Growth and Social Justice: Political Economy of 'Garibi Hatao'

If the debate over the so-called 'New Economics' underlying the 'Garibi Hatao' programme has failed to shed much light, it would seem to be primarily for two reasons: (i) the problem involved has been wrongly posed as growth versus justice, and, (ii) it is hoped that by "standing economic theory on its head" a simple solution to the problem can be obtained. This paper seeks to analyse the relationship between growth and social justice and to discuss the relevance of existing economic theory to this relationship. While the focus is more on the theoretical issues involved, the discussion is related to the current Indian situation.