Inclusive Prosperity
When Narendra Modi took office in May 2014, he brought with him a promise: Viksit Bharat ~ a developed India built on the foundation of Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas. Eleven years later, that vision has taken root in India’s policy priorities, reshaping the country’s economic, social, and governance landscapes. Far from being symbolic, the promise of inclusivity ~ Sabka Vishwas ~ has been woven into the government’s delivery mechanisms, impacting citizens across religious, regional, and class divides, including India’s Muslim population, often perceived as underserved by the state in earlier decades.
Over the past eleven years, India has grown into the world’s fifth-largest economy by nominal GDP, with a consistent annual growth rate of 6-7 per cent. According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), India is projected to become the third largest economy by 2027. This economic leap has been underpinned by structural reforms: the Goods and Services Tax (GST) unified a fragmented tax regime; Make in India, Startup India, and Production Linked Incentives (PLI) catalyzed domestic manufacturing and entrepreneurship. India’s dramatic rise in the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business rankings ~ from 142 in 2014 to 63 in 2019 ~ reflected regulatory simplification and growing investor confidence. Meanwhile, anti-corruption initiatives such as Direct Benefit Transfers (DBT), Aadhaar-linked services, and digitized welfare schemes drastically reduced leakages in public subsidies, bringing transparency to the heart of governance.
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In the past eleven years, India’s development model has undergone a structural transformation ~ anchored in digital governance and last-mile service delivery. At the heart of this transformation lies the Jan Dhan Yojana and Aadhaar linkage, creating a robust JAM (Jan Dhan– Aadhaar–Mobile) infrastructure. As of mid-2025, over 55 crore citizens hold active Jan Dhan accounts with deposits exceeding Rs 2.6 lakh crore, of which 30 crore are Aadhaar-linked. These accounts ~ 67 per cent in rural or semi-urban areas and 55 per cent owned by women ~ have not only enabled seamless Direct Benefit Transfers (DBT) but also driven down subsidy leakages.
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The issuance of 16.8 crore Rupay cards and the integration of mobile platforms have brought dignity and financial agency to millions, institutionalizing a welfare architecture rooted in inclusion, efficiency, and transparency. This same commitment to inclusion has extended to India’s Scheduled Tribes through historic investments in tribal empowerment and infrastructure. With a 73 per cent budget hike in FY 2024-25 and the rollout of PM-JANMAN for PVTGs, government initiatives now touch every aspect of tribal life, from housing under PMAY to rural roads under PMGSY. Meanwhile, India’s solar energy surge ~ crossing........
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