[EQ] Putting Growth In Its Place - It has to be but a means to development not an end in itself

Putting Growth In Its Place

It has to be but a means to development, not an end in itself

Jean Dreze is Visiting Professor, Department of Economics, Allahabad University.
Nobel laureate Amartya Sen is Lamont University professor and Professor of Economics and Philosophy at Harvard University.

Indian magazine Outlook – November 2011

Website: http://bit.ly/snRscj

“…………..Is India doing marvellously well, or is it failing terribly? Depending on whom you speak to, you could pick up either of those answers with some frequency. One story, very popular among a minority but a large enough group—of Indians who are doing very well (and among the media that cater largely to them)—runs something like this. “After decades of mediocrity and stagnation under ‘Nehruvian socialism’, the Indian economy achieved a spectacular take-off during the last two decades.

 

This take-off, which led to unprecedented improvements in income per head, was driven largely by market initiatives. It involves a significant increase in inequality, but this is a common phenomenon in periods of rapid growth. With enough time, the benefits of fast economic growth will surely reach even the poorest people, and we are firmly on the way to that.” Despite the conceptual confusion involved in bestowing the term ‘socialism’ to a collectivity of grossly statist policies of ‘Licence raj’ and neglect of the state’s responsibilities for school education and healthcare, the story just told has much plausibility, within its confined domain…..”

 

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