Mukesh Ambani made Rs 90 crore per hour amid COVID-19 pandemic: Oxfam

The Covid pandemic has led to a rise in inequality and it would take an unskilled worker 10000 years to make what Ambani made in an hour during the pandemic and three years to make what Mukesh Ambani made in a secondAs per the Oxfam Inequality Report called this year as The Inequality Virus Report because of the pandemic said the pandemic has also widened the existing social economic and genderbased inequalitiesThe rich have been able to escape the pandemics worst impact and whitecollar workers have easily isolated themselves and have been working from home However most of India has faced loss of livelihoods it saidDuring pandemic on the day when Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani rose to become the fourth richest man in the world a farmer Rajesh Rajak and his three daughters died by suicide as a result of his job lossThe rising inequality in the country is poignant It would take an unskilled worker 10000 years to make what Ambani made in an hour during the pandemic and 3 years to make what Ambani made in a second The pandemic has also widened the existing social economic and genderbased inequalities Oxfam saidThe wealth of Indian billionaires increased by 35 per cent during the lockdown and by 90 per cent since 2009 to 4229 billion ranking India sixth in the world after US China Germany Russia and FranceThis is despite the fact that most of India has faced a loss of livelihoods and its economy has dipped into recession for the first time after a quarter of a centuryThe increase in wealth of the top 11 billionaires during the pandemic can easily sustain the MGNREGS scheme or the health ministry of India for the coming 10 years Oxfam saidMukesh Ambani emerged as the fourth richest man in the world and the richest in India and Asia with his wealth rising to Rs 5837 billion a rise of 72 per cent in his wealth He was making Rs 90 crore per hour during the pandemic at a time when around 24 per cent of the people in the country have been earning under Rs 3000 per month during the lockdown the report saidIndias wealthiest people escaped the worst impact of the pandemic while the majority of India suffered This gross asymmetry of power and resources is not just amoral argument but a practical question it saidAs per International Labour Organization ILO with a share of almost 90 per cent of people working in the informal economy about 40 crore workers in the informal economy are at risk of falling deeper into poverty during the crisis The increase in the wealth of the richest person in India during pandemic could keep 40 crore informal workers out of poverty for at least 5 monthsA survey done by Credit Vidya reported that the loss of income among those earning more than Rs 60000 a month was 10 per cent compared to their prepandemic income whereas the income of those earning less than Rs 20000 a month reduced to 37 per cent of their prepandemic incomeEightyfour per cent of the households suffered a loss in income in April 2020 While 170000 people lost their jobs every hour in the month of April 2020 Approximately 167 people killed themselves due to starvation and financial distress from job loss and reduction in income between March to July 2020 Oxfam saidThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever