Economic growth has to be inclusive and not at the cost of education, environment and health, Niti Ayog member VK Saraswat said here on Thursday. The definition of development should also change as economic development is different from economic growth, Saraswat said.
“Economic development brings inclusiveness, brings all the aspects of the development, whereas economic growth talks only of GDP,” he told reporters after addressing a workshop on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) vis-a-vis Telangana. “The GDP has to go up, but not at the cost of inclusiveness, not at the cost of all other aspects, education, health, environment and all that. It has to be in consonance with that,” Saraswat said.
A method, integrating environment, social and economic aspects, needs to be adopted in taking decisions concerning development, he said. Saraswat said a ‘sustainability filter’ should be applied when decisions concerning development are taken, to ensure that they are sustainable in the long run. “I call it a filter. Sustainability filter has to be put on each and every decision. Then only SDG can be actually followed,” he said. He said any action or technological decisions which cause maximum impact on environment, social and economic considerations must be rejected.