Wealth and Responsibility: The Moral Imperative of India's Super-Rich

Wealth and Responsibility: The Moral Imperative of India's Super-Rich 

Rahul Ramya

18th April 2024

Patna Bihar India

India's super-rich are the most privileged, most admired, and most favored class today. The entire power structure supports them. Economic policies are being framed and implemented to provide the super-rich with opportunities to earn as much as possible and to amass wealth. An added benefit is that today, the world's wealthiest countries support the Indian super-rich class. India's growing wealth, despite its K-shaped path, increases this class's wealth, and the vast Indian market provides them with a large domestic customer base. Growing Western antagonism against China—the world's factory and warehouse—and unrest in Europe, the Middle East, and South Asia, along with sharp political polarization in the US and the aftermath of Brexit, are conditions extremely favorable to the burgeoning Indian super-rich class. These conditions are defining moments for the rise and growth of the Indian super-rich.

However, against the backdrop of India's K-shaped economic growth and increasing inequality in its economic, educational, and social life, a genuine question arises regarding the moral responsibility of the Indian super-rich. As this class prospers in the most suitable historical environment, is its power (here referring to its economic power) meant solely for itself, or is it bound to discharge its moral responsibilities that come with power?

Since economic capability provides the agency for the super-rich to fulfill their obligations, it must be recognized that such capability is an enabler. As the economic capability of a class increases, as is happening in India, it is expected, according to the theory of power, that they are in a position to effect desired changes in society. This economic capability represents the actual ability to achieve valuable outcomes. This understanding reminds us that such capability provides the freedom to achieve valuable outcomes, and hence this class has not only privilege but also a moral responsibility towards societal needs. It implies that if this class has the capability to exercise freedom, then it has the moral obligation to alleviate injustices exhibited by exorbitant inequality and the lack of appropriate provisions for quality health, education, environmental protection, and the basic obligation of creating employment opportunities for the working-age population. Here, we must adhere to the fundamental principle that great power (with great capability or freedom) comes with great societal obligations.

At present, besides the rosy picture of growing national wealth and an expanding super-rich class, we have enormously increasing inequality (as Thomas Piketty and others have shown), unemployment, poor education, and inadequate health facilities, making the employment capabilities of the Indian working-age population less productive. This situation has been exacerbated by declining environmental conditions, rising prices, regional armed conflicts, and disruptive technologies like Artificial Intelligence.

In such a grim situation, the least we can expect from the Indian super-rich is for them to act positively to provide assistance in creating accessible infrastructure and logistics for the common Indians. Even from a crude self-interest viewpoint, this is in their interest as well, as a better workforce—well-educated, better-skilled, technologically advanced, healthy, and stable—along with good environmental conditions, a resilient and employable female workforce, and stable social relations are perks for economic growth. An economic model resilient to international trade, with a broad and strong domestic market, is the only guarantee for continued economic growth.