2025 for January 1970

The Inequality–Education–Growth Nexus: Why Public Education Shapes Economic Growth

December 13, 2025

Inequality Education Growth Nexus Latest News

The World Inequality Report 2026 highlights stark and widening global disparities. It shows that the top 10% of income earners receive more than the remaining 90% combined, while the poorest half earns under 10% of global income.
Wealth inequality is even sharper, with the top 10% owning about 75% of global wealth and the bottom 50% holding just 2%.

Deep Regional Divides in Income Levels

Global averages mask vast regional inequalities. The world is divided into income tiers:
- High-income regions: North America & Oceania, Europe
- Middle-income regions: Russia & Central Asia, East Asia, Middle East & North Africa
- Low-income, populous regions: Latin America, South & Southeast Asia (including India), Sub-Saharan Africa
Even after adjusting for price differences, income gaps remain extreme.
An average person in North America & Oceania earns about 13 times more than someone in Sub-Saharan Africa and three times the global average.
Daily average income stands at around €125 in North America & Oceania versus €10 in Sub-Saharan Africa — and many earn far less than these averages.

Inequality Debates Miss the Core Issue

Discussions often get stuck on whether inequality exists or how severe it is, diverting attention from more critical questions — especially which policies can actually reduce inequality.
This distraction prevents meaningful engagement with solutions.

Public Investment: The Strongest Equaliser

The report identifies public investment in education and health as the most powerful tool to reduce inequality.
Free, high-quality schools, universal healthcare, childcare, and nutrition programs help narrow early-life gaps, promote lifelong learning, and ensure that opportunity depends on talent and effort rather than background.

Education Spending: A 1-to-41 Gap Across Regions

Public education expenditure varies dramatically by region.
In 2025, average government spending per school-age individual (ages 0–24) ranged from €220 in Sub-Saharan Africa to €9,025 in North America & Oceania (PPP, 2025 prices).
This represents an almost 1:41 gap, underlining how unequal public investment reinforces global inequality.

The Nexus between Inequality, Education and Growth

The Inequality–Education–Growth Nexus describes a critical relationship where these three factors reinforce one another.

High Economic Inequality Creates a Vicious Cycle

Poor families face credit constraints, limiting investment in quality education for their children.
This leads to educational inequality and an inefficient allocation of human capital across the workforce.
The result is lower aggregate productivity, slower innovation, and ultimately, dampened long-term economic growth.
Conversely, promoting educational equity for all fuels a virtuous cycle, raising the entire nation's skill level, boosting productivity, and generating inclusive, sustained economic growth that helps reduce inequality over time.

Education as a Pathway to Reducing Inequality

Education is widely recognised as a key tool for reducing economic, social, and environmental inequalities.
SDG 4 reflects the global commitment to “leave no one behind.” While access to education has expanded, gains have largely benefited the least marginalised, leaving deep inequalities unresolved.
Instead of fostering social mobility and cohesion, many education systems are reinforcing existing fault lines.
Marginalised communities remain underserved due to gaps in funding, weak data systems, and exclusionary practices, limiting their access to broader social and economic opportunities.

Conclusion

Inequality is not only about income and wealth distribution but also about who gets access to quality public services.
Without substantial and equitable public investment — especially in education — global and national inequalities will continue to widen rather than narrow.

Source: IE | IE

Inequality Education Growth Nexus FAQs

Q1: What does the World Inequality Report 2026 reveal about global inequality?

Ans: The report shows extreme concentration of income and wealth, with the top 10% earning more than the bottom 90% combined and owning about 75% of global wealth.

Q2: How do regional income disparities shape global inequality?

Ans: Even after price adjustments, high-income regions earn many times more than low-income regions, masking deep inequalities behind misleading global averages.

Q3: Why are inequality debates often ineffective?

Ans: They focus on whether inequality exists rather than on policy solutions, diverting attention from actionable measures like public investment in education and health.

Q4: Why is public education spending called the strongest equaliser?

Ans: Quality public education reduces early-life disadvantages, expands opportunity, improves human capital allocation, and promotes long-term inclusive economic growth.

Q5: How does inequality affect long-term economic growth?

Ans: High inequality limits educational access, misallocates talent, lowers productivity, and slows innovation, creating a vicious cycle of weak growth and persistent inequality.

UNEA-7 Endorses India’s Wildfire Management Initiative: Key Outcomes Explained

December 13, 2025

UNEA-7 Latest News

India’s resolution on “Strengthening the Global Management of Wildfires” was adopted at the 7th session of the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA-7) in Nairobi.
Backed by broad support from Member States, the move underscores global acknowledgement of the growing wildfire threat and the need for coordinated international action.

UN Environment Assembly (UNEA): An Overview

The United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA) is the world’s highest-level decision-making body on environmental matters.
It provides a global platform for addressing pressing environmental challenges.
UNEA was established in 2012 following the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) held in Brazil, as part of efforts to strengthen global environmental governance.

Membership and Participation

UNEA has universal membership, comprising all 193 UN Member States, with active participation from major groups and stakeholders.
It convenes every two years in Nairobi, Kenya, bringing together environment ministers from across the world.

Functions and Mandate

UNEA:
- Sets the global environmental agenda
- Provides overarching policy guidance and responses to emerging environmental issues
- Reviews policies, facilitates dialogue, and promotes exchange of experiences
- Defines the strategic direction of UNEP
- Encourages partnerships and mobilises resources for environmental goals

UNEA-7 (2025) Session

The seventh session of UNEA (2025) is being held in Nairobi, Kenya, under the theme: “Advancing sustainable solutions for a resilient planet.”

Wildfires as a Growing Global Environmental Risk

India highlighted that wildfires have evolved from seasonal events into frequent and prolonged disasters worldwide.
Climate change, rising temperatures, extended droughts, and human activities are driving increases in their scale and intensity, causing widespread ecological and economic damage.

Environmental and Socio-Economic Impacts

Each year, millions of hectares are affected by fires, leading to the loss of forests and biodiversity, degradation of water and soil health, deterioration of air quality, and disruption of livelihoods.
Wildfires also emit large volumes of greenhouse gases, weaken carbon sinks, and severely impact forest-dependent communities and national economies.

Scientific Warnings and Need for Proactive Action

Citing UNEP’s Spreading Like Wildfire report, India noted projections that wildfires could increase by 14% by 2030, 30% by 2050, and 50% by 2100 if current trends persist.
These findings underline wildfires as a long-term, climate-driven global risk requiring coordinated international action and a shift from reactive response to proactive prevention.

Towards Integrated Fire Management

India emphasised a global transition towards Integrated Fire Management, focusing on early-warning systems, risk mapping, satellite-based monitoring, and the involvement of local communities and frontline personnel.
UNEP’s role in supporting adaptation, ecosystem restoration, and strategy development was underscored, along with the importance of the Global Fire Management Hub established by FAO and UNEP in 2023.

Key Provisions of the Resolution

The resolution calls for:
- Stronger international cooperation on early-warning systems, risk assessment tools, ecosystem monitoring, and community-based alerts.
- Enhanced regional and global collaboration for prevention, recovery, and ecosystem restoration.
- Knowledge sharing and capacity building through best-practice platforms and training programmes.
- Support for national and regional action plans on integrated fire management and wildfire resilience.
- Improved access to international finance, including assistance in project preparation for multilateral and results-based funding mechanisms.

Other Highlights of UNEA-7

The seventh session of the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA-7) ended in Nairobi with the adoption of 11 resolutions.
This marked both strong multilateral environmental commitments and sharp political disagreements, most notably the United States’ withdrawal from all resolution negotiations.

Wide Range of Environmental Issues Addressed

Alongside the wildfire resolution, UNEA-7 adopted decisions on:
- coral reef protection,
- minerals and metals governance,
- sargassum management,
- chemicals and waste,
- antimicrobial resistance,
- AI sustainability,
- glacier and cryosphere protection,
- youth participation, and
- coordination among multilateral environmental agreements.
With Jamaica set to assume the presidency for UNEA-8, member states emphasised the need to rebuild trust, strengthen multilateral cooperation, and sustain momentum in the face of escalating global environmental crises.

US Withdrawal Casts a Shadow Over the Assembly

Despite broad consensus on several issues, UNEA-7 was overshadowed by the US decision to disengage from negotiations.
Washington criticised resolutions for including contentious language and themes beyond UNEA’s environmental mandate, disassociated itself from all adopted outcomes, and signalled a review of its participation in global environmental bodies.
Diplomats described the US stance as a setback for collective environmental ambition.
Several delegates warned that disengagement could undermine progress on chemicals management, biodiversity loss linked to climate change, and environmental finance.

Source: IE | PIB

UNEA-7 FAQs

Q1: What is UNEA and why is it important?

Ans: The UN Environment Assembly is the world’s highest environmental decision-making body, setting global agendas and guiding UNEP’s response to emerging challenges.

Q2: Why did India propose a resolution on wildfires at UNEA-7?

Ans: India highlighted that climate change has turned wildfires into frequent, intense global disasters, threatening ecosystems, livelihoods, carbon sinks, and economic stability.

Q3: What scientific warnings were cited to support the resolution?

Ans: UNEP projections warn wildfires could rise 14% by 2030, 30% by 2050, and 50% by 2100 without coordinated global preventive action.

Q4: What does Integrated Fire Management focus on?

Ans: It emphasises early-warning systems, risk mapping, satellite monitoring, community participation, ecosystem restoration, and preparedness rather than reactive firefighting.

Q5: What other major outcomes emerged from UNEA-7?

Ans: UNEA-7 adopted 11 resolutions covering coral reefs, chemicals, AI sustainability, glaciers, biodiversity, and youth participation, despite US withdrawal from negotiations.

Parliamentary Panel’s Key Recommendations on Delhi’s Air Pollution

December 13, 2025

Air Pollution Latest News

A recent Delhi-NCR air pollution report tabled in Parliament has highlighted the urgent need to curb vehicular emissions, recommending a comprehensive review of India’s emission standards.

Delhi-NCR Air Pollution: Parliamentary Panel Calls for Stronger Standards and Systemic Reforms

Air pollution in Delhi-NCR continues to be one of India’s most complex environmental challenges, driven by vehicular emissions, industrial activities, stubble burning, and unfavourable meteorological conditions.
A recent report by the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Science and Technology, Environment, Forests and Climate Change has made several policy recommendations aimed at strengthening India’s regulatory and technological response to deteriorating air quality.
These recommendations are designed to guide government action, address existing gaps, and protect vulnerable populations.

Need to Strengthen Vehicular Emission Standards

Vehicular emissions remain a major contributor to Delhi-NCR’s particulate matter and ozone levels.
The panel has emphasised that a comprehensive review of India’s vehicular emission standards is necessary to align with evolving scientific knowledge and global best practices.
While acknowledging the government’s push for ethanol blending to enhance energy security, the panel cautioned against unintended environmental impacts.
Increased nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions from ethanol-blended fuels and the problem of evaporative emissions, fuel vapours escaping from vehicles and generating ground-level ozone, require closer scrutiny.
To mitigate this, the panel recommended adopting more stringent evaporative emission standards, which would require automobile manufacturers to incorporate better emission control systems.
This is crucial for India’s transition to cleaner fuels and sustainable mobility.

Encouraging Adoption of Electric Vehicles

The report highlights that while India aims to increase the adoption of EVs, several bottlenecks continue to hinder progress.
To accelerate EV uptake, the committee suggested a combination of incentives and disincentives:
- Cheaper or free public parking for EVs
- Higher parking rates for petrol and diesel vehicles
- Offering tax incentives on EV loans
- Considering an annual ceiling on the registration of non-electric vehicles in Delhi-NCR
These measures aim to shift consumer behaviour while simultaneously easing the region’s pollution burden.

Air Purifiers in Schools, Hospitals, and Government Offices

Children and patients are among the most vulnerable to toxic air. The committee therefore recommended mandatory installation of air purifiers in:
- All public schools in Delhi-NCR
- All public hospitals, especially the critical wards
- All government offices
It also pointed out that levying GST on air purifiers, devices essential for mitigating public health risks, effectively “monetises a public health failure.”
The panel suggested abolishing or reducing GST on air purifiers and HEPA filters to increase accessibility.

Upgrading National Ambient Air Quality Standards

The panel called for the Centre to expedite the revision of National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS).
These standards, last updated in 2009, need to reflect new scientific research, health data, and WHO benchmarks.
The committee also recommended installing pollution-cutting devices in all thermal power plants within a 300-km radius of Delhi-NCR.
This would ensure a significant reduction in SO₂, NOx, and particulate emissions from one of the region’s largest polluting sources.
Delhi’s PM2.5 levels, the report noted, must fall by 62% to meet India’s air quality norms and by 95% to meet WHO standards, indicating the magnitude of intervention required.

Monitoring Stubble Burning More Effectively

Stubble burning remains a recurrent seasonal crisis in North India. The panel expressed concern that some farmers are finding ways to evade satellite detection of crop fires.
To strengthen enforcement, the committee recommended:
- Launch of a high-resolution ISRO satellite dedicated to monitoring farm fires 24×7
- Integration of satellite data with digital farm records for real-time tracking
This would help the government respond more effectively while also supporting early warning systems and targeted assistance programmes.

Holistic Approach to Air Quality Management

The report stresses that no single policy can solve the region’s pollution crisis. Instead, a coordinated approach, combining emissions control, technological investment, regulatory reform, and behavioural incentives, is essential.
By addressing systemic issues in transportation, energy production, agriculture, and urban infrastructure, the recommendations aim to align Delhi-NCR’s air quality management with global best practices.

Source: IE

Air Pollution FAQs

Q1: What major reform did the panel recommend on vehicular emissions?

Ans: It called for a comprehensive review of India’s vehicular emission standards, including evaporative emission norms.

Q2: What did the panel suggest regarding air purifiers in Delhi-NCR?

Ans: Mandatory installation of air purifiers in public schools, hospitals, and government offices.

Q3: How did the committee propose boosting EV adoption?

Ans: Through parking incentives, tax benefits, and limiting non-electric vehicle registrations.

Q4: What solution was suggested for tracking stubble burning more accurately?

Ans: A dedicated high-resolution ISRO satellite for 24×7 monitoring of farm fires.

Q5: What did the panel highlight about Delhi’s PM2.5 levels?

Ans: They must fall by 62% to meet national norms and 95% to meet WHO standards.