McKinsey Global Institute
From poverty to empowerment: India’s imperative for jobs, growth, and effective basic services 3
The importance of this message cannot be overstated. Government spending is critical to ensure access to basic services, but simply channelling more money into the same programmes without addressing their operations and outcomes will deliver very little. It is within India’s grasp to bring the share of the population below the Empowerment Line to single-digit levels and virtually eradicate extreme poverty by 2022—but doing so will require policy makers at all levels of government to focus on an agenda that emphasises job creation, growth-oriented investment, farm sector productivity, and more innovative delivery of social programmes.
While the framework and funding would fall to the central government, many of the specific initiatives that would make this agenda a reality can be implemented at the state level. The only requirements are political will and a relentless focus on results—and with these building blocks in place, India could realise its long-held goal of providing all its citizens with basic dignity and economic opportunity.