the credit facilities by the banks was also mentioned.
The session then came to a closing with a vote of thanks offered by Dr. Simi Mehta, who is the CEO and Chief Editor at IMPRI.
---
*Researchers at IMPRI Impact and Policy Research Institute. Acknowledgment: Ramya Kathal is a Research Intern at IMPRI

Comments

A comrade in culture and controversy: Yao Wenyuan’s revolutionary legacy

By Harsh Thakor* This year marks two important anniversaries in Chinese revolutionary history—the 20th death anniversary of Yao Wenyuan, and the 50th anniversary of his seminal essay "On the Social Basis of the Lin Biao Anti-Party Clique". These milestones invite reflection on the man whose pen ignited the first sparks of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution and whose sharp ideological interventions left an indelible imprint on the political and cultural landscape of socialist China.

1857 War of Independence... when Hindu-Muslim separatism, hatred wasn't an issue

"The Sepoy Revolt at Meerut", Illustrated London News, 1857 By Shamsul Islam* Large sections of Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs unitedly challenged the greatest imperialist power, Britain, during India’s First War of Independence which began on May 10, 1857; the day being Sunday. This extraordinary unity, naturally, unnerved the firangees and made them realize that if their rule was to continue in India, it could happen only when Hindus and Muslims, the largest two religious communities were divided on communal lines.

N-power plant at Mithi Virdi: CRZ nod is arbitrary, without jurisdiction

By Krishnakant* A case-appeal has been filed against the order of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) and others granting CRZ clearance for establishment of intake and outfall facility for proposed 6000 MWe Nuclear Power Plant at Mithi Virdi, District Bhavnagar, Gujarat by Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) vide order in F 11-23 /2014-IA- III dated March 3, 2015. The case-appeal in the National Green Tribunal at Western Bench at Pune is filed by Shaktisinh Gohil, Sarpanch of Jasapara; Hajabhai Dihora of Mithi Virdi; Jagrutiben Gohil of Jasapara; Krishnakant and Rohit Prajapati activist of the Paryavaran Suraksha Samiti. The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has issued a notice to the MoEF&CC, Gujarat Pollution Control Board, Gujarat Coastal Zone Management Authority, Atomic Energy Regulatory Board and Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) and case is kept for hearing on August 20, 2015. Appeal No. 23 of 2015 (WZ) is filed, a...

Spirit of leadership vs bondage: Of empowered chairman of 100-acre social forestry coop

By Gagan Sethi* This is about Khoda Sava, a young Dalit belonging to the Vankar sub-caste, who worked as a bonded labourer in a village near Vadgam in Banskantha district of North Gujarat. The year was 1982. Khoda had taken a loan of Rs 7,000 from the village sarpanch, a powerful landlord doing money-lending as his side business. Khoda, who had taken the loan for marriage, was landless. Normally, villagers would mortgage their land if they took loan from the sarpanch. But Khoda had no land. He had no option but to enter into a bondage agreement with the sarpanch in order to repay the loan. Working in bondage on the sarpanch’s field meant that he would be paid Rs 1,200 per annum, from which his loan amount with interest would be deducted. He was also obliged not to leave the sarpanch’s field and work as daily wager somewhere else. At the same time, Khoda was offered meal once a day, and his wife job as agricultural worker on a “priority basis”. That year, I was working as secretary...

Fate of Yamuna floodplain still hangs in "balance" despite National Green Tribunal rap on Sri Sri event

By Ashok Shrimali* While the National Green Tribunal (NGT) on Thursday reportedly pulled up the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) for granting permission to hold spiritual guru Sri Sri Ravi Shankar's World Culture Festival on the banks of Yamuna, the chief petitioners against the high-profile event Yamuna Jiye Abhiyan has declared, the “fate of the floodplain still hangs in balance.”

Two more "aadhaar-linked" Jharkhand deaths: 17 die of starvation since Sept 2017

Kaleshwar's sons Santosh and Mantosh Counterview Desk A fact-finding team of the Right to Feed Campaign, pointing towards the death of two more persons due to starvation in Jharkhand, has said that this has happened because of the absence of aadhaar, leading to “persistent lack of food at home and unavailability of any means of earning.” It has disputed the state government claims that these deaths are due to reasons other than starvation, adding, the authorities have “done nothing” to reduce the alarming state of food insecurity in the state.

Proposed Modi yatra from Jharkhand an 'insult' of Adivasi hero Birsa Munda: JMM

Counterview Desk The civil rights network, Jharkhand Janadhikar Mahasabha (JMM), which claims to have 30 grassroots groups under its wings, has decided to launch Save Democracy campaign to oppose Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Vikasit Bharat Sankalp Yatra to be launched on November 15 from the village of legendary 19th century tribal independence leader Birsa Munda from Ulihatu (Khunti district).

Ground reality: Israel would a remain Jewish state, attempt to overthrow it will be futile

By NS Venkataraman* Now that truce has been arrived at between Israel and Hamas for a period of four days and with release of a few hostages from both sides, there is hope that truce would be further extended and the intensity of war would become significantly less. This likely “truce period” gives an opportunity for the sworn supporters and bitter opponents of Hamas as well as Israel and the observers around the world to introspect on the happenings and whether this war could have been avoided. There is prolonged debate for the last several decades as to whom the present region that has been provided to Jews after the World War II belong. View of some people is that Jews have been occupants earlier and therefore, the region should belong to Jews only. However, Christians and those belonging to Islam have also lived in this regions for long period. While Christians make no claim, the dispute is between Jews and those who claim themselves to be Palestinians. In any case...

Epic war against caste system is constitutional responsibility of elected government

Edited by well-known Gujarat Dalit rights leader Martin Macwan, the book, “Bhed-Bharat: An Account of Injustice and Atrocities on Dalits and Adivasis (2014-18)” (available in English and Gujarati*) is a selection of news articles on Dalits and Adivasis (2014-2018) published by Dalit Shakti Prakashan, Ahmedabad. Preface to the book, in which Macwan seeks to answer key questions on why the book is needed today: *** The thought of compiling a book on atrocities on Dalits and thus present an overall Indian picture had occurred to me a long time ago. Absence of such a comprehensive picture is a major reason for a weak social and political consciousness among Dalits as well as non-Dalits. But gradually the idea took a different form. I found that lay readers don’t understand numbers and don’t like to read well-researched articles. The best way to reach out to them was storytelling. As I started writing in Gujarati and sharing the idea of the book with my friends, it occurred to me that while...

Counterview

Search This Blog