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- Author or Editor: Parthasarathi Shome x
Poverty in India is intimately connected with caste, untouchability, colonialism and indentured servitude, inseparable from the international experience of slavery and race.
Focusing on historical and modern practices, this book goes beyond traditional economic approaches to poverty and demonstrates its genesis in exclusion, isolation, domination and extraction resulting in the removal of human and economic rights. Examining cash and assets transfers and enhancement of women’s rights, primary health and education, it scrutinizes inadequacies in compensatory policies for redressing the balance.
This is an original interdisciplinary contribution that offers bold domestic and international policies anchored in human radicalism to eradicate poverty.
Poverty in India is intimately connected with caste, untouchability, colonialism and indentured servitude, inseparable from the international experience of slavery and race.
Adopting an interdisciplinary approach and focusing on historical and contemporary practices, this book goes beyond traditional economic approaches to poverty and demonstrates its genesis in exclusion, isolation, domination, and extraction resulting in the removal of human and economic rights. It hypothesizes that poverty and inequality do not represent a static condition but can be attributed to institutions such as slavery and indentured servitude under colonialism through historical evidence from Western countries, and to practices of caste and untouchability in the Indian subcontinent, as evidenced from its ancient texts and modern literature. Their continuing ramifications are manifested in the prevalence of poverty and inequality.
Analysis of data from international and domestic sources reveals the continuation of poverty, and growing income and wealth inequality in India with cross-country comparisons that exhibit similar trends. The condition of the bottom 50 per cent of the population worsens while the top ten per cent benefits on a continuing trend. The Human Development Index, Multidimensional Poverty Index and Happiness Score are used to draw conclusions.
The book points to the inadequacies in prevailing compensatory policies to redress poverty and inequality. It recommends intensification of cash and assets transfers, tax policy reform to reduce inequality, selective expenditure policies in primary health, education and the environment, perceptible enhancement of women’s rights and role, and Dalit (Untouchables’) rights. Using ‘radical humanism’, it proposes compulsory social service by youth in rural and urban sectors, and doing away with caste-based surnames. It urges concerted efforts to push for international financial reparations to counter the historical incidence of colonial transfers.
Poverty in India is intimately connected with caste, untouchability, colonialism and indentured servitude, inseparable from the international experience of slavery and race.
Adopting an interdisciplinary approach and focusing on historical and contemporary practices, this book goes beyond traditional economic approaches to poverty and demonstrates its genesis in exclusion, isolation, domination, and extraction resulting in the removal of human and economic rights. It hypothesizes that poverty and inequality do not represent a static condition but can be attributed to institutions such as slavery and indentured servitude under colonialism through historical evidence from Western countries, and to practices of caste and untouchability in the Indian subcontinent, as evidenced from its ancient texts and modern literature. Their continuing ramifications are manifested in the prevalence of poverty and inequality.
Analysis of data from international and domestic sources reveals the continuation of poverty, and growing income and wealth inequality in India with cross-country comparisons that exhibit similar trends. The condition of the bottom 50 per cent of the population worsens while the top ten per cent benefits on a continuing trend. The Human Development Index, Multidimensional Poverty Index and Happiness Score are used to draw conclusions.
The book points to the inadequacies in prevailing compensatory policies to redress poverty and inequality. It recommends intensification of cash and assets transfers, tax policy reform to reduce inequality, selective expenditure policies in primary health, education and the environment, perceptible enhancement of women’s rights and role, and Dalit (Untouchables’) rights. Using ‘radical humanism’, it proposes compulsory social service by youth in rural and urban sectors, and doing away with caste-based surnames. It urges concerted efforts to push for international financial reparations to counter the historical incidence of colonial transfers.
Poverty in India is intimately connected with caste, untouchability, colonialism and indentured servitude, inseparable from the international experience of slavery and race.
Adopting an interdisciplinary approach and focusing on historical and contemporary practices, this book goes beyond traditional economic approaches to poverty and demonstrates its genesis in exclusion, isolation, domination, and extraction resulting in the removal of human and economic rights. It hypothesizes that poverty and inequality do not represent a static condition but can be attributed to institutions such as slavery and indentured servitude under colonialism through historical evidence from Western countries, and to practices of caste and untouchability in the Indian subcontinent, as evidenced from its ancient texts and modern literature. Their continuing ramifications are manifested in the prevalence of poverty and inequality.
Analysis of data from international and domestic sources reveals the continuation of poverty, and growing income and wealth inequality in India with cross-country comparisons that exhibit similar trends. The condition of the bottom 50 per cent of the population worsens while the top ten per cent benefits on a continuing trend. The Human Development Index, Multidimensional Poverty Index and Happiness Score are used to draw conclusions.
The book points to the inadequacies in prevailing compensatory policies to redress poverty and inequality. It recommends intensification of cash and assets transfers, tax policy reform to reduce inequality, selective expenditure policies in primary health, education and the environment, perceptible enhancement of women’s rights and role, and Dalit (Untouchables’) rights. Using ‘radical humanism’, it proposes compulsory social service by youth in rural and urban sectors, and doing away with caste-based surnames. It urges concerted efforts to push for international financial reparations to counter the historical incidence of colonial transfers.
Poverty in India is intimately connected with caste, untouchability, colonialism and indentured servitude, inseparable from the international experience of slavery and race.
Adopting an interdisciplinary approach and focusing on historical and contemporary practices, this book goes beyond traditional economic approaches to poverty and demonstrates its genesis in exclusion, isolation, domination, and extraction resulting in the removal of human and economic rights. It hypothesizes that poverty and inequality do not represent a static condition but can be attributed to institutions such as slavery and indentured servitude under colonialism through historical evidence from Western countries, and to practices of caste and untouchability in the Indian subcontinent, as evidenced from its ancient texts and modern literature. Their continuing ramifications are manifested in the prevalence of poverty and inequality.
Analysis of data from international and domestic sources reveals the continuation of poverty, and growing income and wealth inequality in India with cross-country comparisons that exhibit similar trends. The condition of the bottom 50 per cent of the population worsens while the top ten per cent benefits on a continuing trend. The Human Development Index, Multidimensional Poverty Index and Happiness Score are used to draw conclusions.
The book points to the inadequacies in prevailing compensatory policies to redress poverty and inequality. It recommends intensification of cash and assets transfers, tax policy reform to reduce inequality, selective expenditure policies in primary health, education and the environment, perceptible enhancement of women’s rights and role, and Dalit (Untouchables’) rights. Using ‘radical humanism’, it proposes compulsory social service by youth in rural and urban sectors, and doing away with caste-based surnames. It urges concerted efforts to push for international financial reparations to counter the historical incidence of colonial transfers.
The chapter lays out the objective of the book in identifying the sources of poverty and inequality in India complemented by global examples. It hypothesizes a sequence from genesis to proposed solutions. It summarizes relevant issues brought up in the course of the book. It cites slavery, colonialism, caste and other characteristics as sources of poverty and inequality and India’s limits in succeeding to eradicate caste and untouchability. It mentions measures such as the Human Development Index, Multidimensional Poverty and Happiness Score to reveal India’s condition through cross-country comparisons. It mentions the prevailing conditions of rural-urban income disparity, the condition of children in terms of health, nutrition and education, and the incomplete task of enhancing the role of women, among other manifestations. It provides a glimpse of the solutions offered through youth service reflecting available global practices, international financial reparations to counter the ramifications of colonialism, and domestic policies including tax policy to contain income inequality over and above intensified asset transfers.
The chapter discusses economic indicators placing India in a comparison with China and Brazil to assess how selected indicators are linked to the state of poverty and inequality. There are deep contrasts revealing China overtaking India since the 1980s. China attracted much greater foreign direct investment. China’s industry share in GDP is much higher than that of India’s.
China’s authoritarianism contrasts with India’s choice of democracy. China selected an interventionist population policy while India abandoned it, magnifying per-capita contrasts. For example, though increasing, India remains behind China and Brazil in per-capita mobile and internet use.
China adopted an export-led strategy based on a handful of special economic zones in contrast with several times the number in India that, by and large, failed to deliver. Brazil, a middle-income country, has had a more volatile economic trajectory reflecting occasional political and fiscal instability. Its international debt service in terms of exports has been five times that of China and India putting pressure on public expenditure.
Certain Indian macro-economic policies were unanticipated and possibly inadequately prepared for, leading the poor to suffer disproportionately, for example, demonetization of the currency in 2016. Using 2000–18 data, it appears that macro-economic indicators worsened somewhat after 2014.
The chapter is motivated to draw attention to the deleterious ramifications of uncontrolled population growth on poverty and the happiness of a society. Selected population and education statistics of Brazil, China and India are compared. China maintained fertility rates lower than Brazil and India. India’s child mortality remains significantly higher, and secondary education much lower. Population growth and per-capita GDP growth are closely associated. Despite progress, India needs to achieve lower population growth.
Urban population growth has been high in both China and India. In India it reflected an involuntary rural-to-urban emigration as income inequality widened after the 1991 economic liberalization evidenced in rates of wage growth by income per centile. Inequality increased even within urban areas. Extreme Poverty Headcount Ratio (those living below $1.90 a day) fell between 1981–2015 but India (13% of population) remained significantly higher than Brazil (3.4%) and China (0.7%).
The World Happiness Index (WHI) incorporates six variables reflecting the happiness of a population. India ranked 139 out of 149 countries using 2018–20 data. It is in the bottom layer for the ‘social support’ criterion though better in ‘freedom’. Perhaps if health, nutrition and education were available to the majority, social support would be less needed.
This chapter examines the trajectory of income and wealth inequality in India. There has been secularly rising inequality. From the ‘bottom’ 50 per cent of the above-20 working age, and even the next 40 per cent, that is, all but the top 10 per cent, increase in income inequality is clearly observed using data from 1980–81.
Though all income groups in India experienced real income growth, the rate went up more rapidly for higher income groups. China experienced even more rapid overall growth but suffered from the same challenge of growing inequality. Available analysis reveals that inequality increased within Indian states, between rural and urban areas, and within urban areas. Wealth inequality also increased as it did in China and Russia. The top 1 per cent experienced higher wealth growth.
India’s Human Development Index (HDI) rank remained unchanged between 2015–19 while China improved by five and Brazil worsened by five. India made progress in components of the HDI, Multi-dimensional Poverty Index that imposes further conditions on deprivation, and Severe MDP, but cross-country comparisons reveal it has fallen behind comparable countries. It has to catch up if it were to achieve the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) of ‘leaving no one behind’ by 2030.
This chapter addresses the role of racism, slavery and colonialism in the genesis of poverty and inequality. It hypothesizes a sequence of exclusion, isolation and domination of one population over another through unfounded premises such as race differences, laziness or less intelligence, and extraction by the former from the latter that culminate in poverty and inequality. It discusses instances from Australia, Belgium, Britain, France, Germany, Japan, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, United States and Yugoslavia. It elaborates on the Black experience in the US and its links to poverty and inequality through statistical evidence.
Emerging admissions of historical injustices by a few ex-colonial powers short of genuine apology are found to be inadequate in both financial and non-pecuniary terms. The chapter concludes by pointing to the insufficiency of compensation offered as well as recent cutbacks in international aid budgets by countries including Britain.
An Appendix to the chapter provides evidence of prevailing inequality in the United States.
