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The post-reform period in India witnessed impressive performance in terms of
economic prosperity as reflected in various macroeconomic indicators, including economic
growth, low and stable inflation, increasing integration with the rest of the world in terms
of trade and finance, and accumulation of foreign reserves. Particularly, moving up to
the higher growth trajectory of around 9% for five consecutive years immediately
preceding the crisis year of 2008-09 was unprecedented. Even in the crisis year, the Indian
economic performance was much better compared to the industrial and several emerging
market economies, exhibiting its resilience. The per capita income in the country scaled
up from around Rs. 15,000 during the 1990s to approximately Rs. 22,000 during the
current decade. However, there are issues related to the distribution of benefits of
economic prosperity across different sectionspopularly discussed in terms of inclusiveness
of the growth process. Particularly, many express reservations about percolation of
the benefits to the rural economy, more so to the disadvantaged sections of the society
such as Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs).
The disadvantaged sections of the society are believed to operate below the
enabling threshold conditions to gain in a conventional market-oriented setup, and hence
deserve special treatment. Acknowledging this, the stated policy of the government has
been proactive in uplifting them into the mainstream through specific
government-sponsored programs. Several development programs have been envisaged and implemented in
the past in India, and subsequently have been redesigned, learning from the past
experience. There has been unanimity across political parties on the need for such programs. |
