GS1 PYQ (Mains Answer Writing): Covid-19 & Inequalities | UPSC Mains Answer Writing: Practice PDF Download

Q. COVID-19 pandemic accelerated class inequalities and poverty in India. Comment.

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Introduction
Inequality was alarmingly high and destabilizing social and political order in much of the world even before the pandemic struck. According to Oxfam report 2019, In India the top 1% hold 51.53% of the national wealth, while the remaining 99% make do with almost 48%.

However, the Inequality Virus Report, released by Oxfam International, has found that the Covid-19 pandemic deeply increased the existing inequalities in India and around the world.

Body
Impact of the Pandemic on Class Inequalities & Poverty

• India introduced one of the earliest and most stringent lockdowns in the face of the pandemic and its enforcement brought the economy to a standstill, triggering unemployment, hunger, distress migration, and untold hardship.
• The rich were able to escape the pandemic’s worst impact; and while the white-collar workers isolated themselves and worked from home. However, a majority of the not-so-fortunate Indians (migrant workers) lost their livelihood.
  • India’s large informal workforce was the worst hit as it made up 75% of the 122 million jobs lost.
• The unemployment rate among women rose from an already high 15% before Covid to 18%.
• Beyond income and job losses, poorer women also suffered healthwise because of the disruption in regular health services and Anganwadi centers.
• A new study from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has found that an additional 207 million people could be pushed into extreme poverty by 2030 due to the severe long-term impact of the coronavirus pandemic, bringing the total number of the world’s extremely poor to more than a billion.

Conclusion
In order to combat the ill effects of Covid-19, the government has launched PM Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana and Atma-Nirbhar Bharat Abhiyan. However, undoing the impacts of Covid-19 will certainly not be a short-term process.