INTRODUCTION:

Growth opportunities for a country arise basically from the mode of production that is prevalent in relation to time and space. Historically, it has been observed that social factors such as religion, human values, played a predominant role in creating opportunities for economic development of a particular society or a country. In the recent history Martin Luther’s emergence in Europe and the subsequent Calvinist faith in Christianity had brought a sea change in the economic perspective of Europe. The war between cross and eagle finally ended with eagle scoring victory over the cross. The Church yielded to the crown and thereby the political supremacy of the monarch or the State was established beyond doubt. The result was the great industrial revolution in Europe and the boom through overseas trade.

India as opposed to the western democracies, suffers from peculiar social problems that stand in the way of economic development of its citizens and thereby the economic progress of the nation. The broad indicators such as GDP growth rates or equity market fluctuations or even per capita income yardsticks do not necessarily reflect the actual state of economic development of the country as such, and least so that of an individual. Economic unfreedom can breed social unfreedom, just as social or political unfreedom can also foster economic unfreedom.¹ we also have to understand the remarkable empirical connection that links freedoms of different kinds with one another. Political freedoms (in the form of free speech and elections) help to promote economic security. Social opportunities (in the form of education and health facilities) facilitate economic participation.

Economic facilities (in the form of opportunities for participation in trade and production) can help to generate personal abundance as well as public resources for social facilities. Freedoms of different kinds can strengthen one another.In India social order has a direct bearing on the economic development. Economic well being is directly related to social status of individuals as the later provides with accepted or ascribed life chances.

Growth opportunities include and as a matter of fact, result out of educational, health and social justice parameters. Amartya Sen’s ‘Freedom as Development’ throws light on various factors that contribute to an economic development of a country and of an individual. Sen discusses at length the subtle differences between economic inequalities and income inequalities. Similarly, he brings in novel parameters for growth such as gender inequalities and social inequalities based on religion or caste. The difference between a capitalist economy as witnessed in the west during 19^th and 20^th centuries and the socialist and welfare oriented economies such as Russia and the Third world countries is basically the concern for equality and social justice. Welfare of working class and security of marginalized social groups such as minorities or underprivileged sections of the society have never been the concerns of a capitalist economy. On the contrary, a democratic State wedded to the concept of socialist, secular republic such as India has social equality and social justice as its priorities as against the materialistic concerns of a typical capitalist economy.

The Constitution of India through chapter IV envisages welfare of women, children and working class as the utmost responsibility of the state, while the fundamental rights in chapter III guarantee equality before law and equal protection of law. That way, Indian economy is an interesting arrangement made under dictates of the Constitution, whereby a golden mean is struck between a capitalist entrepreneurial culture and socialist philosophy of equality of opportunity. The result is the mixed economy as we have today where public and private sectors participate in the economic development of the nation. Despite the liberalization in 1990s and consequent boom witnessed in markets and rise in per capita incomes of the people it is indeed intriguing that India is still grappling with issues of poverty, mal-nutrition, social inequalities, unemployment and worst incidents of suicide by farmers. Therefore it is difficult to make a sweeping statement that growth indicators reflect the individual growth of citizens as well or even the economic progress of a country guarantees the progress of an individual or working class. One needs to investigate into factors which are responsible for a lopsided development scenario in the country and find out the alternative ways and means that can ensure economic growth which actually ensures security and justice to citizens.

Indian economy: an offspring of Indian social order:

Essentially an agrarian society, India had a peculiar social structure with ascription of duties on the basis of birth in a particular endogamy social group known as Caste. The ‘Varna’ system established itself as a lifeline for ancient mode of production in India and unfortunately, its resilience to change has been successful more often than not. Unlike in the West, social mobility in India was unknown till the advent of the British. The colonial government brought along with it a capitalist mode of production which is primarily characterized by materialistic concern for profit and loss and engagement of labor on payment. The traditional economy in India was more social than economic as the occupations of economic activity such as agriculture, manufacturing of goods and trade of goods were ascribed to birth rather than entrepreneurship or achievement. This was a stumbling block on path to social mobility in the country which sealed the growth of economy for centuries. Truly, villages were little Republics with inter-dependent trades and occupations. Social injustice was the direct result of such a traditional and inequality ridden social structure in India. The colonial rule played catalyst in paving the way for a modern economic development with the growth of urban areas as centre’s of excellence in commerce, trade and free labor. Nevertheless, these were more an exception than generality as more than seventy percent of India lived in villages under the unrelenting influence of caste system and social inequality.

At the dawn of independence, India hardly had a steel manufacturing plant. Nehru’s vision for a modern India was reflected in the commissioning of few steel plants with foreign collaborations and construction of Bhakra Nangal Dam in Punjab. Key sectors of economic development such as industries and agriculture were at the nascent stage in 1950s. Famines, shooting IMR and MMR were the causes of concern for a modern democracy like India. The 1960s witnessed a remarkable change through green revolution and socialization of banks. The plan process of India is a saga of battle against poverty and unemployment across the country. The mixed economy encouraged private entrepreneurship while retaining key sectors such as Currency, Mines and Minerals, Communications, Power and Energy, Defense etc. with the State. Concentration of wealth has been the result of the Indian economic development till date. The concepts of socialism or economic equality have never been truly translated into action let alone the question of social inequalities or gender based inequalities.

In India, it is a fact that the traditionally dominant social factors still dominate even in the field of economic development as growth opportunities are available on the basis of one’s social background or social identity as opposed to one’s national identity as ‘citizen’ of India. Although the State has enacted sufficient number of legislations for imparting social justice by way of protective discrimination in favor of socially underprivileged communities such as scheduled castes, scheduled tribes or even backward castes it is a pity that these underprivileged communities in India still only look up to the State for their security and growth as the free economy contrary to its basic character does not yet allow an equal participation of people. Therefore it is difficult to conclude that Indian economy is truly a modern economy with secular and objective characteristics to allow participation of all citizens equally. It is not surprising that the pioneers of modern economic development of India happen to be the upper caste and traditionally accepted castes, whereas the traditionally ascribed service-related occupations are still performed by only those castes and communities as sanctioned by the ancient ‘Manusmriti’ (the Manu’s laws). The interventions of the State only resulted in participation of these underprivileged classes in government services whereas, the doors of private sector are more or less, slammed against them.

Confederation of Indian Industry, the country's largest industry chamber, undertook a caste census of its members spread across 22 and Union territories. The following table depicts the neglect of Dalit’s in private sector in India:

CORPORATE EMPLOYMENT FOR SC/STs HAS NOT BEEN PROPORTION TO THEIR POPULATION ²

State	Industry Rank	Sc/St In Industry*	Sc/St In Population**	Gap
Tamil Nadu	1	17.9	20	2.1
Maharashtra	2	5	19.1	14.1
Andhra Pradesh	3	17.1	22.8	5.7
Gujarat	4	9	21.9	12.9
Utter Pradesh	5	17	21.2	4.2
Punjab	6	21	28.9	7.9
Karnataka	7	8.9	22.8	13.9
Rajasthan	8	14	29.8	15.8
West Bengal	9	20	28.5	8.5
Kerala	10	14.2	10.94	-3.26
Haryana	11	19	19.3	0.3
Madhya Pradesh	12	11	35.5	24.5
Delhi	13	15	16.9	1.9
Uttarakhand	17	22	20.9	-1.1
Himachal Pradesh	21	12	28.7	16.7
Punducherry	23	13.2	16.2	3

Industrialization ranks based on Annual Survey of Industries 2008-09

* Share in percentage of workforce based on CII survey.

** Share in percentage of population, based on Census of India 2001.

Covering 8,250 members of the CII, together employing 35 lakhs people, its gives a flavor of the manpower mix in India.

SCs/STs for instance, make up 19.1 percent of Maharashtra's population but their share in the private sector human resources is only 5 per cent. In Gujarat and Karnataka, SCs/STs are just about 9 percent of the staff strength, but account for 22 percent and 23 per cent respectively of the state population. Barring Uttarakhand and Kerala Dalits are employed far less than their percentage of population.

The private sector in the western region comes as a surprise. Maharashtra, the hub of India Inc, is second only to Tamil Nadu in terms of industrialization and employment. CII members in the state employ 20.72 lakhs people in the state almost 57 per cent of the total employee base considered in the survey by the chamber. But SC/ST proportion in the workforce is one-fourth of their percentage in the total population In Madhya Pradesh that rank 11 industrialization and workforce, SCs/STs account for 11 per cent of the private sector's total staff strength, less than a third of their strength in the state's population.

The data as shown above clearly shows that even after 67 years of independence and despite enforcement of plethora of laws the discrimination against the so called low caste citizens exists.

The Neglected Areas:

A newly liberated colony in 1950s, India was struggling with issues of nation-building. There was no vision of economic development of a free country. Poverty, hunger and unemployment were the major concerns to be addressed at the dawn of independence. However, over decades the successive governments in the country have been successful to put in a perspective the requirements for economic development of a free nation. However, the planning process of the country could not identify areas that were essential for a Third world country like India. :

A) . The Agrarian Sector:

Agriculture was the most neglected area of planning in India. It is unfortunate that after 67 years’ of independence, out of the total cultivable land, we have only less than 40% land irrigated with two crops. The per capita consumption of fertilizers is less than 50 Kilos per hectare in many states. Vast chunks of waste lands have not been brought under cultivation. Worse is that no proposal or plan was made to bring agriculture into public sector through state-sponsored initiative for production to feed the masses whereas the government was more enthusiastic in the industry sector only to multiply the number of sick industries over decades and create unemployed work force. India being an agrarian society, the rural masses in villages essentially survive on the prospects of agriculture. It is even unfortunate that socially underprivileged ‘Dalits’ or the backward classes primarily depend on land as agricultural laborers. They don’t even possess decent patches of cultivable land. With land reforms being a high sounding flop, the ‘Dalits’ and tribes from the rural areas migrate to urban pockets in search of life opportunities as casual labor. The blessings of green revolution were cornered more by the rural rich than by the marginal or small farmers. With increasing costs of inputs the farmers find it difficult to pay wages to agricultural laborers. The picture is so gruesome that sometimes they are driven to commit suicide. The most important reason for social injustice in rural areas being the caste stigma attached to an individual, lack of a decent holding further accentuated the misery by increasing the dependence of the underprivileged caste on their own exploiters.

B). Neglect of Cottage and Village Industries:

With the quintessential occupational ascription of the traditional society the backward classes in India engage themselves in trades such as weaving, blacksmith, goldsmith, woodwork, haircutting, and laundry etc. These occupations could not withstand competition from machine-made goods that are typical of modern economy and consequently these castes were pauperized gradually and quite a majority of them turned in to agricultural laborers or migrant laborers leaving their villagers. These communities were left to defend themselves against the vagaries of the market as no system of protectionism for these occupations was enforced by the government. It was equally very difficult for them to seek fortune elsewhere as the traditional Indian society does not allow mobility. This has mounted political pressure on the governments to address issues of social inequalities. The implementation of Mandal Commission’s recommendations for OBCs is very relevant here that has paved way for a battle for inclusion for protection from the State. The destruction of village economies thus left a far reaching consequence of political connotations. The question is how to rehabilitate the castes or communities that no longer can survive on their traditional occupations and ensure social justice to them at the same time.

C). Concentration of wealth:

The economic growth or the so-called industrial development in the country appears to be nothing but a saga of concentration of wealth in few families that were traditionally dominant in the trade and commerce. The private entrepreneurship in India was spear-headed by those communities who had the social acceptance and the social respect that encourages them and legitimizes their actions. The major industries such as textiles, steel, tele-communications, electronics, drugs and pharmaceuticals etc were all monopolized by these communities leading to concentration of wealth. The equity markets though attracts major share of the capital from the public, yet the average share-holder has hardly any say in the governance of a company. After all, the ‘corporate veil’ is an old story that legitimizes each and every design of the capitalist forces. As Aristotle said "wealth is evidently not the good we are seeking; for it is merely useful and for the sake of something else."³Public should weigh over individual enrichment. Further unfortunate state of affairs is that these capitalist forces play king-makers through the democratic process of election. It is no secret that enormous funds are donated to parties and favors are exchanged on quid-pro-quo basis. Concept of social justice or equality becomes a far cry in such a scenario. Indian society does not seem to allow an equal opportunity to all its citizens. The traditional rigid values are so resilient that even the modern capitalist characteristics of an economy adopt themselves to the demands of the former. Successive governments in the country for obvious reasons exercised little or no control on these capitalist forces with a result that social justice became a foreign concept for the Indian capitalist class.

D) The undemocratic political system:

Social justice has fallen victim to the sectarian and vested interests of political forces in the country. Priorities of growth are assessed in terms of caste, religion or region in place of objective parameters of equality and social justice. The era of coalitions has made matters even worse. Pressure tactics and political blackmail have replaced parliamentary debates and democratic solutions. Money and muscle powers are making their presence felt in almost all places including legislative houses. Elections are managed with the help of caste sentiments or with money to vote allurements. Electoral reforms have not seen the light of the day in the last six decades so that secular and public spirited political forces can make a difference in the legislative bodies of the country. The victim is undoubtedly the poor common man whose voice goes unheard in these august houses of democracy. The preamble speaks out the heart of the Constitution with phrases such as ‘sovereign, socialist, secular republic’ with equality, freedom and justice to be ensured to all. It is a pity that the political system of the country is so susceptible to undemocratic influences that it can hardly translate the spirit of the Constitution into action. Public opinion must be given due place if only we are serious about the democratic functioning of our nation. It is important to listen to the voices of dissent in society.⁴

E) Neglect of labour welfare:

It is a fact that the workforce in unorganized sector is largely drawn from Dalits, Tribes and other Backward Castes and it accounts for more than that of the organized sector. This is an indication of social deprivation as the underprivileged sections of society are driven to manual labor for survival. Though there are more than forty labour laws enacted in the Country aimed at protecting them from exploitation, in reality the legislations hardly work as a deterrent against the offenders. The socially exploited lower castes are exploited economically also. Forced labour, child labour and gender based discrimination in employment is common place in the entire country. Growth opportunities thus are constricted by social factor as the freedom to seek employment is far from a reality. Welfare legislations in favor of workers do not ensure itra-generational mobility and least so inter generational mobility.

F) Vicious Circle of Poverty:

India suffers from poverty and illiteracy mainly due to the exploitation of its labor both in rural and urban sector. Poor incomes, poor health and low literacy result in inadequate employment which in turn results in poor incomes. It is a vicious circle that Indian economy is trapped in. The social factors such as Caste, Religion etc. contribute to the misery even further as social status is responsible for economic progress. The social engineering regimes in the country are largely State sponsored reservations in educational institutions and in Govt. Services which only created haves and have-nots even among the poor. The trickledown theory of economic growth has not actually been realistic as more than 50% of Indians are officially notified as living under ‘Below Poverty Line’ category. What growth opportunities mean to this population is a puzzle. As a matter of fact, poverty must be seen as the deprivation of basic capabilities rather than merely as lowness of incomes, which is the standard criterion of identification of poverty.⁵ Poverty has other connotations also that not only seen in income. Relationship between income and capability would be strongly affected by age, by gender and social roles.⁶Therefore the distinction between income inequality and economic inequality is very important.⁷

G) Balanced versus imbalanced Growth:

As we understand balanced growth means an equal emphasis on growth of all sectors such as industry, agriculture, social and HRD. Indian plan process openly encouraged an imbalanced growth pattern by encouraging industry and regional priority based programs. Agriculture and social sector which includes health and welfare were victims of our five year plans. Regional imbalances added insult to injury. Secessionist forces grow over time with demands of separate identity with Statehood to enter the so called ‘mainstream’ of development. Regional Backwardness has become a political reason to secede from the parent State. However the regional imbalances cannot be justified condemning rising local patriotism. Symptoms cannot be ignored as not indicative of an invisible disease. India and Bharat are two different entities existing simultaneously, of course, under great stress. Balanced growth is essential for country like India so that the contradicting inequality syndrome of bullock carts moving on highways alongside WBMs or seven Star hotels coexisting with slums seen from their windows leading to exploitation mechanisms can be addressed. It is pity that massive expenditures that now go into the military in a poor country like ours often many times larger than the public expenditure on basic education or health care.⁸

H) Economic Empowerment of women:

Literacy, equal rights, emancipation from bondage, empowerment are some of the areas of focus for women’s advancement in society. However, what is more important for a true empowerment of women is her equal participation in a mode of production i.e. the economy. This is one area which has not been given required importance at least in India. A casual look at the statistics of women manual laborers and construction workers reflects a pathetic position of women in India which is no better than that of Nargis in the movie ‘Mother India’ who struggles throughout her life to make a living and to raise her kids, husband. Women can never be liberated in the absence of an economy which gives her an equal opportunity to own means of production. The areas of thrust in the successive

plans are anything but a focused program for exclusive economic empowerment of women. Today women are increasingly seen, as active agents of change: the dynamic promoters of social transformations that can alter the lives of both women and men.⁹

Gender Budgeting is the trend of the day. Across the world the importance of women in development is acknowledged by way of substantial allocations in favor of all round empowerment of women. Gender Budgeting is an ongoing process which helps to look at General Budgets from a Gender Perspective. It is an exercise to translate stated gender commitments of the Government into budgetary commitments. Gender Budgeting is, in simple terms, allocation of resources exclusively for women oriented programmes or the proportionate share of women development in all programmes. The following table shows the poor progress of Gender Budget in various ministries in GOI;

Year	No. of Ministries (No. of Demands)	Total Magnitude of Gender Budget (BE) (in Rs. crore)
2005-06	9 ( 10)	14378.68 (2.79 %)
2006-07	18 (24)	28736.53 (5.09%)
2007-08	27 (33)	31177.96 (4.5%)
2008-09	27 (33)	27661.67 (3.68%)
2009-10	27 (33)	56857.61 (5.57%)
2010 -11	28 (33)	67749.80 (6.11%)

(Source: NIPCCD New Delhi)

It is high time that the governments in the states and in the centre vow to strictly implement the gender budgeting norms so that the economic well-being of women is guaranteed by way of proper infra-structure and HRD Power of women's role can be seen particularly in two specific fields: (I) in promoting child survival and (2) in helping to reduce fertility rates. The approach that seems to deserve particular attention involves a close connection between public policies that enhance gender equity and the freedom of women and individual responsibility of the family (though the decisional power of potential parents, particularly the mothers).¹⁰

CONCLUSION:

Economy and economic growth does not hang in the air. These emanate from society and function as variable depending on social development parameters. Growth opportunities are relative in terms of HRD indicators which in turn are decided and influenced by social factors such as Caste, religion, gender etc. Social justice becomes intrinsically interwoven with economic development as equality of opportunity is often denied to the socially weaker and vulnerable sections of citizens who incidentally constitute the majority of Indian population.

Here it is worth referring to the proposition made by Amartyasen when he underlines the freedom as Development. An adequate conception of development according to Sen must go much beyond the accumulation of wealth and the growth of gross national product the other income-related variables. Without ignoring the importance of economic growth, we must look well beyond it.

We must consider three types of freedoms: (I) political freedoms, (2) economic facilities, (3) social opportunities. Political freedoms, broadly conceived, refer to the opportunities that people have to determine who should govern and on what principles, and also include the possibility to scrutinize and criticize authoritieswhere asEconomic facilities refer to the opportunities that individuals respectively enjoy to utilize economic resources for the purpose of consumption, or production, or exchange.

Social opportunities refer to the arrangements that society makes for education, health care and so on, which influence the individual's substantive freedom to live better. Social justice plays an important role here.The social backwardness of India, Sen correctly observes, with its elitist concentration on higher education and massive negligence of school education, and its substantial neglect of basic health care, left that country poorly prepared for a widely shared economic expansion^.11

We have to learn a lot from some East Asian countries who went comparatively early for massive expansion of education, and later also of health care before they broke the restraints of general poverty. Social sector development goes hand in hand with the creation of growth opportunities.¹²

The State sponsored protective discrimination not withstanding every plan for economic development needs to include the social parameters to assess the impact. The means of production in the form of land, labour, and capital must be in the reach of the common man so that his entrepreneurial skills can be utilized to ensure his participation. It will be a folly to count on the trickle down impact and wait for overall boom. Creation of Backward linkages such as infrastructure for agricultural growth, educational and health facilities along with mechanisms for social justice are more important to ensure growth opportunities. That alone will distinguish a welfare State from laissez- faire. General Economic growth indicators such as GDP, per-capita income or rate of inflation should not be mistaken for the growth of society or its people. Real indicators of Human Resource Development with social justice as underlying theme are essential to assess and measure the growth of a nation and its people.

REFERENCES:

1. Amartya Sen, Development as Freedom, Alfred A. Knopf, Newyork,1999,pp 10-11

2. Source: The Indian Express New Delhi January 18, 2011)

3. Aristotle, The Nicomachean Ethics, translated by D.Ross (Oxford: Oxford University Press, revised edition, 1980), book I, section 5, p.7.

4. See Henry Steiner and Philip Alston, International Human Rights in Context: Law, Politics and Morals (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1996).

5. See, Jean Dreze and Amartya Sen, Hunger and Public Action (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1989)

6. See,S.R. Osmani, ed., Nutrition and Poverty (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1993)

7. Amartya Sen "From Income Inequality to Economic Inequality," Southern Economic Journal 64(1997).

8. UNDP, Human Development Report 1994.

9. "Agency and Well-Being: The Development Agenda, in A Commitment to the Women, edited by Noeleen Heyzer (New York: UNIFEM, 1996).

10. Amartya Sen, " Population and Reasoned Agency: Food, Fertility and Economic Development," in Lindahl-Kiessling and Landberg, Population, Economic Development, and the Environment (1994);

11. Amartya Sen. Ibid., pp.38-39

12. See World Bank, The East Asian Miracle: Economic Growth and Public Policy (New York Oxford University Press, 1993). See also the Asian Development Bank, Emerging Asia: Changes and Challenges (Manila: Asian Development Bank, 1997)

Received on 11.03.2013 Modified on 01.04.2013

Int. J. Ad. Social Sciences 1(1): July –Sept. 2013; Page 13-18