Synopsis

The article was published in the editorial section of The Hindu Newspaper and expresses opinions about the wealth disparity in India with references made to several theories and also an indirect reference made to the extravagant expenses made by the Ambani family on their youngest son’s wedding.

The undignified wealth displayed by Indian billionaires during and before a family wedding demonstrates their vanity and inability to acknowledge the contemporary reality of their grandiosity, inequality, and poverty. Economists Nitin Kumar Bharti, Lucas Chancel, Thomas Piketty, and Anmol Somanchi’s 2024 study reveals that in 2022-23, the top 1% of Indians had income and wealth shares of 22.6% and 40.1%, respectively.

Article Explanation.

The passage highlights the extreme wealth inequality in India, revealing the disparity between the richest and the rest of the population. The wealth distribution is stark, with the top 1% of Indians possessing an average wealth of ₹54 million, while the bottom 50% hold only ₹0.17 million. The middle 40% have an average wealth of ₹0.96 million, 0.7 times the national average. The wealthiest 10,000 individuals have an average wealth of ₹22.6 billion, 16,763 times the average Indian’s wealth.

The wealth by social group is significant, with upper castes owning almost 90% of the billionaire wealth in 2022-23. Other Backward Classes own less than 10%, and Scheduled Castes own a mere 2.6%. Scheduled Tribes have no representation among the wealthiest Indians.

Despite significant reductions in multidimensional poverty, 56.5% of Indians could not afford a healthy diet in 2022, costing around $4.20 per person per day. Almost 790 million people in India cannot afford to spend ₹350 daily on healthy food.

The passage contrasts extravagant spending on a wedding with the ₹1,271 crore ($152 million) spent on corporate social responsibility (CSR) by the same family’s business group in 2022-23. Thorstein Veblen’s “The Theory of the Leisure Class” is used to explain this behaviour, stating that the wealthy engage in conspicuous consumption to gain reputability and stand out.

Harvard professor Michael J. Sandel’s book “The Tyranny of Merit” critiques the entitlement mentality of the wealthy and their propensity for wasteful expenditure. Sandel argues that the rich believe they have an absolute right to their wealth and the freedom to spend it wastefully, which he attributes to the concept of meritocracy. Sandel’s perspective builds on John Rawls’s “negative argument” and Friedrich Hayek’s “affirmative argument” to explain the ostentatious behaviour of billionaires.

Sandel’s philosophical foundations include John Rawls’s negative argument, which argues that success is partly due to fortunate circumstances in early life, and Friedrich Hayek’s affirmative argument, which argues that successful individuals are obligated to contribute to the community that facilitated their success.

Sandel argues that the rich ignore these realities, believing their talents entitle them to their wealth and that the poor deserve their fate due to a lack of merit. This mentality justifies their extravagant spending to enhance social standing and reinforce class distinctions.

Sandel’s critique highlights the social and psychological mechanisms that perpetuate wealth inequality and the acceptance of the status quo by the less affluent. This analysis underscores the deep-rooted belief in meritocracy and the entitlement mentality of the rich, which justifies wasteful spending and reinforces social divisions.

The Quran, a millennium and a half ago, introduced a doctrine of trusteeship and the concept of “right” to wealth ownership. It warned that wealth is god-given and the rich only hold it as trustees on behalf of the poor. This doctrine expanded the rights of the poor, bringing them on par with the rich in every aspect of life and restoring their dignity. The Quran also suggested that human miseries and happiness result from circumstantial randomness. This concept is similar to Michael Sandel’s moral philosophy, which aims to sober up the meritocratic rich by stating that they go “there, but for the grace of God, or the accident of birth, or the mystery of fate, go I.”

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The Editorial Page of The Hindu is an essential reading for all the students aspiring for UPSC, SSC, PCS, Judiciary etc or any other competitive government exams.

This may also be useful for exams like CUET UG and CUET PG, GATE, GMAT, GRE AND CAT

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