Is The Law Enough To Address Inequality In India
Author: LawSphereX
Category: General Law
Published:
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IS THE LAW ENOUGH TO ADDRESS INEQUALITY IN
INDIA?
Niharika Singh, B.A., LL.B. (Hons.), Chanakya National Law University, Patna
ABSTRACT
Our dominant understanding of law and its potential to address the yawning inequality, revolves around the aspect that the strengthening of the legal institutions shapes economic behaviour. Unlike this, this essay raises the question: What if legal institutions are crafted by the state to manage the problem of inequality and not address it to the core? The welfare legislations promulgated by the State with the intent to address inequality has not turned out to be effective but rather it is acting as an apparatus to limit the voice raising questions about it. The narrative of the economic growth set forth by the State and fostering it to deal with inequality it is a blurred picture of social welfare. The government, in actuality, is not exhibiting to address the problem of inequality, rather through its various laws and legislations, providing it with a platform to flourish it.
The State ensures that with the strengthening of the legal institutions, the problem of inequality can be addressed effectively but is it really true or the State just trying to manage it and while managing it, reproducing inequality through its legal institutions. The State crafted the legal institutions to manage the problem of inequality, we can see it, only, if we are able to take the veil off from our eyes of the whole structure of economic growth which is widening the gap of inequality. Keywords: State, Legal Institutions, Inequality, Income, Wealth, Economic Disparity, Economic Growth, Post-Covid, Neo liberalization.
1. INTRODUCTION
‘Inequality’, the term itself is declaratory in nature. Inequality means dearth of equal opportunities, rights, privileges, living standards and resources because of certain factors such as gender, race, religion, caste, community, income, wealth and others which ultimately leads one being discriminated by those who have an upper-hand or bargaining power and builds a relationship where one is superior and other is inferior or subordinate to the superior. Inequality has been prolonged one of the crucial intricating matter but no one dared to unwind and obstruct it.
1.1 INEQUALITY
Inequality has been deep rooted within us. Some says that it is a part of the society or is a subset of the human civilization and therefore cannot be eliminated from the roots of the society. The past has provided us with countless instance where inequality has been used as an apparatus to take forward any society. Earlier, the capitalism has been the reason for exalted inequality. Those who are not in a position to have the bargaining power were exploited at the hands of the people who gathered large chunk of wealth. Post-industrialization, people were forced to migrate to cities in search of jobs. The less demand of the workers and lack of job security has given an opportunity to the bourgeoisie to exploit the proletariat class (working class).
With the passage of time, wealth accumulation and concentration of power eventually stretched out a level that workers were not in a position to even sustain their life appropriately leaving them impoverished. In this marked time, the State has been following the laissez faire policy, adopting non-interventionist approach and left the people at the mercy of the market to perish or flourish on their own because of which inequality increased at a faster pace. Presently, in modern times, State has shifted its policy towards the welfare society. In a democratic country like India, people are considered as the main stakeholder and the welfare of the people is considered as the major responsibility of the government. However, is the government really taking radical steps to address the core issue of inequality or is just trying to manage it?
1.2 LAW AND INEQUALITY
The idea that the development of legal institutions influences economic behaviour is central to our prevailing conception of law and its ability to alleviate widening inequality. This essay, in contrast, poses the following query: What if the state creates legal frameworks to control
inequality rather than tackling its root causes? State tries to exhibit the murky and speculative visualization of the economic development of all through its social welfare legislations carried out by its legal institutions. There are lot of hopes from these legal institutions to work for the welfare of the people and in shaping of the economic behaviour. The strengthening of the legal institutions is in turn reproducing inequality instead of mitigating it. The State comes up with welfare legislations to show that it is working to deal with the issue of widening inequality but in reality, it is the one which is aiding it through various other mechanisms. The State endeavours to address the problem of inequality but behind the curtain, if we see, it is just trying to ‘manage’ it and not ‘addressing’ to its core.
The welfare legislations are of no use for the people if the problem lies in its enforcement and this enforcement of the law or legislation is the responsibility of legal institutions, which is again crafted by the State. The legislations present on paper with non-enforcement is a mere written document. Sate comes up with the welfare legislations to use it as an escaping mechanism rather than finding the root causes and core solution for the problem of inequality. The legal institutions again, are not working in tandem with the objective of actually serving the welfare and the economic development of the people but is acting merely as a tool to aid ‘inequality’ and that too, ironically, to fulfil the aim of economic development.
In reality, the beneficiaries of the economic development and the approach to shape the economic behaviour of the people is far distant from what it is actually portrayed by the State through its social welfare legislations, so instead of eradicating the inequality, it acts as a platform to justify inequality and therefore reproducing inequality. The State endeavours to promote social welfare through various laws and legislations but it is just present to pull the wool over the eyes of the common people, that look, we have formulated laws to protect the interest of the people, but what about its effectiveness. The law acts as an apparatus to subserve the inequality instead of eliminating it from the root, in managing it.
The larger picture of the economic development and the means to eradicate inequality through it seems to be far so esoteric to be effective than what it is prompted by the State through formulation of its laws. Therefore, the law is unable to even partially address the core issue of inequality. State recognizes inequality as a subset of the population participating in the economic development and the economic growth would be able to overcome the issue of inequality. The assumption of the State that the economic inequality has not reached to an
intolerant level and is considered inevitable for the economic growth of the nation. In the wake of over economic efficiency, inequality has lost its balance and the State’s skiving behaviour towards it is alarming.
1.3 WHY INEQUALITY MATTERS?
The issue of inequality holds crucial position for the development of any nation. All the rudimental stumbling block of the society cannot be resolved if inequality persists. Inequality creates social division, increased social conflict among different class or groups, social unrest and poor economic growth, or particularly non-inclusive economic growth, increased poverty, increased crime rates, environmental degradation, political instability and various other problems. At the end, it creates a vicious cycle of various other problems emerging out of it. The narrative of inequality has undergone through lot of discourse but the out-turn always fumbled to whether it’s economic and technological or political and ideological. The political motives and changing ideologies of the people has adverse consequence on inequality in the entire world.
Those who are suffering are left to perish on their own and it is justified in the wake of economic development. The facets of inequality exist, not only in terms of incomebased inequality but also in other realms such as religion or community or political inequality or gender-based inequality. The income inequality is somewhat associated with other facets of inequality. The main issue which comes before us is that what is the stance of the government in the existing real sense of inequality?
2. WHY LAW REPRODUCES INEQUALITY IN MANAGING IT?
The laws are supposed to address the issue of inequality as per the government but it is rather managed by the government and the legal institutions which are crafted by the State in turn widening the gap of inequality by just acting as an apparatus to legitimise inequality. There are number of legal institutions which are already existing but the State is focused on strengthening of these legal institutions to show that it is working towards the welfare of the people, which in reality, not. There are various reports and evidences which suggests that law reproduces inequality in managing it.
2.1 OXFAM INEQUALITY REPORT 2022
The “Oxfam Report 2022”1 entails a rudimentary narration about it, according to which postCovid, a new billionaire is rising up in every 26 hours. The combined wealth of ten richest person in the world surpassed the combined wealth of 3.1 billion people in the world. Around
252 world’s richest men have more wealth than combined wealth of more than 1 billion women
and girls of Africa, a country which suffers from dire poverty. This inequality has some serious consequences, “death of 21,600 people every day and about 2. 1 million” people die because of hunger. India has no different position in this outlook. Citing the Forbes Report, Oxfam study set forth that in India, “wealth of 100 richest men soared to 775 billion US dollars” while “84% of the population witnessed plummeting their income. ” The number of hungry Indians has reached to “350 million in 2022 from 190 million in 2018”. In the year 2019-20 the government has reduced the “corporate tax rate from 30% to 22%” because of this, the government in the first two years after tax reduction has “suffered the loss of Rs. 1. 84 lakh crore. ” These losses are recovered by imposing taxes on basic necessity items or petrol which is levied on the middle class and poor people.
The “bottom 50% of the population contributes approximately 64% of the country’s total GST and the top 10% contributes only about 4% of the total GST of the country. ” These statistics shows that the people at the bottom of the pyramid pays more tax than those at the top of the pyramid. These numbers are imperative for the whole world, unfortunately these are just numerical values on the paper.
2.2 INCOME AND WEALTH
The income and wealth are two distinct terminologies in economics yet, has a vital impact on the lives of people. India has no different position in this outlook. The wealth accumulation in the hands of few has an adverse effect on healthcare, education and inaccessibility to the basic goods and services by the common people. While the rise of living standard is incorporated by these huge business and corporate houses through their luring and expensive products in the market, forget that the burden of huge taxes levied by the government on the elementary goods and services has forbidden the people to raise their living standard. The government in various nations has time and again restricted itself from interfering in the market regulations supporting the idea that it has a trickle-down effect at the bottom-most of the pyramid but, does it justify
1 OXFAM’S REPORT, INEQUALITY KILLS, Oxfam International, January 2022
https://oxfamilibrary.openrepository.com/bitstream/handle/10546/621341/bp-inequality-kills-170122-en.pdf
the wilful injustice against the poor section of the society?2 This is one way of the government to escape from its responsibility of eradicating inequality and poverty. The State endeavours for absence of any discrimination on the grounds of income, religion, caste, race or birth but at the same time fails to acknowledge the fact that there is sweeping discrimination in the society on these grounds.
2.3 DIRECT TAX CODE, 2025
The State advocates for poverty-free society but at the same time people are burdened with huge taxes by the government to pay, and for what, to have accessibility to the basic goods and services? The recently formulated Direct Tax Code, 20253 replacing Income Tax, 1961 has come up with critical changes. It has reduced the tax rates for the foreign company from 40% to 35% while the standard deduction on salary has been increased from 10% to 14% and family pension deduction has been increased from Rs.15000 to Rs.25000. The middle class is struggling to keep up with the already existing taxes and the amendments to the law overburdened their shoulders with more taxes. The amended laws are not only detrimental for the inclusive growth but also challenging for the poverty-ridden section to uplift themselves in the increasing economic sphere.
2.4 INCREASING FARMERS SUICIDE IN INDIA
As per the government report, 557 farmers ended their lives in the last six months this year in Amravati, Maharashtra4 while the current government’s leader slogan of “Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan” has been extended to “Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan, Jai Vigyan and Jai Anusandhan.”5 According to the data presented by National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), approximately 10,881 farmers died by suicide in 20216, inconsistent with the numbers presented by Punjab Agricultural University
2 Parakala Prabhakar, OXFAM’S INEQUALITY REPORT, PIKETTY AND NEW INDIA, January 2022
3 Union Budget 2024-25: Key Tax Reforms and Relief Measures, Press Information Bureau, Government of
India (Ministry of Finance), July 25, 2024, https://static.pib.gov.in/WriteReadData/specificdocs/documents/2024/jul/doc2024726355001.pdf (Last visited on September 16,2024). 4 557 farmers ended lives in six months this year in Maharashtra's Amravati: Govt report, THE HINDU, July 10, 2024, https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/maharashtra/557-farmers-ended-lives-in-six-months-this-yearinmaharashtras-amravati-govt-report/article68388621.ece. 5 Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan, Jai Vigyan, Jai Anusandhan’: Budget speech highlights importance of innovation, THE INDIAN EXPRESS, February 1, 2024. https://indianexpress.com/article/what-is/jai-jawan-jai-kisan-jai-vigyanjai-anusandhan-budget-speechinnovation-9138954/ 6 Partha Sarathi Biswas, NCRB report shows farm suicides on rise: Why more farm labourers ending lives than farmers after Covid, THE INDIAN EXPRESS, December 05,2023, https://ncrb.gov.in/
which stated that actual number of farmer suicides in Punjab is almost five times of the NCRB’s data. But again, these are just numbers for the government and a political attempt of abuse of power by encouraging a narrative that look, we are working for the betterment of the conditions of farmers. Every other day, the government comes up with new welfare schemes for the farmers incorporating the idea that farmers are not at the behest of the market but again government fails to provide them better price for their third largest contribution, of 18% to the country’s GDP. The overall farm subsidies provided amounts to 2 to 2. 5% of the GDP which is again a number to criticised. 7 The idea of the government of “Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan, now stretched out to Jai Vigyan, Jai Anusandhan” has to undergo another pitfall of inequality persisting in the country.
Inequality not only restrain the accessibility of quality education, skill and opportunities to the marginalized people but also turn down the possibility of extracting from the pool of talent and ideas. The nation, lagging behind in availing quality education, skill and healthcare to all its citizens also miss out on the opportunity of getting potential, talented people such as scientists, researchers, entrepreneurs who eventually contribute to the growth of the nation. Until, inequality is prevailing at such a tremendous level, the government embracing the idea of Jai Vigyan and Jai Anusandhan seems to be purely meaningless.
2.5 WORLD INEQUALITY REPORT 2023
Another report published by World Inequality Lab, “World Inequality Report” titled as Income and Wealth Inequality in India 1992-2023: The Rise of Billionaire Raj. 8 This is again a need of the hour to be looked at. This report suggested that till 1990 there was only one billionaire with assets of over 1 billion dollars, in India but currently this number has boomed to more than 160 billionaires in India. The data of this report also suggested that India is moving towards plutocracy: directly or indirectly the government policies are directly or indirectly influenced by the rich people. The findings of this report enumerated as, post-independence in India, the income inequality has actually reduced in India. At that period of time, top 1% income has accounted for 12% of the total income earned in India.
7 Bharat Ramaswami, Agricultural Subsidies* Study Prepared for XV Finance Commission, at Pg. 02, March 2019, https://fincomindia. nic. in/archive/writereaddata/html_en_files/fincom15/StudyReports/Agricultural%20subsidie s. pdf 8 Nitin Kumar Bharti, Lucas Chancel, Thomas Piketty & Anmol Somanchi, Income and Wealth Inequality in India, 1922-2023: The Rise of the Billionaire Raj, World Inequality Lab Working Paper No. 2024/09, at 1 (2024), https://wid. world/www-site/uploads/2024/03/WorldInequalityLab_WP2024_09_Income-and- WealthInequality-in-India-1922-2023_Final. pdf.
Over a period of time, owing to some policies of the then government towards social welfare, private sector industries were nationalised, such as banking, coal and aviation, came under the control of the government. The consequence was that the income of top 1% declined to 6% from the preceding 12% in 1982. But in 1991, the reforms of Liberalization, Privatization and Globalization, private sector was given more space for their expansion and operation in India. This step of the government was taken to improvise the economic conditions of the nation and to increase the employment opportunities and de-monopolize the market. This initiative by the government has opened the Indian market for foreign investments.
Consequently, the indigenous labour market succumbed and the foreign companies took over the market and eventually led to the exploitation of the workers by big corporations and companies. The report stated that as of 2022-23, the top 1% accounts for 22. 6% of the total income share while the bottom 50% accounts for 15% of the total income share in India. The growth that has been happening in India is not inclusive growth and the benefit is reaching only to the rich people in India and not the poor section of the society. In the last ten years, during 2014-18, the size of the economy increased but the earnings of the top 10% of the population increased at a faster pace. Between 2018-2020, there was a recession experienced by the Indian economy, the percentage growth rate and income of the top 10% came down.
9 And after 2021, post-pandemic recovery phase, again the pace of earning of the top 10% has actually increased as compared to the declining income of the poor section of the society. These concerning numbers indicating the income disparity not just limited to India. In South Africa, the top 10% accounts for 60% of the total income of the nation. In Brazil, the top 10% accounts for more than 50% of the total income share of the nation. 10 The report stated that in case of India, the taxation structure seems to be regressive in nature because the tax imposition is on the income of an individual. So, the rich person has to pay a small proportion of their income as tax whereas the same taxation system becomes a huge burden on those sustaining their lives with meagre income. So, the World Inequality Report suggested to include wealth apart from income in the realm of taxation structure.
Before 2015, government of India used to impose taxes on wealth as well but post Budget of 2015, the government of India announced that the cost of collecting the wealth taxes is higher
9 Nitin Kumar Bharti, supra note 8.
10 Nitin Kumar Bharti, supra note 8.
and they are not seeing the benefit out of it and consequently the government withdrew the wealth tax. The World Inequality Report recommended that the government should revamp their taxation structure. For the rich people, the taxation rate should be higher. In fact, the report suggested to impose super tax on the 160 billionaires in India and the tax collected out of it can be used by the government for various infrastructure projects, such as hospitals and educational institutions. 11 The counterargument in this regard by the government is that, if the government started imposing higher taxes on corporate bodies, they might start shifting towards other countries for their business operations.
So, the government is reluctant towards imposition of higher taxes on huge corporate and business houses, presence of which is vital for the economic growth as considered by economists and the government. India’s income inequality is worse than under the British colonial rule. The nation’s growth does not mean that it includes the growth of the top 10% rich people, instead, it means to empower the marginalized sections of the society, farmers, self-reliant and self-dependent middle class and to encourage youth employment. With the passage of time, it has been observed that income inequality has magnified in the last decade. Countries like US, China and India has topped the list of Hurun Global Rich List 202412 with India holding the third position. While on one hand, there is increasing economic disparity in India, there is also increasing number of rich people in India every day.
All these reports and data are alarming but does not bother the government to take radical steps for mitigating the widening gap of economic inequality.
2.6 ECONOMIC DISPARITIES AND GOVERNANCE
The widened income disparity can be seen from the lenses of organised sector and unorganised sector as well. The income inequality is prevalent in the unorganised sector due to the unemployment or forced labour by the people having bargaining power. The increasing farmers suicides in the last several years is the evidence that how people are forced to leave the agricultural sector and forced to work in big cities but these metropolitan big cities are nowhere in a position to serve their best interest. Instead, working as a mechanism to exploit them at the
11 Nitin Kumar Bharti, supra note 8
12 Hurun Research Institute, Hurun Global Rich List 2024, March 26,2024, https://www.hurun.net/en-
US/Info/Detail?num=K851WM942LBU
most. People from states like Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and others are forced to migrate from their home cities to the big metropolitan cities like Mumbai and Delhi in search of better work opportunities but at the end, what they get is worse. They have no bargaining power so they are forced to work even for the bare minimum wages. Secondly, there is no job security for them leaving them at the mercy of the employer. At times of Covid, the migrant workers, completely depended upon daily wages, dying of hunger decided to walk to their home land. Some died during the journey and some were barred to enter their home-state at the borders. This whole scenario showcased how the poor is left to perish by the government.
These so-called governments or political parties makes a long list of promises in their manifesto to empower the marginalized section and work for the best of their interest, considering themselves as the server and the subject as ‘God. ’ But the cry and plight of the ‘God’ somehow could not reach to the government after elections. This is how the governance is carried out in a democratic nation like India where the political parties spend huge sum of money in their rallies during the elections in which they make promises to the people for the betterment of their lives but unfortunately none of them stated the source of this huge sum of monetary aid. This monetary aid is either derived through taxes imposed on the people or any third force is providing the financial support to these political parties.
The answer is that these political parties draw huge sum of money as funds from big corporate houses and post elections, instead of fulfilling the promises made to the ordinary people, the government in power supports these big corporations directly or indirectly by imposing lesser taxes or by not levying any further taxes on them or by supporting and aiding their infrastructure projects with less restrictions of law. The government showcases that it is working to eradicate the poverty and to empower the poor. But they never stated that eradicating the poverty, so to say, they mean to eradicate the poor section of the society. The government makes rules, regulations and laws towards the welfare of the poor but at the same moment, these people are left at the mercy of the rich people to provide employment and other opportunities because the government is unable to create new jobs.
The government provides tools to achieve the economic inequality through welfare legislations, but the credibility and standard of the skills acquired by those who cannot afford the quality education and skill again raises questions the policies of the government. In order to create new jobs and employment opportunities, particularly for the upliftment of the
marginalized section, the education sector needs revamp ensuring the affordability of the quality education to all irrespective of discrimination on any ground.
2.7 IMPACT OF NEO-LIBERALIZATION ON INEQUALITY
Post neo-liberalization, the idea which emphasises limitation of government interference in the market and capitalism. In 1991, India adopted the reforms policy of Liberalization, Privatization and Globalization (LPG). With this new reform policies, there was market deregulation, lifting of trade barriers, self-regulating market, privatization of different sectors so as to bring the efficiency in the economy. The government decided not to intervene in the affairs of the market and its decisions for the regulation. With this, in the context of environment, the government has decontrolling and deregulation of the use and distribution of natural resources. 13 As a result, environmental resources are depleted in the name of advancement in science and technology and related infrastructure projects.
Those who advocates for incorporating the principle of neo-liberalization, says that the advancement in science and technology will help in eradication of the poverty and improving the inadequate living conditions of the people. The infrastructure projects of big companies are built at the expense of the environment, which promises to provide better living conditions to the people by providing employment but no appraisal is carried out by the government that whether it actually proved to be helpful in mitigating poverty or is it just widening the gap of economic disparity? The answer needs to have the element of transparency by the government itself. The cost paid for the economic development is depletion of environment and this depletion is carried out majorly by big companies and the rich people.
The indiscriminatory environmental depletion has serious implications, causing pollution of air, water and other natural resources on human life, particularly the poor, since the rich are not much affected when it comes to afford a better living conditions but the poor has to struggle even for availing clean water and air to breathe. There are villages where people are forced to live in the dire condition because of dearth of adequate resources to manage their life. 13 Sanjay Parikh and Geetanjoy Sahu, Has the Judiciary Abandoned Environment for Neoliberalism? , Economic and Political Weekly (Engage), Vol. 58, Issue No. 13, 2023, https://www. epw. in/engage/article/has-judiciaryabandoned-environment-neoliberalism
In village of Gangnauli, Baghpat district, situated at 75km distance from the capital region, New Delhi, having population of 7500 villagers, every household has at least one sick family member. The conditions of the people living in this village is worse because they are suffering from physical deformities, neurological problems and cancer. The scientists and doctors found the contaminated drinking water by various harmful chemicals released from the factories and industries, as the root cause of their problems. 14 In 2012, the NGT has been approached to solve this issue and NGT has sent teams to investigate for multiple times and in their findings also, they found this problem as a grave issue. NGT ordered the government to supply clean drinking water in this village area.
After a series of struggle by the people, finally a water tank has been installed by the government but the situation remained the same because the water tank has not been constructed, if constructed then it would not operate properly and not everyone would get the water. In the court, forged reports of the check-ups of sick people, by the doctors, were submitted by the authorities, claiming that they have no physical problems. Also, by filing false affidavits, the Uttar Pradesh Pollution Board, claimed that the water released from factories is clean, then probably it is the God who contaminated the water. The villagers are not in a position to leave their house and land. They are monetarily helpless and given up.
This is the condition of the 21st century technologically advanced modern India, a democratic nation where the current judicial system, with its reactive approach and complex legal procedures, is unable to ensure a safe and clean environment for all because it fails to consistently enforce laws on all, hold powerful polluters accountable in a timely manner, and address environmental issues with zealousness. This is one of the several instance of the adverse implication of the diversion of natural resources for the capital-intensive and industrialist. Post-liberalization, the approach of the judiciary is non-interventionist, where the environmental laws has been violated by industries owing to their huge infrastructural projects supported by the state and central government.
15 14 South China Morning Post, Not a single family is healthy': an Indian village sickened by contaminated water, https://www. scmp. com/video/asia/3103059/not-single-family-healthy-indian-village-sickenedcontaminatedwater (Last visited on September 17,2024) 15 Sanjay Parikh and Geetanjoy Sahu, Has the Judiciary Abandoned Environment for Neoliberalism? , Economic and Political Weekly (Engage), Vol. 58, Issue No. 13, 2023, https://www. epw. in/engage/article/has-judiciaryabandoned-environment-neoliberalism
3.0 CONCLUSION
It's not like inequality is new, rising with the modern society but is deep rooted among ourselves through various factors such as slavery, bonded labour system, social segregation based on caste, religion, race, community and what not. But the question arises, is inequality inevitable? The answer is that inequality is not inevitable but rather produced by the State and the capitalists for their own benefit. If the State would have been really interested in resolving the issue of inequality to the core, then the State would have acted in a more diligent manner to find the root causes of inequality and made structural reforms accordingly.
Instead of addressing the issue to the core and adopting better structural reforms in its legal institutions, the State is just providing tools to overcome the inequality on your own and disseminates that it is well ensured by its legal institutions, which is not. On one hand, the State endeavours for social welfare of the people and on the other hand, it elevates inequality by directly or indirectly supporting capitalism, which it finds essential for the economic growth of the nation and suggests that it will eventually have a trickle-down effect on those, who are deprived. In the past, the State’s laissez faire policy used to directly support the capitalism and presently, the State’s welfare policy is indirectly supporting the capitalism by limiting the voice of the people through law and so-called social welfare legislations.
The laws or legislations acting as an apparatus for the capitalism to escalate unchecked. This is why, the State is reproducing inequality in ‘managing’ it. In some way or the other, the laws or legislations by the State has not proved to be constructive in addressing the issue of inequality to its core
REFERENCES:
a) OXFAM’S REPORT, INEQUALITY KILLS, Oxfam International, January 2022 b) Parakala Prabhakar, OXFAM’S INEQUALITY REPORT, PIKETTY AND NEW INDIA, January 2022 c) Union Budget 2024-25: Key Tax Reforms and Relief Measures, Press Information Bureau, Government of India (Ministry of Finance), July 25, 2024. d) 557 farmers ended lives in six months this year in Maharashtra's Amravati: Govt report, THE HINDU, July 10, 2024. e) ‘Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan, Jai Vigyan, Jai Anusandhan’: Budget speech highlights importance of innovation, THE INDIAN EXPRESS, February 1, 2024. f) Partha Sarathi Biswas, NCRB report shows farm suicides on rise: Why more farm labourers ending lives than farmers after Covid, THE INDIAN EXPRESS, December 05,2023, https://ncrb. gov. in/ g) Bharat Ramaswami, Agricultural Subsidies* Study Prepared for XV Finance Commission, at Pg. 02, March 2019.
h) Nitin Kumar Bharti, Lucas Chancel, Thomas Piketty & Anmol Somanchi, Income and Wealth Inequality in India, 1922-2023: The Rise of the Billionaire Raj, World Inequality Lab Working Paper No. 2024/09, at 1 (2024), i) Hurun Research Institute, Hurun Global Rich List 2024, March 26,2024. j) Sanjay Parikh and Geetanjoy Sahu, Has the Judiciary Abandoned Environment for Neoliberalism? , Economic and Political Weekly (Engage), Vol. 58, Issue No. 13, 2023. k) South China Morning Post, Not a single family is healthy': an Indian village sickened by contaminated water.