What are the salient features of "inclusive growth"? Has India been experiencing such a growth process? Analyze and suggest measures for inclusive growth.

Inclusive growth is referred to as a concept that enables equitable opportunities for the economic participants during the time of economic growth with the benefits enjoyed by every unit of the economy. It set up direct links between the macroeconomic and microeconomic factors of the economy. Inclusive growth takes a longer time as it focuses on productive employment as a purpose of increasing the incomes of the poor and enhancing their standards of living. It helps in employment opportunities as well as reduce poverty.

Features

• Economic growth acts as a precondition for inclusive growth, though the nature and composition of growth have to be in line with inclusion.
• Inclusive growth is the inclusion of the poor and lagging socio-economic groups i.e. ethnic/ tribal groups, weaker sections as well as lagging regions as partners and beneficiaries of economic growth.
• The Inclusive growth addresses the limitations of the excluded and the marginalized. It creates ample opportunities and possibilities for them to be partners in growth.
• It should be non-discriminatory and favorable for the excluded. This implies that inclusive growth has to be broad-based in terms of coverage of regions, and labor-intensive in terms of creating large-scale productive employment opportunities in the economic environment.
• Inclusive growth has the ability to reduce poverty faster in the sense that it has to have a higher elasticity of poverty reduction.
• Inclusive growth has to ensure access of people to basic infrastructure and basic services/capabilities such as basic healthcare and elementary education. This access should ensure quality as well as quantity of these basic services.
• Inclusive growth should reduce vertical as well as horizontal discrepancies in incomes and assets.

India and inclusive growth

• Before the pandemic condition, India’s economy showed a tendency to grow at an impressive rate.
• GDP per capita has increased more than two times in the last ten years and poverty has declined substantially.
• Unemployment is still a matter of concern for India.
• India is encountering challenges of global economic and social crisis.
• Healthcare and basic education are still unreachable to a larger part of the population.
• Public expenditure on education in India is only 3.8% of the GDP.
• Pension coverage in India is only 2.6% which is very low compared to other countries.

Measures

• Improving educational infrastructure by reducing the prevalence of school dropouts.
• Strengthening of rural infrastructure build-up.
• Introduction of more flexible labor law with gender equality.
• Promoting gender diversity in leadership positions.

Boosting the manufacturing sector by developing comprehensive measures.