Economic growth, development and distributive justice in developing countries: with special reference to India

The focus on aggregate growth rate was promoted by the belief that rapid industrialization and structural transformation would spread the benefits of growth automatically throughout the various strata of society eventually by the trickle-down process. The LDCs were highly impressed by the rapid post-war recovery of Europe Consequently ambitious models of economic growth based on aggregative theories developed in the West, usually by expatriate planners, were adopted by the LDCs in their development plans without paying attention to their economic, social, political, institutional, bureaucratic and resource endowment realities, which resulted in adversity rather than prosperity.
In the growth literature of 1970's it was realised that economic growth was not a sufficient condition for ensuring equal distribution of wealth, gainful employment opportunities and improvement in the levels of living of the masses The belief that income inequalities, through increased saving and investment, propel the engine of economic growth did not hold in the context of the LDCs aiming at a Welfare State. Doubts and misgivings have emerged, partly because the curve of expectations itself has risen sharply over the years and partly because some social blights like poverty, inequality and unemployment have assumed grave intensity.
A consensus has therefore, emerged that it is not enough for development policy to pursue a high rate of growth of per capita income, but a policy package is essential which is aimed more directly at a social objectives such as increasing gainful employment opportunities, improved distribution of income and productive assets and thereby reduction of poverty The shift proved to be dramatically needed as the empirical evidence of distribution of the benefits from economic growth showed that the expected 'trickle-down process' was not taking place. Therefore, a totally growth-oriented approach to development is not possible in the developing countries: equity has to be a part of the programme Development economists are of the opinion that it is not only the size of the cake that matters, but also the manner in which is it shared. It is of course true, that the larger the cake the more there is of it to share. Hence the proposition, that growth and economic well-being go together.