Articles by Indira Hirway

India's Tryst with Destiny: Debunking Myths that Undermine Progress and Addressing New Challenges by Jagdish Bhagwati and Arvind Panagariya (Noida: HarperCollins India), 2012; pp 285, Rs 599.

"Inclusive growth" is a fashionable term these days, used widely in a large number of emerging and developing countries in the context of the neo-liberal policy framework, which is expected to deliver growth, and also inclusive growth. Empirical evidence from most of these countries however indicates that the neo-liberal policies have not been very successful in including the excluded in the mainstream development process. The paper observes that there is an urgent need to give a fresh look at the macroeconomic framework underlying the present policies. To start with, there is a need to end the tug of war between the growth and redistribution phases of neo-liberal policies. This is because the mainstream growth process that creates exclusion as well as inequalities tends to overpower the redistribution process and intensifies exclusions. The macroeconomic policies such as fiscal and monetary policies will have to play a much larger role in achieving developmental goals. There is also a need to expand the boundaries of macroeconomics to include natural resources as well as unpaid work within its purview to make it relevant and real.

On examining the dynamics of the processes of change in the status of labour and employment in the rapidly globalising state of Gujarat in India, this study shows that the rapid growth in the state has not been shared by labour. This has resulted in the state slipping in poverty reduction, human development and in hunger removal. This study also argues that an unfair deal to labour need not be a part of neo-liberal economic reforms and that providing a just share to labour can contribute towards promoting labour-intensive and equitable growth in the state.

Time use surveys are emerging as an important data set at the global level. It is now widely recognised that these data help in understanding the different socio-economic problems faced by economies, and are important, particularly for developing countries, as some of their major concerns can be understood well only through time use statistics. The pilot time use survey, conducted by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation in 1998-99, has paved the way for mainstreaming this survey in our national statistical system. This paper discusses why and how the process started in 1998-99 needs to be carried forward.

The draft approach paper to the Eleventh Five-Year Plan fails to address the issue of widening gender disparities and no/low achievements for women and does not recognise the macroeconomic dimension of human development.