An Uncertain Glory: India and its Contradictions
One ofBloomberg/BusinessweekBest Books of 2013, selected by Edmund Phelps"It's an urgent, passionate, political work that makes the case that India cannot move forward without investing significantly--as every other major industrialized country has already done--in public services. . . . This book is . . . a heartfelt plea to rethink what progress in a poor country ought to look like."--Jyoti Thottam,New York Times Book Review"Sen and Drèze carefully explain such issues as health care, education, corruption, lack of accountability, growing inequality, and their suppression in India's elite-dominated public space. . . . Sen and Drèze also reveal how democracy in its simplest manifestation, the scramble for votes, can drive successful implementation of welfare programs such as the Public Distribution System."--Pankaj Mishra,New York Review of Books"After three decades of trawling the data compiled by central and state governments, Indian nongovernmental organizations, and international bodies, these longtime collaborators know--possibly better than any other commentators--how Indian governments since the 1980s have failed the vast majority of Indians, especially in health care, education, poverty reduction, and the justice system."--Andrew Robinson,Science"[A]n excellent but unsettling new book."--The Economist"[E]legant and restrained prose, and with an array of fresh examples."--Ramachandra Guha,Financial Times"Sen and Dreze are right to draw attention to the limits of India's success and how much remains to be done. They are exemplary scholars, and everything they say is worth careful study."--Clive Crook,Bloomberg News"Economists Dreze and Nobel laureate Sen compellingly argue that Indian policy makers have ignored the basic needs of people, especially those of the poor and women."--Choice