SEMAINE D'ÉTUDE SUR LE ROLE DE L ANALYSE ECONOMETRIQUE ETC,
107F
are sometimes deprived of opportunities by custom, law, or
social and political pressures by ruling groups. Removing all
such barriers is an essential condition for rapid growth.
5.6. Equality of opportunities and vertical mobility: Re-
moval of social and other barriers, in principle, is necessary
but not sufficient. It is essential to help every one to make
himself fit for the highest type of productive work of which
he is capable. Opportunities for education and training and
for productive work must be made as widely available as pos-
sible. Great inequalities of wealth and income often lead to
denial of opportunities to the poorer people, and, unless remov-
ed, give rise to a sense of frustration among the under-privileged
and hamper the growth of national solidarity. Sufficiently
rapid economic progress would be difficult or impossible in
societies in which there is lack of vertical mobility and where
small sections try to preserve their privileges based on heredity,
custom or law without any relation to their productive con-
tributions.
5.7. Horizontal mobility: The social system may also ham-
per the utilization of resources because customs or caste re-
strictions prevent labour from moving into new occupations, or
labour is tied to the soil, or land may be concentrated in the
hands of small sections of the people who are unwilling to divert
it for more productive use for reasons of social or political pre-
stige. A small number of producers even in underdeveloped
countries may sometimes band together to prevent the free
entry of others or the introduction of new techniques. All such
restrictions must be removed to increase the horizontal mobility
of resources.
5.8. Possibility of securing fruits of labour and enterprise:
The elimination of concentration of social, economic or poli-
lical privileges in the hands of small sections of the people
would promote both vertical and horizontal mobility, and make
it possible for every one to secure a fair share of the fruits of
‘147 Mahalanobis I - pag. 7
