Explain ‘growth with equity’ as a planning objective.

Both growth and equity are the two important objectives of Indian planning. While growth refers to the increase in national income over a long period of time, equity refers to an equitable distribution of this income so that the benefits of higher economic growth can be passed on to all sections of population to bring about social justice. 

Growth is desirable as you must have the cake to distribute it but growth in itself does not guarantee the welfare of society. Growth is assessed by the market value of goods and services produced in the economy (GDP) and it does not guarantee an equitable distribution of the income from this production. 

In other words, the major share of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) might be owned by a small proportion of population which may result in exploitation of weaker sections of society. Hence, growth with equity is a rational and desirable objective of planning. This objective ensures that the benefits of high growth are shared by all people equally and hence, inequality of income is reduced along with growth in income.