Vast inequalities.

Byline: Muhammad Khudadad Chattha

COVID-19 has pulled a mirror in front of us and is clearly showing us the social structures we have created. Existing social cleavages stand dramatically exaggerated by the pandemic and stare back us. Sure, we might have heard of socioeconomic inequalities being a serious problem. But today, the mirror has shown us that life itself depends on the same disparities.

It was heartbreaking to see that millions of low-earning migrant workers in India were left to walk hundreds of miles once the national lockdown started. That most of the Covid-19 fatalities in the US, which has a long history of racial discrimination, are of African Americans. That 'essential workers' in the UK manning grocery stores, delivering our food and driving buses risk their lives every day to keep the country running. That individuals who have low levels of savings are precisely the ones who cannot afford to stay at home when half the world is under lockdown. The same socioeconomic structures in Pakistan that make income an accurate predictor of access to quality healthcare, educational attainment and employment opportunities enable these vast inequalities, a matter of life and death. It is a system that tolerates and perpetuates high levels of disparities.

Inequality can take many forms, such as wealth, income, education and opportunity. Take the US as an example due to reasons of data access. The richest 10 per cent owned a staggering 73pc of national personal wealth, and 47pc of the total income in 2014 according to the World Inequality Database. Admittedly, there are significant differences in wealth and income inequality estimates for different countries. However, a cursory look at the available estimates for other countries does not paint a flattering picture. Most countries depict high levels of disparities along many dimensions. Today, the same man-made disparities make survival easier for some and difficult for others.

It is important to remember this isn't an individual failure but a collective one. Individuals and organisations across the socioeconomic spectrum are putting in a valiant effort to support vulnerable groups. However, inequalities that have been tolerated for generations cannot be undone by individual action alone. What is required is collective introspection followed by collective action. Data from the latest World Values Survey shows that only 19.7pc Pakistanis are in favour of further redistribution of income...