The Twelfth Five Year Plan of India focused on faster, more inclusive and sustainable growth. Which of the following were identified as key challenges for achieving inclusiveness during this plan period? 1. Poverty 2. Group inequality 3. Regional imbalance 4. Unemployment Select the correct answer using the code given below.

Introduction / Context:
This question examines your understanding of the broad goals of the Twelfth Five Year Plan in India, which covered the period 2012 to 2017. The plan emphasised faster, more inclusive and sustainable growth. Inclusiveness meant that growth should benefit different regions, social groups, and sections of the population, rather than concentrating gains in a narrow segment. The plan documents explicitly identified several challenges that had to be addressed in order to make growth more inclusive.

Given Data / Assumptions:

The Twelfth Plan focused on inclusive growth, not just high growth.
The question lists four possible challenges: poverty, group inequality, regional imbalance, and unemployment.
We must determine whether each of these was considered an obstacle to inclusiveness in the planning framework.

Concept / Approach:
Inclusive growth is about ensuring that the benefits of economic expansion are shared widely across different social and regional categories. Poverty remains a central concern because a large number of people still live below the poverty line. Group inequalities refer to disparities between social groups such as Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Other Backward Classes, and other communities. Regional imbalances highlight the uneven development across States and districts. Unemployment, particularly among youth and in rural areas, prevents people from participating in and benefiting from growth. All four factors therefore act as challenges that need to be tackled to realise the vision of inclusive growth.

Step-by-Step Solution:
Step 1: Consider poverty. The Twelfth Plan explicitly recognised the need to reduce the incidence of poverty and improve living standards of the poor, making poverty a clear challenge for inclusiveness. So item 1 is a challenge.Step 2: Consider group inequality. The plan highlighted disparities in outcomes for different social groups and emphasised targeted programmes for disadvantaged communities, so group inequality is also a challenge for inclusive growth, making item 2 valid.Step 3: Consider regional imbalance. The plan underlined the need to address backward regions, inter State disparities, and intra State imbalances across districts, which makes regional imbalance another key barrier to inclusiveness. Thus item 3 is also correct.Step 4: Consider unemployment. Generating gainful employment and better quality jobs was one of the central themes of the Twelfth Plan. High unemployment and underemployment hinder inclusive growth, so item 4 is likewise a recognised challenge. Therefore all four items are part of the challenges for inclusiveness.

Verification / Alternative check:
Planning Commission documents and summaries of the Twelfth Plan list reduction of poverty, addressing social and regional inequalities, and employment generation as core objectives. They discuss the need to broaden access to education, health, infrastructure, and livelihood opportunities in order to tackle poverty, group inequality, and regional imbalance. They also highlight that growth must be job creating, not jobless. There is no credible source that treats any of these four items as irrelevant to inclusiveness. This confirms that all the listed factors were indeed challenges to inclusive growth during the Twelfth Plan.

Why Other Options Are Wrong:
Option 1, 3 and 4 only is wrong because it omits group inequality, even though social group disparities are a central concern in discussions on inclusive growth and equity.

Option 1, 2 and 4 only is incorrect because it leaves out regional imbalance, despite the fact that inter State and intra State disparities are repeatedly highlighted in policy documents as major challenges.
Option 2 and 3 only is incorrect because it ignores both poverty and unemployment, which are core indicators of inclusion and are prominently addressed in the Twelfth Plan framework.

Common Pitfalls:
Some candidates think of inclusive growth only in terms of poverty reduction and may overlook structural issues like group inequality and regional imbalance. Others focus on unemployment alone and forget that inclusiveness also demands that growth benefits disadvantaged social groups and backward regions. To avoid these errors, it is helpful to remember that inclusive growth in the Indian context has multiple dimensions: poverty, inequality between groups, regional disparities, and employment opportunities all matter. This broader view makes it easy to see why all four listed items are genuine challenges for inclusiveness.

Final Answer:
All four factors listed were recognised as challenges for inclusive growth in the Twelfth Five Year Plan, so the correct answer is 1, 2, 3 and 4.