Inequality, Injustice and India’s Forgotten People

It is the Boston Consulting Group’s 15th annual report called ‘Winning the Growth Game: Global Wealth 2015’ that has been extensively reported by the media persons in India. This report came just one year after the Global Wealth Databook 2014 from Credit Suisse wherein the picture of global inequality is presented in a more accurate and comprehensive manner. It is undisputed that over time there has been a significant decline in poverty in India. However, the same is not true about inequality. Has inequality declined with the same rate as the decline in poverty in India? As per the official data collected on all parameters of development in India the tribals are straggling way behind in terms of income, health, education, nutrition, infrastructure and governance. Tribals in India have been the receivers of injustices throughout the process of development. To exemplify, among 65 to 70 million people displaced during the development process in India 40 per cent are tribals. In India, more than 90 per cent of total coal and above 50 per cent of minerals and dams are located in the tribal regions, yet these areas have remained the least developed. In paradox to economic theory, many developed districts in India include pockets of intense backwardness. The paper argues that in India the tribals have remained excluded from the list of beneficiaries in the development process. The paper also discusses the process of marginalization of tribal in the developmental process and towards the end gives some recommendations.