'It is time to review 73rd, 74th amendments to Constitution'

Inclusive growth calls for inclusive investment and inclusive governance.

It is the time to review the working of the 73rd and 74th amendments to the Indian Constitution to improve the process of decentralisation to ensure inclusive growth, said Government of Karnataka Planning Board Member Dr G V Joshi after inaugurating the national workshop on “Inclusive growth: Concept and reality” organised by the PG Department of Economics at St Aloysius College in Mangalore.

Even leaders at the Central level have argued that inclusive growth means taking the fruits of growth to all sections of the society. However, at this stage of development, the country cannot afford this concept because, it has yet to experience double digit growth. Therefore, virtually Indians are facing a situation in which growth versus inclusive growth. “Inclusive growth should be understood as a growth process which should benefit the sections of the society bypassed by the growth process so far. It calls a carefully designed policy intervention at central, state and local levels,” he said.

He further added that the Deputy Chairman of Indian Planning Commission Dr Montek Singh Ahluwalia has admitted that inclusive growth is a complex process. The complexity arises particularly in India because of economic exclusion, social exclusion and political exclusion side by side, he said.

Presiding over the programme, St Aloysius College Principal Rev Fr Swebert D’Silva SJ said that there are three concepts such as access, equity and quality included in education growth.“To have inclusiveness, all must be included and no one should be left out from the process of growth of education. If there is no quality, there is no growth at all,” he said.

Inclusive development is sharing the fruits of economic development by every citizen of the country inspite of his location, economic strata, income group, gender or age group, said SVS College Bantwal Associate Professor of Commerce B V Raghunandan speaking on “Financial services for inclusive growth”.

“Banks, financial institutions and the RBI were perceived to be the development agents to ensure effective distribution of means of development to the remote corners of the country.

Except waging a war on the money-lenders and the NBFC for a long time to see that they vanish from the financing scenario, these institutions failed in making even a dent in the volume of transactions carried on by the unorganised sector,” he said.

Dr John Mathai Centre Campus (Trichur) University of Calicut  Department of Economics Head and Director Dr Mani K P and  Mangalore University Department of  Business Administration Professor and MBA (Tourism Administration) Co-coordinator Dr T Mallikarjunappa were the resource persons of the workshop. 

Over 175 delegates from various states participated in the day long workshop.