Inclusive Growth and Its Challenges

What the official syllabus says

General Studies-III (Main Examination, Paper VI), (D) Economy of India and Gujarat:

• Inclusive growth and associated issues/challenges.

Inclusive growth is growth whose benefits reach all groups and regions, and in which people take part through jobs and opportunities. The line is short but answers draw on poverty, employment, inequality, and the social sector.

Topics in detail

Meaning and measurement

• Growth versus inclusive growth; the Eleventh Plan's theme 'faster and more inclusive growth'
• Dimensions: poverty reduction, employment, access to health and education, financial inclusion, regional balance, gender equity
• Measures: poverty lines (Lakdawala, Tendulkar, Rangarajan), Multidimensional Poverty Index, Gini coefficient, Human Development Index
• Household consumption expenditure surveys and the Periodic Labour Force Survey

Employment

• Types of unemployment: structural, disguised, seasonal, frictional, educated unemployment
• Informal sector and the quality of jobs; women's labour force participation
• Labour codes (four codes replacing 29 central laws)
• Skilling: Skill India, PM Kaushal Vikas Yojana; apprenticeships
• Rural wage employment and self-employment programmes; National Rural Livelihoods Mission (self-help groups)

Financial inclusion

• Jan Dhan accounts, Mudra loans, Stand-Up India
• Payments banks, small finance banks, business correspondents
• Social security: Atal Pension Yojana, PM Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana, PM Suraksha Bima Yojana

Social inclusion

• Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, minorities, persons with disabilities, women, the elderly
• Health: Ayushman Bharat (health and wellness centres, PM-JAY)
• Education: Samagra Shiksha, mid-day meals (PM POSHAN), scholarships
• Housing and basic services: PMAY, Swachh Bharat, Jal Jeevan Mission, Saubhagya

Regional inclusion

• Inter-State and intra-State disparities; backward regions
• Aspirational Districts Programme
• In Gujarat: gaps between the golden corridor and the tribal east, Kachchh and the border areas; Vanbandhu Kalyan Yojana and Sagarkhedu Sarvangi Vikas Yojana for coastal areas

Gender and inclusion

• Women's work: unpaid care work, low labour force participation, wage gaps
• Women's self-help groups and 'Lakhpati Didi'; Stand-Up India for women entrepreneurs
• Gender budgeting and gender-disaggregated data
• Persons with disabilities: Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016; accessibility

Issues and challenges

• Jobless or job-poor growth; low female employment
• Rising inequality of income and wealth
• Agrarian distress and low farm incomes
• Quality of public services; leakages in welfare delivery
• Fiscal space for social spending; the debate on subsidies and welfare spending

Overlaps

• General Studies-II: poverty and hunger, and development and social sector management.
• Developmental Issues and Sustainable Development on this paper.