According to a report by New World Wealth (Johannesburg), India is the second-most unequal country globally, with millionaires controlling 54% of its wealth. In India, the richest 1% own 53% of the country’s wealth (also India’s top 10% of population holds 73% of the wealth), according to the latest data from Credit Suisse. The richest 5% own 68.6%, while the top 10% have 76.3%. At the other end of the pyramid, the poorer half jostles for a mere 4.1% of national wealth.
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Recent Developments India Ranks 147th in Oxfam World Inequality Index
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Poverty and inequality are generally ideological and emotive issues. Often, the discussion assumes that changes in the level of poverty are independent from economic growth and inequality. As for the latter, it is not overall inequality, but rather inequality around the poverty line and changes therein that are most important for the determination of poverty decline.
Poverty Alleviation Programs by India in Collaboration with UN
Affordable Rural Housing for All: In partnership with the Ministry of Rural Development, UNDP, through the Governance & Accelerated Livelihoods project, helps promote affordable housing for the rural poor. The first component of this has been to provide beneficiary households with a wider range of choices in terms of housing designs, materials and construction technologies. These choices are tailored to local conditions, aim to enhance user benefits and reduce the environmental footprint of housing.
Strategic Programmatic Engagement at the State Level (2013-2017): This project is positioned as an intervention to strengthen capacities and institutions of state governments to support the large and scalable programmes and projects they implement. The project specifically aims to:
Policy and Advocacy (2013–2015): The policy and advocacy project will provide fast-track support to government partners and stakeholders and address cross-cutting themes seminal to the Country Programme’s support to the 12th Plan.
Disha- Creating Employment and Entrepreneurship Opportunities for Women in India (2015-2017): A three-year partnership between the India Development Foundation, UNDP and Xynteo, supported by IKEA Foundation seeks to positively impact the lives of one million women in India through training, entrepreneurial skill development and employment, as well as to develop a new model of public-private collaboration that can be adapted and replicated across India.
Improving Efficiency of Health Care System in Multiple States (2013-2017): UNDP is supporting Government of India and State Governments in improving efficiency of healthcare systems and medical service delivery through procurement of medical goods and enhancing capacities of the existing government medical entities.
Governance and Accelerated Livelihoods Support (GOALS) (2013-2017): The project aims to strengthen the effectiveness of key programmes of the Ministry of Rural Development with a particular focus on livelihoods and employment in twelve districts of Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Odisha.
Strengthening National Capacities in Tribal Areas (2013-2017): In partnership with the Ministry of Tribal Affairs, Government of India, the project aims to ensure that excluded groups benefit from the inclusive agenda of the GoI through strengthening capacities of communities to demand and access entitlements and ensure decentralized institutions deliver timely and stigma-free services.
Improving Efficiency of Vaccination Systems in Multiple States: In partnership with the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India, UNDP aims to support the UIP through designing and implementing an Electronic Vaccine Intelligence Network (eVIN), and strengthening the evidence base for improved policymaking in vaccine delivery, procurement and planning for new antigens. Integrating innovation with health care, eVIN aims to strengthen the vaccine supply chain to ensure equity in vaccine availability.
Following are some other plans initiated by the national government for poverty alleviation in India:
