Socio-economic Change

With the economy poised for high growth rate in the coming years, it is time that the country introduced several measures for social development/change as well. Give arguments For and Against this view. Indian economy is among the fastest growing economies in the world today. The post reforms period has witnessed high growth rate with the last about seven years posting more than 7.5 per cent average annual growth rate of the GDP. But at the same time it is also felt that bulk of the growth is being experienced in the organized sector, urban areas and the industrial centres. The fruits of rapid economic growth are trickling down to economically backward categories very slowly, causing a problem in the equitable distribution of the rapid growth of the GDP. It is time for the government to introduce some reforms aimed at social development so that the deprived categories also get their due share in the developmental process. Arguments For the View (a) Any growth in the incomes of the country, which is not coupled with the equitable distribution of wealth, is incomplete. If the incomes grow fast but the economic disparities also continue to persist, the entire effort of economic growth would go waste. The social development and change must accompany the rapid economic growth. (b) The socio-economic disparities in the country were very high at the time of independence. Several actions were taken after that but the results have not been very encouraging. In a country like ours, having large agrarian base and huge rural population, focus on achieving social development must be there. (c) Economic growth contains only growth of the GDP and per capita income while economic development encompasses overall development of the country. Since the ultimate aim of the government is to secure overall development, it is high time that the government took serious steps to put social development on the fast track. Arguments Against the View (a) Prosperity is generally accompanied with changes in the society through changes in the income levels of the weaker sections, more number of working women and several other social factors. There is no need for the government to separately target social change. (b) Compared to pre-independence socio-economic situation, the society has undergone drastic changes and there is no need for focusing specially on the social issues. (c) Every society evolves over years gradually and no amount of legally supported social change may work if the change is desired against the wishes of the society. It is futile to introduce any changes forcibly.