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Inclusive growth is a growth process which yields broad-based benefits and ensures equality of opportunity for all (UNDP and the 11th Plan). Fundamentally, the ideas of growth and development already include the element of ‘inclusiveness’ in them, but at times, due to certain reasons, the processes might occur in non-inclusive manner.
It was in 2000–01 that the Government of India came to think clearly about ‘inclusiveness’ in the economy, while reviewing the performance of the economic reforms. It was found that the reform process enabled economy towards faster and higher ‘wealth creation’, but all could not be part of it. Only the people with resources (physical or human) were able to get benefits out of the reforming economy. It was assessed that the fruits of reforms could not percolate to the disadvantaged and marginalised sections of the society. It means, the growth process during reforms was not able to include a big segment of the Indian population. In this backdrop, we see the government adopting a conscious policy towards ‘inclusive growth’. Even before reforms commenced in the country, this element was lacking. But during reforms it became more glaring due to the higher pace of growth which the economy attained during this period. Though the government started attending to this issue since 2000–01 itself, it was given real attention in the 11th Plan (2007–
12), where we see a clear policy evolving towards the idea of inclusive growth in the country—‘including the disadvantaged and marginalised sections of the society, specially, SCs, STs, OBCs, Minorities and Women’ in the processes of growth and development. By the 12th Plan (2012–17), the focus increased when we see the issue of inclusiveness entering into the very slogan of the Plan—‘Faster, Sustainable and More Inclusive Growth’. During the course of time, we see the government evolving a clear short-term and long-term policy towards the cause of inclusive growth.
This policy is aimed at supplying those goods and services to the disadvantaged and marginalised sections of society which are bare minimum and are essential in nature. Several Central Sector Schemes and Centrally Sponsored Schemes are run by the governments for this purpose. This policy touches the areas like:
• Food and nutirition (Annapurna, Antodaya, Mid-Day Meal, and the last being National Food Security Act, etc.);
• Healthcare and sanitation (National Health Mission, Total Sanitation Campaign, ASHA, Mission Indradhanush, and the last being Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, etc.);
• Housing (Indira Aawas Yojana, Rajiv Aawas Yojana, etc.);
• Drinking water (National Rural Drinking Water Programme, etc.);
• Education (Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan, Model School Scheme, etc.).
The short-term policy has two drawbacks- Firstly, the schemes in it are subsidy-based, which incurr heavy drain on the national exchequer (it means it will not be fiscally sustainable in the long run). Secondly, the schemes fail to make the target population self-dependent. This is why the government has also evolved a long-term policy in this regard.
This policy is aimed at bringing in self-dependence in the target population.
This policy contains in itself the sustainabilty element, too. The attempts by the governments may be classified as given below:
• All the schemes which aim at poverty alleviation and employment generation;
• All the programmes which promote education at any level;
• Vocationalisation of education (one such old idea has been the Industrial Training Institutes); and
• Skill Development (a recent idea).
In recent time, we see increased emphasis on imparting right ‘skill’ among the population. Towards this, the government decided in 2008–09 to launch a skill development programme in the country through the National Skill Development Corporation (a joint venture not-for-profit company under the Ministry of Finance. There is an overall target of skilling/upskilling 500 million people in India by 2022, mainly by fostering private sector initiatives in skill development programmes and provide funding. The new government at Centre has also given the same call in the ‘Skill India’.
This way, we can see a initiative fool proof policy towards inclusive growth getting evolved by the GoI which is sustainable, too. The Planning Commission (11th Plan) says that inclusive growth can only be ensured if there is a degree of empowerment that creates a true feeling of participation so necessary in a democratic polity. Empowerment of disadvantaged and hitherto marginalised groups is therefore an essential part of any vision of inclusive growth. India’s democratic polity, with the establishment of the third layer of democracy at the PRIs level, provides opportunities for empowerment and participation of all groups with reservations for SCs, STs and women. These institutions should be made more effective through greater delegation of power and responsibility.
The strategy for inclusive growth in the 11th and 12th Plans is not just a conventional strategy for growth to which some elements aimed at inclusion have been added. On the contrary, it is a strategy which aims at achieving a particular type of growth process, which will meet the objectives of inclusiveness and sustainability. A key feature of the inclusive growth strategy is that growth of “GDP should not be treated as an end in itself, but only as a means to an end”. This is best done by adopting monitorable
targets, which would reflect the multi-dimensional economic and social objectives of inclusive growth. Furthermore, to ensure efficient and timely implementation of the accompanying projects and programmes, these targets need to be disaggregated at the level of the states which implement many of the programmes.