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Mahesh

19/05/22 13:56 PM IST

The State of Inequality in India

In News 
  • The State of Inequality in India Report was released by Dr Bibek Debroy, Chairman, Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM).
  • The report has been written by the Institute for Competitiveness and presents a holistic analysis of the depth and nature of inequality in India.
Major Findings 
  • Progress has been made in various indicators —- from improved labour participation (pre-Covid), health infrastructure and enrolment ratio of students to child mortality — wealth concentration has worsened.
  • A 44.4% wealth concentration in the highest quintile in urban areas is contrasted with a meagre 7.1% concentration in that in rural India.
  • Nutrition profile among children has improved compared to 2015-16 (NFHS 4), like stunting in children has gone down from 38.4% and wasting from 21%, and 7.7% are severely wasted. Additionally, 32.1% of children (under five years) were reported to be underweight.
  • As per Rural Health Statistics 2019-20, as of March 2020, there are 155404 Sub Centres (SC), 24918 Primary Health Centres (PHC), and 5183 Community Health Centres (CHC) in rural India.
  • In 2019-20, the Gender Parity Index was more than 1 across all levels of education at the all-India level. The Gender Parity Index (GPI) based on GER reflects the representation of females in schools in relation to the population of girls in the corresponding age group. A value of 1 shows a favourable picture, while anything less than 1 shows relative underrepresentation.
  • India’s unemployment rate is 4.8% (2019-20), and the worker population ratio is 46.8%.
  • In 2019-20, among different employment categories, the highest percentage was of self-employed workers (45.78%), followed by regular salaried workers (33.5%) and casual workers (20.71%). The share of self-employed workers also happens to be the highest in the lowest income categories.
  • The report compiles information on inequities across sectors of health, education, household characteristics and the labour market. As the report presents, inequities in these sectors make the population more vulnerable and trigger a descent into multidimensional poverty.
Health Sector 
  • There has been an increase in the number of Sub-Centres, Primary Health Centres, and Community Health Centres, from 1,72,608 health centres in 2005 to 1,85,505 in 2020. As per NFHS-5 (2019-21), 70% of women have received antenatal check-ups in the first trimester.
  • 78% of women received postnatal care from a doctor or auxiliary nurse within two days of delivery, and 79.1% of children received postnatal care within two days of delivery. Issues of concern remain nutritional deprivation – overweight, underweight, stunted and wasted growth.
Education & Household Sector 
  • According to the report, education and household conditions have improved enormously due to targeted efforts through several social protection schemes, especially in the area of water availability and sanitation that have increased the standard of living.
  • It is emphasised that education and cognitive development from the foundational years is a long-term corrective measure for inequality.
  • By 2019-20, 95% of schools have functional toilet facilities on the school premises (95.9% functional boy’s toilets and 96.9% functional girl’s toilets). 80.16% of schools have functional electricity connections.
  • In terms of improvement in household conditions, emphasis on providing access to sanitation and safe drinking water has meant leading a dignified life for most households.
  • According to NFHS-5 (2019-21), 97% of households have electricity access, 70% have improved access to sanitation, and 96% have access to safe drinking water.
Source-PIB 

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