Former civil servants, educationists and social thinkers, who participated in a workshop on inclusive growth at the State Academy of Administration here this weekend, were unanimous in emphasising that lack of accountability and corruption were eating into the vitals of this country and widening the gap between the rich and the deprived sections of society.
Delivering the key-note address, Prof. Sushma Yadav, who holds Dr Ambedkar Chair in Social Justice at Indian Institute of Public Administration, New Delhi, stressed the need for continuing with the reservation policy. Setting the tone for discussion, she said that self-sustaining dynamics of inclusive growth is missing and at a broad level growth still continues to be exclusive. To cite an example, she said that only a small fraction of those belonging to the SC/ST communities possess agricultural land, where the size of their land holding could be considered to be economically viable.
Delving into the issue of inclusive growth, Ms Yadav said there is an ongoing debate whether to continue the policy of reservation for the second generation of those who have already benefited from this policy. While acknowledging the need to reform the reservation policy, she said that social capital cannot be created by a single generation of those who have been deprived for centuries. She went on point out that the reservation policy will have to be complemented with a huge basket of welfare policies to ensure inclusive growth. Former vice-chancellor of Devi Ahilya University of Indore and ex-bureaucrat C.S. Chadha said that there is gross illiteracy and the tribals and villagers living in remote areas were still being deprived of education.