Despite Consistent experience of high growth, India still goes with the lowest indicators of human development. Examine the issues that make balanced and inclusive development elusive.
Approach · directive: “examine”
What it asks · Explain why fast GDP growth has not brought proportionate gains in health, education and living standards, and identify what makes growth uneven and exclusionary.
It asks 2 things — answer each
- Establish the paradox: sustained high growth alongside low human development indicators
- Examine the issues that make balanced and inclusive development elusive: economic, social, regional and governance dimensions
Open with · Article 38(2) directs the State to 'minimise the inequalities in income' across individuals and regions; yet India ranked 130th of 189 on UNDP's HDI in 2018 (129th in the 2019 report).
Cover
- Low investment in people: government health spending was 1.15% of GDP when the National Health Policy 2017 set a 2.5% target for 2025.
- Nutrition deficit: the Global Hunger Index 2019 put child stunting at 37.9% and wasting at 20.8%, the highest wasting rate in the report.
- Learning crisis: ASER surveys show weak foundational learning, dropouts and skill mismatch, wasting the demographic dividend.
- Jobless growth: capital-intensive industry and skill-intensive services leave most workers in low-productivity farm and informal work.
- Regional gaps: NCERT notes Kerala has lower per capita income than Haryana but better human development, with infant mortality of 6 against 28 per 1,000.
- Social exclusion and weak delivery: SCs, STs, women and the rural poor lack land, credit and services; leakages and weak panchayats dilute schemes.
- Way forward: the Aspirational Districts Programme (January 2018) drives convergence, collaboration and competition; raise health spending to the NHP target and empower panchayats.
Close with · SDG 10, to 'reduce inequality within and among countries', requires growth to be converted into capabilities in lagging States.
Add value (verified)
- Article 38(2) directs the State to minimise inequalities in income and in status, facilities and opportunities, among individuals and among groups in different areas.The Constitution of India (as on 1 May 2024), Article 38 - Legislative Department ↗“The State shall, in particular, strive to minimise the inequalities in income, and endeavour to eliminate inequalities in status, facilities and opportunities, not only amongst individuals but also amongst groups of people residing in different areas”
- National Health Policy 2017 set a goal of raising government health spending from the existing 1.15% of GDP to 2.5% by 2025.National Health Policy 2017 - Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (web.archive.org copy; the live official page did not load) ↗“Increase health expenditure by Government as a percentage of GDP from the existing 1.15% to 2.5 % by 2025.”
- Global Hunger Index 2019: India's child wasting rate was 20.8 per cent, the highest of any country in the report, and its child stunting rate 37.9 per cent.2019 Global Hunger Index report (Concern Worldwide and Welthungerhilfe) ↗“India's child wasting rate is extremely high at 20.8 percent—the highest wasting rate of any country in this report for which data or estimates were available. Its child stunting rate, 37.9 percent”
- NITI Aayog: the Aspirational Districts Programme was launched by the Prime Minister in January 2018 and rests on convergence, collaboration and competition.Aspirational Districts Programme - NITI Aayog ↗“Launched by the Hon'ble Prime Minister in January 2018, the Aspirational Districts Programme (ADP) is a flagship initiative of the Government of India”
- SDG 10 is to reduce inequality within and among countries.Goal 10 - United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Sustainable Development ↗“10 Reduce inequality within and among countries”
Question: UPSC's CS (Main) 2019, GS Paper II — paper ↗. Approach: Minimalist IAS, checked 3 Oct 2026 (how we verify) — UPSC publishes no model answers. ·
Model answer· 223words · Minimalist IAS
Article 38(2) directs the State to 'minimise the inequalities in income' among individuals and regions. Yet India ranked 130th of 189 countries on UNDP's Human Development Index in 2018. Structural issues explain why growth has not become inclusive.
Why high growth has not lifted human development
- Low investment in people: government health spending was 1.15% of GDP when the National Health Policy 2017 set a 2.5% target for 2025.
- Nutrition deficit: the Global Hunger Index 2019 put child stunting at 37.9% and wasting at 20.8%, the highest wasting rate in the report.
- Learning crisis: ASER surveys show weak foundational learning.
Issues that keep development unbalanced and exclusive
- Jobless growth: capital-intensive growth leaves most workers in low-productivity farm and informal work.
- Regional gaps: Kerala, poorer per head than Haryana, records infant mortality of 6 per 1,000 against Haryana's 28 (NCERT, citing NFHS-5, 2019-21).
- Exclusion and weak delivery: SCs, STs, women and the rural poor lack land and credit; leakages and weak panchayats dilute schemes.
- Capital-intensive growth
- Few decent jobs
- Weak public services
- Poor health and learning
- Low HDI
Way forward
- Target lagging districts: the Aspirational Districts Programme (January 2018) uses convergence, collaboration and competition among districts.
- Invest and devolve: meet the NHP target and empower panchayats.
Meeting SDG 10, to 'reduce inequality within and among countries', means turning growth into capabilities in lagging States.
Prepared by Minimalist IAS to the answer standard of Shivam Singh (mentor, 7 years) · facts checked against official sources (how we verify) · updated 3 Oct 2026. UPSC publishes no model answers: compare your structure and coverage with this, then write your own.
