Need of Inclusive Growth in India:Some Justifications

India needs inclusive growth to achieve the overall progress of the country and attain certain targets relating to poverty, employment, education, infrastructure, health, women and children, gender equality, regional equality etc. Inclusive growth is necessary to maintain growth with equity, achieving sustainable development, human development, raise economic growth, equal distribution of income and wealth. India ranks at low 100 among 119 countries with score of 31.4 on Global Hunger Index - 2017, place the country in the “Serious” hunger levels category. India ranks at 37th out of 103 countries in the Global Multidimensional Poverty Index - 2017 and accounts that 31 per cent of the world’s “Multidimensionally Poor” children live in India. It shows that a high economic growth is no guarantee of food and nutrition security. India has largest number of wasted, stunted, and malnourished children below five years and facing a serious burden of under-nutrition. According to The Global Nutrition Report – 2017, 38 per cent of children under five years are affected by stunting due to lack of nutrients, 21 per cent of children under five years are “Wasted” or “Severely Wasted”, and 51 per cent of women of reproductive age suffer from anaemia. The government has made inclusive growth as a key element of eleventh and twelfth five-year plans and introduced various policies, programmes and social safety nets to achieve targets. This paper studies need, policies and programmes for attaining inclusive growth in India.