IN South Asia we are used to living with contrasts. We were earlier used to the jet set and bullock cart set coexisting; now we are used to being seen as the new dynamic economic region of the world, even as large parts of our population continue not just to stagnate but even to experience absolutely terrible conditions of living. We are also used to large regional differences in income, consumption patterns and even access to basic needs.
Yet the extent of inequality that we are currently experiencing is nevertheless something rather new, across the subcontinent. In several countries of the region including India, the recent rapid economic growth has been associated with unexpectedly large increases in consumption of the rich, and the flaunting of lifestyles even among the upper middle classes, which could not be imagined earlier. Yet the conditions of large numbers of ordinary people, of cultivators and workers in unorganised sectors, have deteriorated.
R.S.Dahiya
Yet the extent of inequality that we are currently experiencing is nevertheless something rather new, across the subcontinent. In several countries of the region including India, the recent rapid economic growth has been associated with unexpectedly large increases in consumption of the rich, and the flaunting of lifestyles even among the upper middle classes, which could not be imagined earlier. Yet the conditions of large numbers of ordinary people, of cultivators and workers in unorganised sectors, have deteriorated.
R.S.Dahiya