In India, the wealth of industrialist Mukesh Ambani grew at Rs 90 crore an hour, according to the Hurun India Rich List 2020 while at the same time, 24% of the country’s population was struggling to make Rs 3,000 per month.
The wealth of businessman Gautam Adani grew 12 times over in the two years until 2022 to Rs 9.5 lakh crore while half of India’s working population – 90 crore people – lost hope and even stopped looking for livelihood options.
In this conversation, author and peace worker Harsh Mander and economist Prabhat Patnaik discuss the possibility of universal social and economic rights through a wealth and inheritance tax on the top 1%.
This discussion is part of a series is called Yeh Daag Daag Ujala, in tribute to the iconic poem by Faiz Ahmed Faiz.