The government needs to allocate more funds for basis amenities like primary education and healthcare in order to attain its inclusive growth target, noted economist and Nobel laureate Amartya Sen said on Wednesday.

"Governmental revenues are witnessing a fast paced growth but this is not being utilised to generate resources where it is needed," Sen said in New Delhi on the sideline of a Confederation of Indian Industry summit on 'Right to Education -- Actions Now.'

"Fear of wastage stops the government from spending too much on education and healthcare," Sen said, adding the overall economic growth cannot be enough in itself if these resources are not properly developed.

The government, he said, is more involved in endorsing narrow priorities rather and than being involved in the overall well being of its citizens.

"This is the time to catch up and bring the needed changes to social and economic welfare at large," Sen said. A step in this direction can be to bring reforms urgently in the public services, innovative practices like involving the teachers and health services' trade unions that could greatly help in bringing that change, he added.

"There is no room for imaginative thinking when one is struggling with the basics," he said.

So, a computer per child should not be the target, bringing in more teachers to primary schools, updating the basic infrastructure like providing reading material and laboratories in every school should be the first step in this direction, he added. Bringing about this change calls for proper deployment of public resources and make it a continuous process, Sen said.

A step in this direction has been taken by Pratichi Trust, an organisation set up by Amartya Sen from his Nobel Prize money, in association with All-Bengal Primary Teachers Association and Unicef.

The initiative is aimed at ensuring enrolment, attendance, teaching, learning and greater public participation in 150 primary schools in Kolkata, Sen said.

"Primary teachers are very efficient but are not using their capabilities well, negligence and absenteeism being the reason for this drawback," he said.

Unions in such a situation can help bring extraordinary changes as these teachers themselves would be the members of it and involving them would bring a sense of empowerment and a drive to become more efficient in their work, he added.