As the pandemic severely hit the economy and left millions out of jobs, the wealth of Indian billionaires increased by 35% during the lockdown and by 90% since 2009 to $422.9 billion, ranking India sixth after the US, China, Germany, Russia and France, Oxfam’s ‘Inequality Virus Report’ released on Monday says. Along with this, a staggering 17 million women in India lost their jobs in April 2020 immediately after lockdown and the unemployment level among women rose to 33% during this period. Oxfam’s report was released on the opening day of the World Economic Forum in Davos.
“The report shows how the rigged economic system is enabling a super-rich elite to amass wealth in the middle of the worst recession and the biggest economic crisis in the history of independent India, while billions of people are struggling to make ends meet. It reveals how the pandemic is deepening long-standing economic, caste, ethnic, and gender divides,” Oxfam India CEO Amitabh Behar said.
The report states that the increase in unemployment of women can result in a loss of about 8% or $218 billion to India’s GDP. In addition, the total time spent in both paid and unpaid activities by women has risen with the increase in the workload, as a result of being stuck at their homes. “Women have been working longer hours and simultaneously managing the daily chores of the household, the educational needs of the children and care for all members of the family. The work-from-home culture has also blurred the lines between working hours and personal downtime,” the report adds.
Informal workers were the worst hit, as 75% out of the total 122 million who lost their jobs were in the informal sector. This translates to around 92 million jobs. “The mass exodus on foot triggered by the sudden lockdown and the inhuman beating, disinfection and quarantine conditions the informal workers were subjected to turned a health emergency into a humanitarian crisis. Over 300 informal workers died due to the lockdown, with reasons ranging from starvation, suicides, exhaustion, road and rail accidents, police brutality and denial of timely medical care. The National Human Rights Commission recorded over 2,582 cases of human rights violation as early as in the month of April 2020,” the report points out.
The long disruption of schooling risked doubling the rate of out of school children, especially among the poor. According to the report, “The digital mode of delivering education has proven exclusionary. Out of the poorest 20% households in India, only 2.7% have access to a computer and 8.9% to internet facilities. Girls are most likely to bear the brunt as only 15.5% rural females could either use a computer or the internet.”
Only 6% of the poorest 20% have access to non-shared sources of improved sanitation, while 59.6% of India’s population lives in a one-room house or less. This means that facilities to wash hands and distancing, essential to prevent the spread of coronavirus, were impossible for more than half the population. “Pregnant women belonging to poor families were often left unassisted as most public health care institutions were turned into COVID-19 testing facilities and hospitals. The urgent need for healthcare resulted in massive profiteering from many private health establishments,” the report says.
A rise in violence against women was also observed during the lockdown, with the National Commission for Women (NCW) receiving 1,477 complaints of domestic violence from women between March 25 and May 31, 2020 alone. “Economic hardships and growing anxiety during emergencies often fuel violent and abusive relationships directed towards women and the pandemic has been no exception. This has unfortunately led to an increase in cases of domestic violence. Locked in their homes with their abuser, the numbers saw a spike in cases. As of November 30, 2020, cases of domestic violence stand at 4687 in 2020 compared to 2960 in 2019—a 58% rise,” the report says.
Outlining some steps to remedy the situation, Behar said, “The COVID-19 crisis must be a turning point in the taxation of the richest individuals and big corporations. Progressive taxation of the richest members of the society must be the cornerstone of any equitable recovery from the crisis.”
India has the world’s fourth lowest health budget in terms of its share of government expenditure. “There is an urgent need to enhance Health’s budgetary allocation to the tune of 2.5% of GDP to reinvigorate the public health system, reduce out-of-pocket expenditure and strengthen health prevention and promotion,” he added.