According to the World Bank’s World Development Report (WDR) 2000-2001, of the 6 billion people in the world, 2.8 billion - almost half - live on less than $2 a day, with 44 per cent of them living in South Asia. The majority of people in India (90 per cent) work in the informal sector. This sector produces over 62 per cent of the national income. Obviously, stimulating the growth potential of this sector will lead to a spurt in both growth and poverty reduction, since it is mainly the poor who work in this sector. There is an increasing awareness that the goal of development has to be social justice and not economic growth alone. To put it differently, economic growth is worthwhile only if it leads to social justice in the form of equitable distribution, poverty reduction and reasonable incomes; provides for basic securities such as health and education; and promotes political, cultural and economic freedom.
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