INDIA’S MIDDLE CLASS: HOW MANY ARE THEY, WHO ARE THEY?

 

“A healthy middle class is necessary to have a healthy political democracy. A society made up of rich and poor has no mediating group either politically or economically.” — Lester Thurow

The middle class constitutes the critical markets of the country, it is said to be the key driver of the economy and is vital for growth and development.

Today, in India 28% of the population is said to be middle class but there are different measures of how a particular country constitutes its data. So, it becomes very important for not only the students of economics but each and every person in the country to know, how the middle class is defined.

In order to do so, the Department of Economics and Psychology jointly with Meghnad Desai Academy of Economics organized a webinar on 16th October 2020. The topic being “INDIA’S MIDDLE CLASS- HOW MANY ARE THEY, WHO ARE THEY.” The webinar was addressed by Dr. Sandhya Krishnan. She has done her Ph.D. from the University of Amsterdam and is currently working as an Assistant Professor at Meghnad Desai Academy of Economics.

The webinar commenced with the welcoming speech of Ms. Maharshi Sharma, assistant professor of Economics department. Dr. Sandhya started the lecture by asking the students about their knowledge and awareness of India’s demographic structure. Attendees showed high participation as they were well aware and had a good knowledge of the topic. 

Dr. Sandhya continued with her presentation giving the students a detailed report on India’s middle class and statistics related to it. She also emphasized the future of the demographics of India.

 Briefing out, “After being largely stable between 1999-2000 and 2004-05, the new middle class in India (that is, those spending between $2 and $10 per capita per day) doubled in size between 2004-05 and 2011-12, amounting to nearly half of India's population. This growth, though largely in the lower middle-class category, happened across a majority of states in both rural and urban areas."

Structurally, the new middle class is quite different from the conventional understanding of it. Although dominated by upper castes, other caste groups too have entered the new middle class in large numbers. The occupational structure within the class is heterogeneous. The lower middle class is engaged in occupations similar to that of the poor, whereas the upper-middle class is involved in traditional service activities as well as in new knowledge service. Further, the lecture was followed by a question and answers round. Insightful answers given by Dr. Sandhya to students' questions made attendees' day interesting and valuable.

The informative webinar was then culminated with a vote of thanks proposed by Ms. Maharshi Sharma.

It was an effective lecture and over 100 participants joined it. The webinar fulfilled every purpose from enriching student's potential to opening doors of opportunities for them and thus added one more feather of achievement to the department.