Poverty Alleviation and Pro-Poor Growth in India

The planners and policymakers in India have been underscoring higher economic growth as an outcome as well as a prime-mover of development policies. However, while discussing about the economic growth both as an instrument and as an outcome, the question that inherently arises is whether economic growth has actually been pro-poor and inclusive in nature. In order to understand the nuances of poverty alleviation process in Indian context, an assessment of pro-poorness of economic growth is all the more essential. In view of this much-felt need for assessing the pro-poorness of economic growth, the present monograph attempts to examine whether the economic growth in India has actually been accompanied by a commensurate improvement in inequality. The monograph tries to explain 'pro-poorness' and 'inclusiveness' (or otherwise) of economic growth in terms of some proximate determinants, like, quantitative and qualitative pattern of employment; gender inequality in well-being; right to land and institutional reforms related to land; and connectivity through all weather roads. Another important element of India's development policy is the targeted poverty alleviation and social development programs which are supply-side interventions on the part of the state in response to the needs of the poor and the disadvantaged. However, most often, these interventions fail to reach the intended beneficiaries as they are not demand-driven. The problems get further compounded with asymmetric information, lack of transparency and accountability and non-participatory nature of functioning of these programs. In the light of the extensive literature that exists on evaluation of programs in India, the monograph analyzes the functioning of some major poverty alleviation programs in the Indian context in order to identify the key factors that are impeding the pro-poorness in delivery of outcomes of these programs. The monograph eventually suggests a way forward towards pro-poorness through reconciliation of economic growth with rights based approach and underscore the importance of pro-poor governance and empowerment. It infers that the nation would be able to realize the foremost Millennium Development Goal of halving poverty by 2015 faster, if the policymaking process internalizes the intrinsic as well as the instrumental value of human rights