India Faces Economic & Social Decline, These Reports Tell You How

Video Editor: Mohd Ibrahim, Purnendu Pritam

As per the Global Social Mobility Report, it will take at least seven generations for a poor family to become rich in India. To match the yearly salary of a top CEO, it would take a domestic worker 22,000 years, says the Oxfam report. The Global Slowdown report states that India is not facing an economic slowdown due to a global slowdown. It is, in fact, the other way round.   

Dignitaries from across the world are speaking about a global slowdown at the World Economic Forum in Davos. These three reports serve as an alarm bell for India and all three reports indicate one thing.

Report 1: Ultimatum By IMF

The first report is by the International Monetary Fund or IMF. The IMF has lowered India’s economic growth forecast to 4.8 percent for this fiscal year. The expected growth forecast was 6.1 percent. So there has been a drop in 1.3 percentage points.  This is the biggest drop for any developing economy.

IMF has estimated world economic growth to be 0.1 percentage points lower than its earlier forecast. Similarly, it has projected the global economy to grow by 0.2 percentage points, below its earlier estimates, in 2021.

Essentially, IMF has busted the claims of the Indian government which says the economic slowdown in India is due to the global slowdown. IMF has said that it is the other way round, that is, India is weighing the world down with it.

Gita Gopinath, who is the chief economist of the IMF, said:

“The downward revision primarily reflects negative surprises to economic activity in a few emerging market economies notably India, which led to a reassessment of growth prospects over the next two years.”

Gita Gopinath, Chief Economist, IMF

Report 2: Ultimatum By Oxfam

Let us look at the second report which is also linked to the first one. Ahead of the 50th World Economic Forum in Davos, Oxfam had released a report. Oxfam also said that the world's 2,153 billionaires have more wealth than the 4.6 billion people who make up 60 percent of the planet's population.

Oxfam has made a revelation about India as well. In its report, Oxfam has said that India’s richest 1 percent hold more than four times the wealth held by 953 million people who make up for the bottom 70 percent of the country’s population.

Oxfam India CEO Amitabh Behar has said,

“The gap between rich and poor can’t be resolved without deliberate inequality-busting policies, and too few governments are committed to these.”

Amitabh Behar, CEO, Oxfam India

Report 3: Ultimatum By WEF

The third report is by the World Economic Forum which has come up with a new global social mobility report. Of the 82 countries, India ranks 76th in WEF’s global Social Mobility Index and Denmark tops the list.

But what is this Social Mobility Index? The index reveals, how in top-ranked countries, a child born into a poor family gets the same opportunities which are available
to children born in rich families.

Whereas, in Denmark, it would only take two generations for a poor family to become rich. The report claims that in India every individual does not have access to equal healthcare, education, and justice.

According to the report, India is among those countries that can benefit from having a better social mobility score. Increasing social mobility by 10 percent would benefit social cohesion and boost the world’s economies by nearly 5 percent by 2030, the WEF report said.

The report also states that ensuring social equality will not only improve social mobility but will also improve the country's economy.

According to Klaus Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman of the WEF:

“The social and economic consequences of inequality are profound and far-reaching: a growing sense of unfairness, precarity, perceived loss of identity and dignity, weakening social fabric, eroding trust in institutions, disenchantment with political processes, and an erosion of the social contract. The response by business and government must include a concerted effort to create new pathways to socio-economic mobility, ensuring everyone has fair opportunities for success.”

Klaus Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman, WEF

The concerns raised by Klaus Schwab might appear familiar to you. Aren't these the same issues that triggered nationwide protests? Aren't anti-CAA protesters raising their voice against these social inequalities? Aren't they scared of losing their identity?

Aren't they out on the streets because of these issues? Can the lakhs of people, who are protesting against social inequality who are scared of losing their identity, who are disenchanted with political processes, participate in the economic growth of the country?

If they don't, how will the nation grow economically? On one hand we are fighting against atrocities on Dalits, backward classes and women, on the other hand new social inequalities have crept in.

This page was originally published on Quint Hindi.