Pathways to Inclusive Growth Roundtable.

 

Aman Saini

V year, B.A.L.L.B(Hons)

National Law University, Delhi

 Pathways to Inclusive Growth Roundtable. The discussion underscored the importance of linking evidence, institutional reform, and digital innovation to advance the next phase of inclusive and sustainable growth.

The dialogue brought together perspectives from diverse disciplines and explored interrelated issues—ranging from public infrastructure and female labour force participation to entrepreneurship, mental health, and property rights. The discussion reaffirmed that inclusion is not an isolated goal but an outcome of systems that function cohesively. Three core directions were identified:                                  1. Evidence to policy: Establish feedback loops between research, programme data, and decision points so that policies are testable, adaptive, and outcome-oriented.

2. Institutional reform: Align mandates, incentives, and accountability mechanisms to strengthen delivery capacity and ensure equity-positive outcomes.
3.Digital innovation as a public good: Develop interoperable, secure, and human-centred digital infrastructure that expands access while protecting rights.

Building on these directions, the following research insights and priority questions have been identified for structured inquiry:

• Strengthen data systems on Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) to assess how digital access and equity influence financial participation, disaggregated by gender, caste, geography, and disability, with emphasis on rural and informal sectors.
• Expand gender-disaggregated and intra-household data to identify hidden inequalities in access to digital tools and financial instruments such as UPI.
• Examine the impact of education and income transfers on women’s empowerment—drawing on international evidence, such as improved outcomes when child-benefit payments are directed to mothers.
• Study the relationship between financial stress, household budgeting, and women’s decision-making roles to understand whether cash transfers alleviate stress and enable greater participation in economic and social life.
• Generate robust economic data on women’s health to inform global policy debates, and integrate child-level anthropometric indicators (weight- and height-for-age for children 0–60 months) as measures of inclusion.
• Investigate intra-household redistribution of care responsibilities to address women’s “time poverty” and its impact on workforce participation and career progression.
• Analyse how technical skilling, access to credit, and social support systems jointly influence women’s workforce retention and long-term empowerment—framing a continuum from entry to sustained participation.

Aman Saini

V year, B.A.L.L.B(Hons)

National Law University, Delhi