Oxfam Commitment to Reducing Inequality (CRI) Index 2020

In news : Recently, Indian government alleged that the rank assigned to India and methodology adopted in CRI index is not clear because it did not take into account provisions of the four new labour codes

About Oxfam Commitment to Reducing Inequality (CRI) Index 2020

• This is the third edition of the CRI Index, which ranks 158 governments across the world on their commitment to reducing inequality
• The 2020 Commitment to Reducing Inequality (CRI) Index shows clearly how the majority of the world’s countries were woefully unprepared for the coronavirus pandemic
• The Index is a joint project by Development Finance International and Oxfam International who have come together to launch this powerful tool in the fight against inequality.
• The index ranked countries measuring their policies and actions in three areas that it said are proven to be directly related to reducing inequality 

1. Public services including health, education and social protection
2. Taxation, and 
3. Workers’ rights.

Each pillar now contains three levels of indicator: 

• Policy commitment indicators: these measure the commitment of governments through their policies (which may not always be implemented in practice)
• Coverage or implementation indicators: these look at who is covered (or not) as a result of policy actions, or how well a government puts policies on paper into practice
• Impact indicators: these measure the impact of policy actions on levels of inequality

Global perspective: 

• As per the index, Nigeria, Bahrain and India, were among the world’s worst-performing countries in tackling inequality going into the pandemic
• The index pointed out that the poorest people are least able to isolate, to protect themselves. They are more likely to have pre-existing poor health, making them more likely to die. 
• Economically, it is ordinary people who are losing their jobs in their tens of millions, facing huge levels of hunger and hardship
• Most of the countries near the top of the index are OECD countries.  

Top five countries

India’s Performance 

• Overall, India ranked 129 in the CRI index out of 158 countries on government policies, and actions in areas of public services of education, health, social protection, taxation, and workers’ rights.
• As per the Index, India spent just 4 percent of its budget on health going into the pandemic — fourth lowest in the world
• India has fared poorly in protecting labour rights and has slipped to rank 151 among 158 countries
• Highest presence of the informal sector for men was in Uttar Pradesh at 86.9 per cent and for women was in Andhra Pradesh at 73.6 percent.
• In terms of its public services, it ranked 141.  
• The CRI index also ranked India eight from the bottom of top 10 lowest scorers with respect to measures for trade unions, legal protection for women workers and minimum wages
• The index added that only half of India’s population have access to even the most essential health services while over 70 per cent of health spending is being met by people themselves. 
• Also, most workers earn less than half of the minimum wage, 71 per cent don’t have any written job contract while 54 per cent do not get paid leave. 
• Further, it noted that only around 10 per cent of the workforce in India is formal, with safe working conditions and social security.