“I shall work for an India in which the
poorest will feel it is his country, in whose making he has an effective voice”.
-By Mahatma Gandhi, Young India, 10
September 1930.
Introduction
According to Carl J. Friedrich's “Public policy is a proposed course of action
of a person, group or government within a given environment providing
opportunities and obstacles which the policy was proposed to utilise and
overcome in an effort to reach a goal or
realise an objective or purpose”.
So the public policies are governmental decisions, and
are actually the result of activities which the government undertakes in
pursuance of certain goals and objectives. Policy is essentially an instrument
to achieve a goal and Statement of a goal does not make it a policy. There is
an increased recognition that ordinary citizens want, and should have, a
stronger voice in shaping policy reforms which impact them (Bone, Crockett
& Hodge, 2006).Marginalized
sections of people are often excluded from participating in policy design and
programmes that have direct impact on their lives. However, there is one specific case in which
the engagement and involvement of the
public is very crucial, viz. that of a country's
development strategy (Sachs, 2005).
The concept of inclusive democracy stands for
participation of all in democratic process and ensuring that no one should be
left outside that very process. This approach calls for revision of the ways we
think and we develop a vision to redesign and redefine the society in which the
inclusion of marginalized sections of the society especially minorities in the
political process must be ensured. The strengthening of the civil society is
thought of being important when addressing poverty alleviation and social welfare
objectives (Mcllwaine, 1998).
The
inclusive democracy works when people from all sections of the society are
empowered to participate in governance, raise objections, and take decisions
and ensure social and political accountability. Such a vision of democracy
requires democratization from below to achieve true devolution and delegation
of power to common man.
In
our country, the character of the democracy is changing from representative to
participatory democracy. Through the institution of the Gram Sabha, the centre
is connected to the community at the grassroots, which is essential for making
governance meaningful. The Gram Sabha is a powerful instrument to achieve
social equality and to convert the noise of the people to voice of the people.
It is an instrument that can make it possible to eliminate power brokers from
the development space, provide opportunity to the poor to claim their
entitlements, ensure accountable governance at the state and central level and
achieves growth that is truly inclusive. Harnessing the strength of the Gram
Sabha is one of the effective options for achieving the objectives of
development and inclusive growth.
Inclusive
Growth with Inclusive Democracy
The
inclusive growth and inclusive democracy are the two different concepts but in
Indian context, both are complementary to each other. They are used as economic
and political empowerment of marginalised sections of society respectively. And
both of above are necessary for the empowerment of society in long-run. Inclusive democracy is considered the best
form of governance system by virtue of its essence nature. It is based on the
ideals of dignity of citizens, principles of liberty, equality, fraternity,
justice and a government having accountability towards its people so that it is
an optimal system for inclusive growth. Further, success of inclusive democracy
is judged by the achievement of inclusive growth.
Inclusive growth is the economic growth that is socially
inclusive, regionally balanced, which enables every state to do better than in
the past, which narrows the gap between different communities, which also
brings in our concern for gender equality. Basely et
el (2007) defined inclusive growth as the “growth that has a high elasticity of poverty reduction”, i.e. it
should have a higher reduction in poverty per unit of growth. Inclusive
growth, therefore, is also defined in terms of reduction in inequalities in
incomes, assets as well as in vertical
inequalities (individual inequalities) and horizontal inequalities (group
inequalities).
Inclusive
growth is a Multi-dimensional Concept and can be understood as a
multi-dimensional concept that facilitates inclusion from a variety of fronts such
as Increase in employment, elimination of poverty, discrimination,
horizontal and vertical inequalities and Promotion of access to a variety of
public resources and institutions.
ü As per the UNDP Human Development Report, 2013, India's
performance has remained lacklustre, belying the claims of "inclusive
growth" rhetoric. Of 187 countries, India's Human Development Index (HDI),
essentially a composite measure of health, education and income, rank stands at
136, on a par with Africa's Equatorial Guinea and just above Cambodia and Laos
in Southeast Asia. Even over a longer period (between 2000 and 2012), it
registered average annual HDI growth of 1.50 per cent, lower than Pakistan's
(1.74 per cent).
ü The life expectancy of a newborn in India is lower than that of a
child born in war-torn Iraq.
ü Moreover, the average number of years of education received by a
Ghanaian aged at least 25 is more than what a young Indian can expect.
ü India has the most projected child deaths over 2010-2015, about
7.9 million, accounting for nearly half the deaths among children under five in
Asia. China has more people than India, but is projected to have less than a
quarter (1.7 million) the number of child deaths over 2010-2015.
ü Viewed in the context of the BRICs grouping (Brazil, Russia, India
and China), India's standing is much below its peers - China is ranked 101st, Russia
55th and Brazil 85th. In fact, India remains squarely stuck at the bottom end
of the second-lowest category in the report.
ü Medium Human Development - even as our neighbour Sri Lanka (99)
moves a step higher towards becoming a "high human development"
nation.
ü On Gender inequality front our country is no easy country for
women. The Human Development Report's Gender Inequality Index, which assesses
gender-based inequalities based on reproductive health, empowerment and
economic activity, ranks India 132nd out of 148 countries, below Bangladesh
(111) and Pakistan (123).
ü 26.6 per cent of adult women have a secondary or higher level of
education, compared to 50.4 per cent of their male counterparts (in India).
Female participation in the labour market is 29 per cent, compared with 80.7
per cent for men.
ü As
per the NSSO 61st Round (2004-05) survey, among the persons of age 15-29 years,
only 2 percent are reported to have received formal vocational training and
another 8 percent have received non-formal vocational training. This indicates
that very few young persons with formal vocational training enter the
workforce. This proportion of trained youth is one of the lowest in the world.
Inclusive growth: Reality
However,
the 11th plan was able to succeed on some fronts as follows:
ü The rate of
growth of real consumption per capita in rural areas in the period 2004–05 to
2011–12 was 3.4 per cent per year which was four times the rate in the previous
period 1993–94 to 2004–05.
ü Complete immunization rate increased by 2.1 ppt per year between
2002–04 and 2007–08, compared to a 1.7 ppt fall per year between 1998–99 and
2002–04.
ü Institutional deliveries increased by 1.6 ppt per year between
2002–04 and 2007–08 higher than the 1.3 ppt increase per year between 1998–99
and 2002–04.
ü Net
enrolment rate at the primary level rose to a near universal 98.3 per cent in
2009–10. Dropout rate (classes’ I–VIII) also showed improvements, falling 1.7
ppt per year between 2003–04 and 2009–10, which was twice the 0.8 ppt fall
between 1998–99 and 2003–04.Inclusive Growth and
12th Plan
