"Social values are more important than economic values."

Discuss the above statement with examples in the…

Question

"Social values are more important than economic values."

Discuss the above statement with examples in the context of inclusive growth of a nation.

Ghissu Editorial · Accepted Answer

Social values matter more for inclusive growth because they decide whom growth reaches, while economic values only decide its speed. NITI Aayog's 2024 estimate that 24.82 crore Indians escaped multidimensional poverty shows the two values must work together.

**Introduction**

The Eleventh Plan (2007-12) sought "faster and more inclusive growth". Economic values such as efficiency and profit decide how fast an economy grows; social values such as justice, equality and cooperation decide whom that growth reaches.

**Why Social Values Anchor Inclusive Growth**

1. **Growth needs justice**: B.R. Ambedkar warned on 25 November 1949 that political democracy cannot last without social democracy, as growth that bypasses the excluded breeds unrest.
2. **Capabilities over income**: Amartya Sen showed Kerala achieving high literacy and life expectancy at modest incomes because society valued schooling and health.
3. **Dignity and trust**: The Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act 2013 required social impact assessment and landowners' consent for private projects after output-only projects displaced tribals, while Kudumbashree (1998) turned women's solidarity into credit.

**Why Economic Values Remain Indispensable**

1. **Growth funds welfare**: A NITI Aayog paper (2024) estimated 24.82 crore Indians escaped multidimensional poverty between 2013-14 and 2022-23, an outcome higher incomes and revenues made possible.
2. **Efficiency serves equity**: Direct Benefit Transfer through Jan Dhan, Aadhaar and mobile phones weeded out fake beneficiaries, so the efficiency value delivered the social one.
3. **Ethical enterprise**: Verghese Kurien's Amul shows a cooperative can be commercially efficient and still pay small dairy farmers a fair share of the consumer price.

SKETCH: matrix | Values and Growth Outcomes
cols: Weak Economic Values | Strong Economic Values
rows: Strong Social Values | Weak Social Values
tl: Equitable stagnation
tr: Inclusive growth
bl: Poverty trap
br: Unequal, jobless growth

**Conclusion**

Social values are more important because they set the direction of growth, while economic values supply its speed. Marrying efficiency to justice, as Deendayal Upadhyaya's Antyodaya asks, delivers the inclusive growth of Viksit Bharat 2047, where no citizen is left behind.

"Social values are more important than economic values." Discuss the above statement with examples in the context of inclusive growth of a nation.

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