Over 85% of billionaires in India belong to upper castes
New Delhi: More than 85 percent of India's billionaire wealth is concentrated among upper caste communities, showcasing the pervasive influence of caste on economic status. According to additional data shared with Business Standard by researchers from the World Inequality Lab, upper castes held 88.4 percent of billionaire wealth in 2022, compared to 2.6 percent held by people from scheduled castes (SCs).
Other backward classes (OBCs) accounted for 9 percent of billionaire wealth, while there were no billionaires from scheduled tribes (STs). The data, derived from the study "Towards Tax Justice and Wealth Redistribution in India: Proposals Based On Latest Inequality Estimates”, involved manual coding and the 'Outkast' algorithm to determine the caste composition of billionaires.
The study, authored by Nitin Kumar Bharti (New York University), Lucas Chancel (Harvard Kennedy School), Thomas Piketty, and Anmol Somanchi (Paris School of Economics), indicates a decline in wealth among OBC billionaires and an increase for those from upper castes. This shift is attributed to the fact that most new billionaires in recent years have been from upper castes, according to Somanchi.
Caste continues to shape access to education, health, social networks, and credit, which are crucial for entrepreneurship and wealth generation. Historically, Dalits were prohibited from owning land in many regions, limiting their economic progress.
The disparity is not limited to billionaires. The “State of Working India, 2023” a report by Azim Premji University shows that SCs and STs are underrepresented as enterprise owners relative to their workforce participation. While SCs constitute 19.3 percent of the workforce, only 11.4 percent own enterprises. For STs, who make up 10.1 percent of the workforce, only 5.4 percent own enterprises.
Wealth inequality extends beyond the billionaire list. According to the National Family Health Survey, only 12.3 percent of SCs and 5.4 percent of STs are in the highest wealth quintile. Conversely, more than 25 percent of SCs and 46.3 percent of STs fall into the lowest wealth category. The OBC community has 16.3 percent of its population in the lowest wealth category and 19.2 percent in the highest wealth category.
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Unemployed 'youngsters like cockroaches' become media, activists; attack system: CJI
New Delhi (PTI): Likening some unemployed youngsters to cockroaches, Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant on Friday said they go on to "become" media, social media and RTI activists and start attacking the system.
The comments came while a bench of CJI Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi was pulling up a lawyer for "pursuing" a senior advocate designation. It said there were already "parasites" in society who attack the system and asked the petitioner whether he wanted to join hands with them.
"The entire world may be eligible to become senior (advocate), but at least you are not entitled," the bench told the petitioner lawyer.
A visibly anguished CJI observed that if the Delhi High Court would confer senior advocate designation upon the petitioner, the apex court would set that aside seeing his professional conduct.
The CJI also referred to the kind of language used by the petitioner on Facebook.
"There are already parasites of society who attack the system and you want to join hands with them?" he said.
"There are youngsters like cockroaches, who don't get any employment or have any place in profession. Some of them become media, some of them become social media, RTI activists and other activists and they start attacking everyone," he said.
The bench also asked the petitioner whether he did not have any other litigation.
"Is this the conduct of a person who seeks to be designated as a senior advocate?" the bench asked.
It said senior advocate designation is something that is conferred on a person and is not to be pursued.
"You are pursuing it. Does it look proper?" the top court said, asking whether a senior advocate designation was a status symbol to be kept ornamentally.
It also observed that it wanted to ask the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to verify the degrees of many of those who were wearing black robes as there were serious doubts over the genuineness of their degrees.
It said the Bar Council of India would never do anything on this issue as they "need their votes".
The petitioner apologised to the bench and sought permission to withdraw the petition. The bench allowed the withdrawal of the petition.
