An Uncertain Glory

by Jean Drèze

Two of India's leading economists argue that, despite economic development, there must be a greater understanding of inequalities in India. - When India became independent in 1947 after two centuries of colonial subjugation, it immediately - and quite successfully - adopted a firmly democratic political system, with multiple parties, freedom of speech and extensive political rights. The famines that had been so common in colonial days disappeared, and steady economic growth replaced the almost complete stagnation characteristic of the long rule of the Raj. The growth of the Indian economy,...