Every nation is developing at its own pace but its development benefits every citizen of a nation that’s the central question? If the progress and development of a nation are only benefiting a section of society then this development is of no use. Almost every person of a nation contributes to the nation’s developments via taxes and thus holds equal rights to get facilitated by the nation’s growth. Inclusive growth is a dream of every citizen of any nation but all nations have not been able to succeed yet in this process. India is making quite strong efforts to attain inclusive growth but still, India has to cover a long way in this direction. Because, in India, many poor people and lower class communities have been left behind in the society.
Inclusive growth opens equal opportunities for the people of each section of the society and provides them equal chances of employment thus reducing the poverty of a nation. Inclusive growth offers small business owners an equal chance to grow and compete with large-scale businesses. India is moving ahead in direction of inclusive growth and thus Government of India is encouraging small startups so that they can soon turn into an MSME and a large-scale industry subsequently.
To better understand Inclusive growth and its need go through the salient features of inclusive growth mentioned below.
Salient Features of Inclusive Growth:
- Inclusive growth not only makes the economically weaker section of the society to get benefited from the economic development but also allows them to contribute their part in the development of the nation.
- In simple terms, inclusive growth can be described as the growth that takes everyone along and that’s why inclusive growth makes sure that people from no community, group, or section are left behind.
- Economic growth is the primary condition for any kind of growth and development in any nation, thus government should make sure that its economic policies should be in line be with inclusive growth.
- Any kind of discrimination based on religion, creed, sex, or race can act as a barrier to inclusive growth. Thus inclusive growth should provide equal opportunities to everyone despite their caste, creed, or sex.
- Inclusive growth solves two major issues in one i.e. growth and development and poverty. It has been seen that inclusive growth results in a significant drop in poverty as the citizens become self-sufficient.
- Inclusive growth should make sure that every section of the society gets equal facilities of infrastructure, health, and sanitation, medical health care, and education.
India and its Inclusive Growth:
For the past many years, India has been making consistent efforts to achieve inclusive growth but still, India has not succeeded in it. There are many barriers to Inclusive growth in India like corruption, casteism, illiteracy, and unemployment. The unemployment rate in India is more than 6.5% however with every consecutive year this figure is decreasing but still, it’s a major issue in India. To attain inclusive growth every child must be literate so that he/she can constitute economic growth and can help that nation achieve inclusive growth. As per the official data, more than 20% of the Indian population is illiterate and India ranks in the 128th position in the global literacy rate.
Measures Adopted by the Government of India for Inclusive Growth:
- The government of India launched the MGNREGA (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act) in 2005 intending to provide employment for 100 days in every financial year to one household from every family. Under this act, there was the provision of work for skilled and unskilled people, labor, etc. This scheme played an important role to overcome poverty in India but appeared to be missing on the ground in many states.
- Education plays a key role in generating employment and thus in the year 2001, the Government of India came up with the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan with an aim to provide primary education to every child in India. Under this act, students can attend government schools for free, moreover, the cost of books and uniforms was also borne by the government. This scheme turned into a huge success and resulted in increasing the literacy rate in India by a significant percentage.
- In May 2020, the prime minister of India launched the Atmanirbhar Bharat scheme under which the main aim of the government is to make every Indian Self-sufficient. Under this scheme, the government is promoting small startups and focusing on creating employment via MSMEs. Under this scheme, the government provides financial support to people with innovative ideas for startups.
- Every single citizen of the nation holds equal rights in health care and medical facilities. Thus for the enhancement of medical infrastructure, the GOI launched the Ayushman Bharat scheme in September 2018, under which an Ayushman cardholder can carry out his/her medical treatment up to Rs 2.5 Lacs for free in any government or private hospital.
Measures that must be Adopted by a Nation to Attain an Inclusive Growth:
- Education is the primary need for the economic growth of any need thus the governments should focus on the betterment of educational infrastructure and make sure that every child of the nation should become literate because literacy is the primary condition for employment.
- The medical and health care sector should be under the priority of every nation as it’s a basic necessity. Under inclusive growth, every national citizen should get a doctor’s consultation and primary health care treatment.
- Sanitation and hygiene are the most important for any nation’s inclusive growth because it has been seen that foreign investors are usually attracted to clean and hygienic nations.