Indian Development

Overview & Synopsis

India is a country of great diversity. The commonly used indicators of ‘quality of life’ (such as life expectancy, infant mortality, and literacy) vary tremendously between the different states, rivaling international contrasts between very low performing countries and very high achieving ones. This book reflects an attempt to draw lessons from the disparate experiences within India, rather than from contrasts with the experiences of other countries. This book supplements India: Economic Development and Social Opportunity, by the same authors, which studies what we can learn from international comparisons of policies, actions, and achievements. The chapters challenge exclusively economic judgments of the development process. The first task is to identify the ends of economic and social development in order to have a basis in which to found the means and strategies. The second task is to understand a wider range of means than those related simply to the use or non-use of markets. The first two overview chapters study the issues at a national level, focusing on policy debates and district-by-district demographic indicators, respectively. They are followed by detailed case studies of Uttar Pradesh, Kerala, and West Bengal.