India ranks 147th in efforts to cut inequality

India fares poorly on labour rights and respect for women in the workplace, reflecting the fact that the majority of the labour force is employed in the agricultural and informal sectors.

London, Oct. 9: India has been ranked among the bottom 10 nations in a new worldwide index released on Tuesday on the commitment of different nations to reduce inequalities in their populations.

Oxfam International’s ‘Commitment to Reducing Inequality Index’ ranks India 147th among 157 countries analysed, describing the country’s commitment to reducing inequality as a “a very worrying situation” given that it is home to 1.3 billion people, many of whom live in extreme poverty.

“Oxfam has calculated that if India were to reduce inequality by a third, more than 170 million people would no longer be poor,” the index notes.

“Government spending on health, education and social protection is woefully low and often subsidises the private sector. Civil society has consistently campaigned for increased spending,” it adds.

The second edition of the annual index finds that countries such as South Korea, Namibia and Uruguay are taking strong steps to reduce inequality.

However, countries such as India and Nigeria “do very badly” overall, as does the US among rich countries, showing what Oxfam describes as a lack of commitment to closing the inequality gap.

In reference to India, the index finds that while the tax structure looks reasonably progressive on paper, in practice much of the progressive taxation, like that on the incomes of the richest, is not collected.

India also fares poorly on labour rights and respect for women in the workplace, reflecting the fact that the majority of the labour force is employed in the agricultural and informal sectors, which lack union organisation and enforcement of gender rights. The index is based on a new database of indicators which measures government action on social spending, tax and labour rights — three areas found to be critical to reducing the gap. — PTI