THE INEQUITIES OF GROWTH

What does development imply? It implies, according to conventional economic theory, growth as measured in terms of gross national product and in terms of per capita income. Economic growth should also be accompanied by certain structural changes. While the primary sector including agri¬culture may register growth, its growth is overtaken by that of the secondary sector consist¬ing of manufacturing indus¬tries and later by the growth of the tertiary sector consisting of transport and other services. Accompanying this structural transformation is the increas¬ing pace of urbanization in society which in turn brings about radical alterations in social relationships. Following this paradigm of development, Kurien marshalls statistical evidence to under¬stand what has happened in Tamil Nadu over the period 1950-75. He finds that the net state domestic product of Tamil Nadu has increased at an annual compound rate of 3.2 per cent over the 1950-75 to 1973-74 period, which is not as good as the national perfor¬mance of 3.45 per cent. In terms of per capita income, however, the rate of growth has been 1.6 per cent annually as compared to the 1.35 per cent per annum for the entire country. Per capita income has increased from Rs 257 in 1950-51 to Rs 374 in 1973-74. This growth has been accom¬panied by structural transfor¬mation as well. The share of the primary sector came down from 57 per cent of the net state domestic product in 1950-51 to 42.8 percent in 1973-74 and that of the secon¬dary and tertiary sectors went up from 16.4 per cent and 26.6 per cent to 22.4 per cent and 34.8 per cent respectively. Kurien uses census data on urbanization to demonstrate that structural changes have been accompanied by increas¬ing urbanization, the propor¬tion of urban population increasing from 24 per cent in 1951 to 30 per cent in 1971.