Thread by @PSainath_org

1/7. Indian Billionaires, now 140 in number, almost doubled their wealth in the pandemic year, says Forbes magazine, their combined worth reaching $596 billion (Rs. 44.5 trillion). In a year when GDP contracted 7.7 %. Story link at end of thread.
#Forbes #ambani #Farmers #COVID19

2/7. India’s 140 billionaires account for 0.000014 per cent of the population. But they hold wealth equivalent to 22.7 per cent of our Gross Domestic Product of $ 2.62 trillion, bringing that whole other meaning to the word 'Gross.'
#Forbes #ambani #Farmers #COVID19

3/7. The total wealth of our top 2 $ billionaires, Ambani ($84.5 billion) and Adani ($50.5 billion), is far greater than the gross state domestic product of Punjab ($85.5 billion) or Haryana ($101 billion) whose farmers they stand pitted against.
#Forbes #ambani #Farmers #COVID19

4/7. Ambani’s $84.5 billion wealth (Rs. 6.3 trillion) almost equals Punjab’s GSDP ($85.5 billion). It will swell yet more once the new farm laws take force. The monthly average per capita income of the Punjab farmer: Rs. 3,450 (NSS 70th Round).
#Forbes #ambani #Farmers #COVID19

5/7. In the pandemic year, Ambani’s wealth grew by $47.7 billion (Rs.3.57 trillion) – that is, Rs. 1.13 lakh every single second on average – more than avg. monthly income (Rs. 18,059) of 6 Punjab farm households (avg. size 5.2 persons) combined.
#Forbes #ambani #Farmers #COVID19

6/7. A modest 10% wealth tax on our 140 billionaires would yield Rs.4.45 trillion. With which we could create over 16 billion person days of work in the rural employment guarantee programme. But wealth tax was abolished in India in 2015.
#Forbes #ambani #Farmers #COVID19

7/7. Forbes says we did great in healthcare and technology sectors – and India ranks 3rd in the world in billionaires. We ranked 131 in the UN Human Development Index the same year, below El Salvador, Guatemala and Bhutan.
#Forbes #ambani #Farmers #COVID19
ruralindiaonline.org/en/articles/fo…