HPAS/ N.T. Allied Mains 2022-23 Answer Writing Challenge: Model Answer

Question: What are the major findings of the Oxfam India’s report on inequality in India? (8 marks, 120 words)

Answer: 

INTRO

• As per the United Nations, inequality is the state of not being equal, especially in status, rights, and opportunities.
• Economic inequality refers to how economic variables are distributed—among individuals in a group, among groups in a population, or among countries.
• Development theory has largely been concerned with inequalities in standards of living, such as inequalities in income/wealth, education, health, and nutrition.

BODY

Key findings of the report-

• Just 5 per cent of Indians own more than 60 per cent of the country’s wealth
• While the bottom 50 per cent of the population possess only 3 per cent of the wealth
• Between 2012 and 2021-

40 per cent of the wealth created in India has gone to just 1 per cent of the population and only a mere 3 per cent of the wealth has gone to the bottom 50 per cent

• The total number of billionaires in India increased from

102 in 2020 →→ 166 billionaires in 2022

• The combined wealth of India’s 100 richest has touched $660 billion (Rs 54.12 lakh crore) — an amount that could fund the entire Union Budget for more than 18 months
• The number of hungry Indians increased

from 190 million in 2018  →→  350 million in 2022

• The widespread hunger is resulting in 65 per cent of the deaths among children under the age of 5 in 2022 (according to the Union Government’s submission to the Supreme Court)