This is
ridiculous that government’ debt has increased by 49% in the last four and half
years while the fortunes of billionaires have multiplied manifold.
Do we not need
anything new to this rotting economy to bring in inclusive in it? Total
liabilities of the government has increased 49 per cent to Rs 82 lakh crore in
the last four-and-half years during the Narendra Modi government, as per the
8th Edition of the Status Paper on Government Debt released Friday.
Compared to the
latest data available till September 2018 when the total debt of the Central Government
stood at Rs 82, 03,253 crore, the corresponding amount till June 2014 was Rs
54, 90,763 crore, the Finance Ministry's data on government borrowings shows.
The huge surge
in government's debt has been propelled by 51.7 per cent growth in public debt
from Rs 48 lakh crore to Rs 73 lakh crore in the four-and-half year period,
which in turn was driven by 54 per cent rise in internal debt to about Rs 68
lakh crore.
Dependence on
market loans shows a similar rise of 47.5 per cent to more than Rs 52 lakh
crore during the period. While debt rose through gold bonds was nil at the end
of June 2014, it stood at Rs 9,089 crore including the gold monetization scheme?
The Central government, in the status paper on government debt, gave a detailed
analysis of the overall debt position of the government of India. It has been
bringing out an annual status paper on government debt since 2010-11.
Government is
primarily resorting to market-linked borrowings for financing its fiscal
deficit. While the country's debt has been on the rise, little help is expected
from the fiscal deficit side in the current financial year. The fiscal deficit
in the first eight months till November stands at Rs 7.17 lakh crore, or 114.8 per
cent of the full year's target.
The multibillion
questions arise as to how will India grow economically while the inequality is
rising very fast in India? India’s top 9 billionaires own as much as the
country’s poorest half, according
to an annual report by anti-poverty campaigner Oxfam, which looked at
inequalities in 2018.
All of the
economic parameters are down for example, the non banking financing sector is
down, NPA is on rise and fiscal deficit is widening, but the number of
billionaires are on rise in the country; therefore, something is fundamentally
wrong with our economic model.
The Oxfam report
released in 2019 tells us a very fearful story and we should sit back and think
about it seriously. Do we need a new tax structure so that these nine
billionaires controlling half of the emerging India are taxed properly in
accordance with their proportionate wealth?
OXFAM REPORT 2019
The world’s
richest 26 billionaires own as much wealth as the 3.8 billion people in the
bottom half of humanity, while India’s top 9 billionaires own as much as the country’s poorest half.
The world has
over 2,200 billionaires, which is more than twice as many as in 2008. India has
119 billionaires, after adding 18 in 2018. The world’s richest 26 billionaires
own as much wealth as the 3.8 billion people in the bottom half of humanity;
while India’s top 9 billionaires own as
much as the country’s poorest half, according to an annual report by
anti-poverty campaigner Oxfam, which looked at inequalities in 2018.
Globally,
billionaires’ fortunes rose by 12% to $900 billion, or $2.5 billion a day in
2018, whereas the poorest half of the world’s population saw their wealth
decline by 11%, Oxfam said in its study, released before the start of the
five-day World Economic Forum annual meeting in Davos.
In India, the
wealth of billionaires rose by over one-third from $325 billion to $440
billion, which translates to Rs 2,200 crore a day, Oxfam said.
TABLE-1: BILLIONS WITH BILLIONARES (SOURCE-OXFAM REPORT)
WEALTH
|
WORLD
|
INDIA
|
TOTAL
WEALTH IN 2017
|
$ 7,500
billion
|
$ 325 billion
|
TOTAL WEALTH
IN
2018
|
$ 8,400
billion
|
$
440 billion
|
INCREASE
IN 2017-18
|
$
900 billion
|
$
115 billion
|
INCREASE
PER DAY
|
$
2.5 billion
|
$ 0.31 billion
|
TABLE-2: WEALTH CHANGE SINCE 2017
INDIA
|
|
TOP
1%
|
+
39%
|
POOREST 50%
|
+ 3%
|
WORLD
|
|
ALL
BILLIONARES
|
+
12%
|
POOREST 50%
|
-11%
|
Between 2017 and
2018, the world created a new billionaire every two days. Between 2018 &
2022, India will add an estimated 70 new millionaires per day.
The world has
over 2,200 billionaires, which is more than twice as many as in 2008. India has
119 billionaires, after adding 18 in 2018. While
billionaires’ wealth grew by 12%, the wealth of the 3.8 billion in the poorest
half of the world population dropped by 11%.
In India, the
richest 1% added 39% to their wealth, while the poorest half added just 3%. The Oxfam report states that his
wealth, at Rs 2.8 lakh crore, is more than the combined revenue and capital
expenditure of the Centre and states for medical, public health, sanitation and
water supply.
The world’s
richest man, owner of Amazon, saw his fortune increase to $112bn. Just 1% of
his fortune is the equivalent to the whole health budget for Ethiopia, a
country of 105 million people, Oxfam states.
UMA SHANKER
SINGH IFS, PhD
Email us: buntline123@gmail.com
