Why in India rich-poor margins extend day by day? Today in India, a person is inept of quenching the thirst of his children and another is swimming in his private pool. There is a Colossal gap between the two which is constantly augmented by the Indian economic system.
As per an Oxfam study, India’s top 10 percent holds 77.4 percent of the national wealth and among them, the 1 percent holds 51.53 percent.
Reasons for the rich-poor widening gap:
Insight of economy:
The economy has the following effect showing how rich is getting richer:
- The rigorous increase in the GDP of the Indian economy is harsh upon the poor. The Indian economy grows significantly despite the gap between the riches and poor extend to increase.
- The statistics show that the economic powers by 5% of rich against 95% of the rest.
- The tax system somewhere affects poor people more than rich ones.
- The rich–poor disparity also occurs due to the economic focus on industrial growth which benefits the rich business class of the society.
- The concentration of wealth in fewer hands and thus increases the already increasing margin.
This causes the flourish of rich getting richer every day and the rapid increase in rich-poor ratio.
Political Betrayal of Poor:
- The rich-poor debate is burning topic of every election, but, after every election, political parties forgot their promises.
- Lack of long-term vision leads eradication of the Indian economy and further increasing wealth gap.
- Political parties just using this divide for their personal profit. They know poor is necessary for their vote bank politics.
Lifestyle:
Another aspect to notice is the lifestyle of the people today. While there were three basic lifestyles need: Necessity, desire, and luxury, the changing times have changed the view of society:
- Rich people are using and occupying unnecessary luxuries while the poor can’t even afford the basic needs.
- The ever increase in the acceptance of expensive foreign brands and products the bar for a normal lifestyle has also raised, creating an illusion in the society that luxuries are the new basics to have a healthy lifestyle that creates a never-ending disparity.
- Indian lifestyle and culture are also the reason for the wealth gap in the Indian economy. As still, caste-based system exists.
Effect of widening gap between Rich- Poor
Widening gap between Rich and Poor will cause unstable growth path for India in the long run. This Unstable growth path will lead to social unrest and various diseases due to not proper health care for most of the population. Unstable growth will also lead to environmental degradation.
It is time we decide what kind of India we want an India where rich continue to get richer while significant sections of our people live in abject poverty or an India for all its people.