UPSC Mains 2017 GS Paper 3 Q13: model answer

The Eleventh Five Year Plan (2007–12) made 'faster and more inclusive growth' India's official goal. Inclusive growth means growth that is broad-based across sectors and regions, creates productive jobs and gives everyone fair access to opportunities.

Salient features

• Broad-based: agriculture, industry and services all grow.
• Employment-intensive: jobs, not just output.
• Equal opportunity: access to education, health, credit and markets.
• Poverty reduction and a social safety net.
• Regional balance and attention to SCs, STs, women and minorities.
• Sustainability for future generations.

Has India experienced it?

Gains:

• NITI Aayog estimates that 24.82 crore people left multidimensional poverty between 2013–14 and 2022–23.
• Over 50 crore Jan Dhan accounts; near-universal electrification, LPG and toilets.
• Direct Benefit Transfer and digital public infrastructure reach the poor faster and with fewer leakages.

Gaps:

• Jobs: about 46% of workers still in agriculture; over 90% informal.
• Women: female labour force participation is still low despite recent gains.
• Inequality: India's HDI falls about 31% when adjusted for inequality (HDR 2025).
• Regions: Bihar's per capita income is a fraction of Goa's or Telangana's.
• Nutrition: 35.5% of children under five are stunted (NFHS-5).

Measures

• Labour-intensive manufacturing and MSME credit.
• Higher public spending on health and education, as NEP 2020 and the National Health Policy 2017 propose.
• Women's work: childcare, safe transport, equal pay.
• Agricultural productivity and rural non-farm jobs.
• The Aspirational Districts approach for lagging regions.
• Progressive taxation and better-targeted subsidies.
• Land titling and credit for small farmers and tenants.

Conclusion

India has made growth wider than before, but not yet deep enough. Jobs and human capital are the next frontier, and the 2047 goal of a developed India depends on both.