Date: November 23–27, 2026
Time: 6:00–8:00 PM | Everyday
- Online | Zoom
- 30-35 participants per batch
- Fee: ₹5,000 (Partial waivers available for eligible candidates)
Session 1: Theories and Concepts of Inequality – 23rd November 2026
Rahul Menon
Objectives: To introduce foundational theoretical frameworks of economic inequality, exploring the structural relationship between capitalism and poverty (as a positional concept). To understand how capital has shifted forms in the light of neoliberalism, globalisation and financialisation and what have been the corresponding effects on inequality.
Outcomes: Participants will be able to articulate competing theories of economic disparity and critically analyze how modern globalization and neoliberal policies structurally sustain and transform poverty and inequality.
Session 2: Unequal Life Chances – 24th November 2026
Harsh Mander
Objectives: To understand the lived realities of exclusion and widening inequality in our society. To trace the historical trajectory of India’s economic ideology, mapping the shift in policies from Nehruvian Socialism to crony capitalism. The imprints of inequality on nutrition, health, education and opportunity outcomes.
Outcomes: Participants will understand the historical context of India’s economic policies and be able to evaluate how the transition toward market-driven growth models has directly impacted the nation’s inequality index.
Session 3: Growth, Informality, Social Exclusion & Inequality – 25th November 2026
Surbhi Kesar
Objectives: The dualism of high growth and persistent inequality. The mapping of social exclusion, identities and access to wealth, assets and opportunities. Informality and precarity in the labour market and the social reproduction of inequality.
Outcomes: Participants will understand how any one form of inequality has the potential to reinforce or trigger newer forms of inequality and injustices. Eventually, driving home the point that there is a stark disparity in who gets access, and to what.
Session 4: The Measure of Inequality & its Global Trajectory – 26th November 2026
Anmol Somanchi
Objectives: To examine the nature, extent and distinctive patterns of inequality in contemporary India and globally; critically engage with the politics and methodologies of measuring inequality; trace historical changes in the distribution of income and wealth, including the distribution of economic gains between labour and capital; and analyse the consequences of extreme wealth concentration for economic outcomes, social and economic rights, and democratic institutions and processes.
Outcomes: Participants will be able to compare global economic narratives with the Indian experience, and critically assess the mechanisms through which concentrated wealth undermines democratic equity and political representation.
Session 5: Tax Justice and Redistribution – 27th November 2026
Anirban Bhattacharya
Objectives: To explore actionable mechanisms for wealth redistribution- particularly progressive wealth taxes – while analyzing corporate resistance, the mechanics of tax avoidance, and the societal benefits of robust public expenditure.
Outcomes: Participants will learn to construct evidence-based arguments for progressive taxation, effectively counter right-wing economic talking points (like capital flight), and quantify the social value of redistributive public financing.
It is hoped that as a final outcome of this course, participants can articulate how poverty and inequality are injustices inflicted on people, which is very avoidable if the political will is present. And we, the people, can ensure that political will comes about.
See the details of previous course here
