We need to strike a right balance between our development needs and environmental commitments to ensure long run growth sustainability. 31. Over the past ten years, many developing countries, including India, have achieved strong growth rates and increased economic prosperity, laying the foundations of a better life for their citizens.
And yet, in several of these countries, the benefits of high growth have not penetrated uniformly across all citizens and societies. Estimates suggest that the gap between rich and poor has widened in most OECD countries over the last 30 years. The average income of richest 10 per cent of population is about nine times that of the poorest 10 per cent6.