no, so doesn't is almost up on the 3 waste are setting the hours on the 31st because that night is when the deaf children come to visit their families from the 31st to the 1st of november. and then the grown ups visit the doctor, the 2nd of november, middle this boy, the kci tumbled low friend. after that we pick up the doctor and we, the living and the beating of the offerings of the celebration. ah, this is al jazeera and these at the top stories. 5000000 people have not died from cove at 19. that's according to the johns hopkins university. but the world health organization estimates the actual figure could be almost 3 times higher than official numbers, but it has more from glasgow. 25 falls and delegates from almost 200 countries are in attendance. here the opening ceremony is expected to kick off in about 4 hours with the british prime minister,

eucharist prime minister boris johnson, telling the gathered delegates and would lead us that time is running out. we are a minute to midnight is expected to told them in terms of keeping global warming below 1.5 degrees celsius madeau at cop 26. now emergency workers in the pool are struggling to cope up to several days of flooding and devastating landslides. more than 100 people have been killed and homes and crops destroyed. japan's prime minister has declared victory after the roland coalition, what a majority and national elections for me because she said the l b. p. had one a very tough election after held onto its single party majority. you evans, information minister says who the rebels have killed thousands of civilians in the city of morrow and 29 people court in an asteroid. hudy's began the push to take control of the oil rich province in september,

media to july and other pro democracy activists have gone on trial in hong kong. lie and to others. they did get not guilty to charges relation to their involvement in a band gathering. last year. they attended the vigil commemorating the $989.00 tandem and square massacre. police band, the annual event use the panoramic. the critic say that was employed to silence critic following anti government protest in 2019 australian families are uniting half to 18 months of board closures fully vaccinated straightens and now being allowed to return home without having to quarantine australia. introduce some of the world toughest order restrictions last year. thailand is also losing loosening travel restrictions, bank office reopened to support for foreign tourists nearly 18 months. software closed its borders for deadlines. when use here on the run up to context, india. okay. same of life and you know, fluid, just some neighborhoods, iraq by social and economic despair. why now an 8th makes a band of local heroes,

every one of our responsibilities to change our personal fighting for their suburban drake point now, which is 0. and i. 2 welcome to context india and beta. so that's coming to you for moon. by context india, we take the time to deliver a full wall, considered analysis of the country. it's politics and it's people to 4 episodes when taking a close look at what has perhaps been the biggest crisis india has faced since independent corporate panoramic. this week, we're looking at the virus impact on the indian economy. the pandemic sped almost no country in the was some weather the so that to them the other. but the overall impact has been deep and will likely last a while in india, inequality on unemployment or at some of the highest level they have been in recent years. i'll be speaking with jen sent her a member of parliament from the volunteer agenda representing the central government and professor devonne, vice president of the indian society of labor economics. at the close of this

week's episode will feature an excerpt from a piece of panoramic art music created through the covert month of this week. the artist drill, featuring a rapper from south india. ah, i want to place before you 2 faces. the theme economy on the left is what became defining images of the 1st wave of colbert in india. in 2020 labourers rendered jobless over night, leaving cities and walking hundreds of miles back to the towns and villages. casualties of a sudden stringent look down on the right, some of the richest people. as the world grappled with a pen, demik, india added to put the 8 billionaires to 2021, which list 2 sets of images to very different realities. but one story that just mean equality and india exacerbated by the panoramic during the

been to make unique when you became absolutely obscene in this country. this is part of the global in india. the super rich added enormously to the rest. let me just give you a few data points just man of this and dream money was making so much money every 2nd that an informal sector worker would have needed 3 years of work to make the amount of money that location money made in one it. so it's, it's really obscene and i would say more of the number of 1000000000, does it fetch ellen? surely. and the impact on the weaker segment is also in government is a result this challenges. but as far as my analysis is, they're majority of leaving when the 1000000000 notice is because of increased valuation in the stock market. but for the weaker section, it has been

a journey and government who experienced the skin has tied to support the bottom step of the population. and we are looking into it. the gaping inequality isn't india or not new result of decades of economic problems. but the vidas has aggravated each and every one of these condition. let's talk about some of the big ones, starting with employment. at the end of the 1st year of the fam demik 2020, because compiled by the international labor organization showed that india as unemployment rate was at 7.11 percent highest. the country had seen in the last decade and the 2nd be recovered exploded in april 2021. jobs took another massive hit according to the center for monitoring and economy within the 1st half of the year. more than 95000000 people fell into unemployment. but it wasn't just the numbers of a significant. it was that kind of jobs being lost. let's take the case of april 20,

213400000 salary jobs are lost to me. 2020. what. what were they? they were mostly medium as small as get into praise, the shutting down. and as they were shutting down, their salaried employees were losing jobs. now those people are not going to get them very easily back. whereas if you are pushing a cart, it could be a carpenter, it could be a vegetable selling woman. it could be a person who's doing a gig in a, in the modern economy. all these people, when the unlocking happened, they went back to work, got lower wages, but they were back to work. not like the salary people who were hit pretty badly. so it's very difficult for salary people to get their jobs back. and that's a severe structural hit. now, the policies announced by the more the government to shore up the economy. a p, a sizable vista, v i t. c. b. i may say caught the name is

camara. e, he art mon needed a part of headline program up in it, but, but it's a self reliant india stimulus package consisted of 3 installments of government id amounting to a total of 14.35 trillion rubies, approximately $193000000000.00. as nearly 10 percent of india as 201920 g d p. in addition, they've been specific measures targeting the far end of hon. programs in easily access to cache, as well as food green. but while the monetary sums of the official announcements have been staggering, dispersement of actual money reached the hands of those who needed the most as raised questions. if you're looking at otwell on the bottom are these were national, know us. and they were all to not target i think during the bend to make it would

have been important to treat this much more in depth cash transfers or directly boosting up the health infrastructure. but there were also other brought no, one of the problems is that it docs off investment in boosting the a shorter infrastructure through the participation of private sector. it sounds good, but if you just announce a package in which you are go, giving huge amount of resources to the private sector, it would end up again lining the pockets of the rich people and creating some grandeur for infrastructure, for the rich people. but, but gore will not been there are 3 important elevation an ottoman there, but one large allocation was to the word segment in bottom, straight out the population that x one password to the lady out for most people who

love their jobs and those who need directions i checked, the 2nd is thing are we are one is being given and supported to the agriculture economy, medium, small and micro enterprises and renders. and the part portion is about the large industries big corporate i checked, i thought the ottoman never bought a very well you get it into these 3. the government programs. notwithstanding a state of india many less than considerably as a result of cobra. 19. ready this is not a phenomenon exclusive to india, but the magnitude of the slide in this country is in a class of its own. ready yields. 6 of progress and india had made in addressing my poverty has been robust. do studies that came out in the 1st half of 2021. back out. a report published by the university and bengal lew showed that in the

1st year of the panoramic $230000000.00 indians were pushed below an awning special of $275.00 per piece of d. $5.12 had to find them ignore happened. it had estimated 50000000 indians would have, in fact emerged from under this limit. the 2nd report by washington d. c. based purely. so center 2 figures were of particular note fosters india shrinking. middle class estimated to have contracted by 32000000 in 2020 a bed with a number. it may have reached the fund that may have happened. the 2nd figure was of india's extremely poor. those giving an income of less than $2.00 a day. this demographic is estimated to have increased 75000000 accounting for nearly 60 percent of the global increases poverty. the 1st year of the pandemic, the pandemic slammed into an economy that was already on shaky ground years before 2020. the crew and virus made

a difficult situation much more so and how they get government addresses. this is something that will be watched around the world. after all, india is home to 17 percent of the world's population. it's the 6th largest economy in the world. and how would fairs have an impact on the global economy? i'll be speaking with jan. sit help, member of parliament. the agenda party representing the central government and professional review, devonne noted economist and vice president of the indian society of labor economics . welcome to both of you and i thank you for your time. my 1st question, i'm missing how the b g. b has always cost itself is good for business and good for economics. in your opinion, do you believe that the b j b has in fact been good for our economy? the b j b has been wonderful. fine desi company and the business sector is booming despite the corporate. ben demik, the reforms that we undertook and downs of g s t,

the insolvency in bankruptcy court, the monetary policy committee, the social security programs that we implemented, as well as the massive build out of infrastructure, have all made a huge difference. and the net result of all of this has been that we've seen that the corporate sector has flourished. revenues have grown strongly, profits of growing strongly, and of course the stock market is of record highs right now. we have the 3rd largest starter ecosystem in the world. so this boards extremely well for the future. and i conclude by saying that india is well on track to achieving as 5 trillion dollars g d, b target progressive. and you agree that the v jimmy has been good for our economy . then i agree with the question that is the b g p has been good for the corporate sector, but only for the corporate sector and not for anybody else in the country. the or that the new list from 2016 onwards, the noise is g, d,

p. now rate of 4 percent, the highest unemployment in 40 by the us. so now you know, and then be talk about the good. i mean there's no kind of development, you know, there's no concept of people where this is concerned. and there is no indicator on which india has not fallen in global ranking. you take nutrition and you take hair, education, gender a, what a pollution is freedom. and now at the global 100 index, the, or even below ordinate bon and bangladesh, indigo pakistan. so yeah, really, what is this kind of economic policy? the just focus is on a very tiny percentage of people and forgets the citizens of the, of the country. so i think these are the fundamental issues really, which characterized by that a nation is growing up alexi. let me this isn't a, let me take that back to you. feel research center this year said that india has

added $75000000.00 people to it's extremely poor category and be account now for 60 percent of the global increase in poverty. would you say that this inequality is not necessarily entirely a problem of the pandemic? and as is the problem of badly managed economics, i think we have to wait for the official statistics on all of this before we come to any conclusions. the numbers that you're quoting come from on official sources that have yet to be validated with. and i just wanted, i said, what official numbers would you wait for? because we have to look at the official numbers. we have to see what the word bank, the i m f and others. such are international agencies and our own statistical agencies are saying before we jump to any conclusions now anyway, because i, my elected member of parliament from the looks of and my job is to go to our remote villages. we'll do a radius of our country to out of my constituency that if

you look at the benefits that we have delivered in every religion, every house in india, whether it is bank accounts, whether it is water with its electricity, whether it is a rewards, whether it is but the houses you can see the difference in even on remote villages in the quality of life and in the quality of services that people are getting. right now, you're running the world's largest food distribution program. if you ask yourself that we've been able to provide better higher quality services to the people who really needed to look it, van them again. even earlier, you'll find that we have been able to deliver these basic services gas in linda's electricity, bank accounts, far better than any other government in the past. taking the question to professor the not um, do you believe that the government managed it stimulus? well, during a moment of fest that is supposed to fall. i think we need to argue and discuss his

debate as economists and of in be talk about data. i think this and this is something which is very men accepted and you know, talked about to while, but there's the academic world outside or even within the government is that it is just no date on your day. in particular, expedients is very different from the empirical experience, which we have the stock market is knowing indicator absolutely no indicator of growth or development or, or the rights of people or anything, you know, end up on amendable questions. how many my didn't know data, how many debts dutengo with no data? how many no giant might it is after the bend to me, no data these out on to sponsors, but in the parliament. it is no effort to collect data, a lot of us, but that it's institutions or individuals or universities or organization civil society. we have to fit in the gap. and please remember that the pandemic game in

a state of vend economy was collapsing. it's very clear that they impact the negative impact of the band to make is not so much of the band to make it said, but the policy response of the lack of up on to see, to spawns the compassionate and antiquity policy response. do what the pandemic has served about the 1st point, the other professor do. andries was that no data has been brenda, utterly untrue. the fact is that of course, prior to it, all of the official statistics were being released. of course, everything has been delayed because of the course, and then one of the numbers that she ordered, which is the 2nd one i want to respond to, is that the economy was not doing well prior to covered. that is also not true. the high frequency indicators were showing very good. companies are moving along quite well. it's scoring that interrupted that that is smart to call the dentist going on . so that's why number 2 point see the be ready would be shifting coffee,

that we are almost back to be covered levels. and hopefully once the vaccination, which of course is also proceeding very well, then we will be able to resume our growth. and in fact, i've written several articles on this topic saying that we are likely to see a repeat of the roaring twenties at the source and trio, going professionally on. i'll take that was sent back to you about judy schemes being implemented at the end of the stick indicators, which we have to see some people's point of view and not from a business point of view of the court put a point of view to our people are getting enough food? are they getting enough employment? what are they? the ages have the ridges fallen on not fallen? i think these are the fundamental indicators be treated in need to talk about now those to minister back it is primarily for the supply side. it's a demand site, it's only demand which can really increase the growth component as well as you keep producing and people don't have the money. so what is being used and what is being purchased now after a lot of appeals by the end, yours and by civil society and human rights organizations, workers, organizations,

etc, did a transfer of pretty food free in court. okay, i'm seeing this in court. rising reed was to be given, but in limited quantities in any form they make at some point of time in certain states in particular. and that a lot of conditionality that is not known justification for thing, get to the back on the tragic tree of growth. i totally disagree with that. i'm not a liberal economist, i don't study what is happening across the country because i'm a politician. i can tell you what is happening in his id, rog and intaquant, because i have visited the speediest towards myself and i have myself given out, you know, rations to people to make sure that this is happening properly. and what i've heard is, by the way, that it's actually going quite smoothly. the governor said, please do more of you know, prevent anybody from getting food grants, mitchell, the food. this is, you know, i leave it to me to will develop,

did forget to really just gone to the albany as done to the slums. gum gum come with me. not as a politician. not as a b, b politician. as an ordinary researcher, it's a different worried mr. somehow, even though we're running out of time, that is something i must ask you and this is about the prime minister scares fund, or the pm cares fund. in march 2020, the government launched a fund as to the sing donations from india and overseas to help in the fight. corbett, after repeated repeated quest, a petitions for clarity in our courts and on various other platforms in, in citizens are now told that the pm care fund is not a government fund and therefore does not have to disclose the size of the fund or any of its expenditure, how is this mr in are appropriate in a democracy? logos, it is entirely within the legal framework to establish funds which are not government funds that are in your fines or that are funds of these kinds that can be used for charitable purposes. everything that has been done for pm gears has

been done as for the legal framework that we have in the m cast fund, you see is not an official program. it's hosted on an indian government website. it has the prime minister's face on its website. the are prime ministers, the ex official chairman of the front, the ministers of defense form affairs and finance are the trustees of the fund. the website says it was created by the prime minister's office. how can this not be a government fund? and also, when donations were been solicited into this fun, the citizens were never told that this was not a government fund. and this would be a private fund with 0 accountability to the public. absolute being, i have complete confidence that whatever has been done has been done, taking into account all of the appropriate legal protocols and all of the appropriate procedures and requirements off running for this game because i'm sure you know all these have been worked out. but let me give you this, we don't,

you don't be, don't know, as general public orders the media, how much money is of the fund right now. india spend without an estimate calculating, walked, corporate entities had declared their donations into this bond at $1270000000.00 in march last. yup. this was in the 1st 2 months of the fact. would you be able to tell us where this money has been used to fight it and where does the accountability suspended democracy in a democracy that are various remedies because it is violating a legal fame book? then of course, your remedy is in the course of law, there's another set of remedies which is a political sort of remedies of witches in any democracies through elections. if indeed, that is not to the liking of the public or india, they can express their views through the ballot box. and there's a current innovative remedies which is through parliament and fear will that if i still position, i'm sure they will take it on the belief that they're not appropriate remedies

through dr. chambliss. well, i just like to add something, you know, i think the p n k find, you know, a dog that locked down, it was declared on the 25th of march 202026 is this elite package. and on the 27th of march, is that pm get and, and i know on a salad ease in universities and colleges of pensioners of own doctors in the medical institute went on strength against a one day being got to be put into the p. m. k. fun, i think that the kid is, is the most perfect example of how india has fallen from a democracy to laud democracy. this is a, not just on that one point our government employees handed in their wages to the pm guest fund. do believe that they deserve accountability of how that money is being used. well, i also, you know, essentially donated money to the b and guess fund that was done one and only as far as i'm concerned, i think the money has been extremely well spent. we have seen the back of it and i

believe that it has had a tremendously valuable door to play during the have a final question to the 2 of you. we are seeing foster group as of the last quarter and g d, p numbers that did come in is the sustainable and has indian us economy turned a corner is this is absolutely does turn the corner. as i said, we are seeing a very strong we ship the company you moving into the grantees that are for very awful growth drivers, which is of course the fiscal and monetary stimulus that's been applied. it's the export growth. it's the startup ecosystem. and of course, the fact that people are diversifying the supply chain, therefore, what i think is we're going to see very strong, sustainable growth going forward. and that is going to, of course, benefit our workers. it's going to benefit all of our citizens. because not just in india, but around the world, we're going to see synchronized. progressive on same question to you. do you believe that this growth is sustainable and you believe they've turned

a corner for us? yeah, i think the growth is in sectors which you know, the non to provide any kind of sustenance and sustainable livelihood, to the people of this country on the sector which has shown some kind of a growth is agricultural. and that is, in spite of the farm acts and in spite of the way that has been good implemented. so now your information is collapsed, your micro smaller units, which have not got any, even, even in the last budget. there's been no stimulus. in fact, what it was day as actually been deduced in this, it don't because been used as good on the game that is developed and the, nor his peers don't ask is donegal, it's biggest data that girl does not get good. even today, people are struggling for food. so what good is going to come is only then you put money in the hands of people,

and that's why they don't go to university basic income. i'm going to live with that. i want to thank both my guests, the giving us time professor, yvonne, an assistant. i thank you for your time. thank you so much for speaking with us on context it. and finally that out. a multitude of artists in india who've been creating work to the long months of the pandemic. we wanted to feature some very languages, they work in and the perspectives that they bring this week, the closing with the next up, the for wrap, track in family, one of the languages of south india. title to one of come virus. it translates to welcome by this, it's been written and performed by a 27 year old, single wrapper and middest. his work is about social justice and deals, especially with the politics of cost in india. this jack is about reclaiming a sense of humanity. miss the crisis of the virus. i'll see you next week on context india. with

well as experiencing unprecedented extreme weather record temperatures being said

last year than i feel for deteriorating false. remember the quote running down world leaders, amazing laws go in the u. k. in a bit of fresh out a deal to slash image reports to late all over you and climate on al jazeera, a ah

ah ah, this is al jazeera, ah, hello, welcome, i'm pete adobe here and doha, welcome to the usa, which will today be dominated by the cock, $26.00 talks in glasgow. the un conference is seen as critical to avoiding the most disastrous effects of climate change off the back of a g 20 summit that was lukewarm on commitments. i'm the clock in glasgow where the british prime minister has put the challenges here.