Whither India's Inclusive Growth?

Whither India's Inclusive Growth ?

By :

Sreedharan Nair

Independent Development Consultant

New Delhi

Email : skaviyoor@gmail.com

These days, and quite often, we are subjected to hear the words " inclusive growth" through Parliament debate, Planning Commission's meeting reports, politicians' speeches, and media outburst - audio, video, and print. But is the so called 'inclusive growth' taking place in India? Even when I look through a microscope I do not find any bacteria of 'inclusive growth' raising their heads. Why then these scrambled words coming up here and there more often? May be, we have to ask the question to ourselves, as no body else could give a proper answer to it - be it the Govt., politicians, or representative of bureaucracy.

Let us examine where India stands today in terms of its developmental goals?

Income, Poverty and Housing :

* More than 62%( Based on the World Bank income criteria of US$ 2 per day per person ) of India's population is still in the strong clutches of poverty;

* 36% of India's population do not have the monetary capacity to purchase even a one-time meal for their families;

* An addtional 39 million people were pushed into poverty due to out-of-pocket expenditure they made for medicine etc. ( 2004-05 )

* 38 crore of India's people do not have a roof on their heads;

* More than 665 million people in India defecate openly, as they do not have any toilet facilities;

Health and Nutrition :

* One million newborns die each year during the first year of their lives;

* Another one million chidren die between 29 days and five year;

* More than 52 per cent of India's children are anaemic;

* More than 33% of deliveries take place without the assistance of a trained nurse or a doctor;

* 58% of India's children below the age of two years are not fully vaccinated;

* 70 in every 1000 children born in India do not see their first birth day

Education:

* About 50% of children in the age group of 6 to 14 do not go to school;

* 53% of girls in the age group of 5 to 9 are illiterate;

* More than 17 million children in India work to support their families. These these children go to work by compulsion and not by choice; and most of them work for Rs. 12 to 20/- per day;

* What is more tragic, only 53% of India's habitation has a primary school;

Gender Development :

* 51% of india's women in the age group of 18 to 40 are anaemic;

* More than 50% of india's women are illiterate;

* Though about 50% of population in India are women, their representation in various segment of life are poor - parliament ( 8%), cabinet position ( 6%), High courts and Supreme Court ( less than 3%) ;

* Women are compellled to face violence inside and outside their homes - a woman is molested every 26 minutes, a rape occurs evert 30 minutes, a sexual harrassment takes place every 40 minutes, a woman is kidnapped every 42 minutes, and a woman is killed every 90 minute.

View the contrast : the divide between the rich and the poor:

- As per World Bank reports, the divide between the rich and the poor has been widening rapidly in India. One of the estimates says that 85% of india's wealth is controlled by just 11-12% of rich in India. Various studies conducted in the past revealed that there has been a steady growth in the nos. of millionaires in India since 2001. Yet, most of their 'richness' does not help India in any way as many of such people have parked their income in foreign countries.

Corruption : a major hurdle in development path

Some of the studies have revealed that most of India's millionaires acquired their money through corrupt methods and practices. This is the case with India's over night-rich businessmen too. According to Transparency International, India's rank in corruption has been going up