Previous Year Question

Inclusive Development aims to ensure that the benefits of economic growth reach sections of society that may remain behind the development process due to economic, social or institutional disadvantages.

Marginal farmers are an important group in this context because very small landholdings, limited capital and production risks affect their income and livelihood.

Landless agricultural labourers are also a vulnerable group because their livelihood depends mainly on wages and they do not possess productive assets such as agricultural land.

Similarly, the social and economic development of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, along with equal access to opportunities, has been given special importance in the policy framework of inclusive growth. The Eleventh Five Year Plan explicitly focused on SCs, STs and other vulnerable groups in the context of inclusive growth.

In contrast, “people living in semi-urban areas” do not by themselves constitute a specific socio-economic vulnerable group comparable to the targeted population segments given in the other options. This does not mean that the semi-urban population is excluded from the benefits of development; the question refers to specifically targeted population segments.