For the first 44 years after independence, India’s development and prospects aroused little enthusiasm, whether among Indians or western commentators. Things started changing after the reforms of the Narasimha Rao led government in 1991. India has been hailed as a potential superpower. India’s jobs shortfall was already at a staggering 20-25 million in 1955. The situation only worsened in subsequent decades, with the backlog reaching 30-35 million in 1965, 40-45 million by the mid-1980s, 58 million in 2000 and at least 80 million by 2019. India’s best GDP growth phase, from 2003 to 2011, did little to make a dent in the mountain of the jobs backlog. Education and health expenditures have lagged behind world averages for a very long time. India has the fastest GDP growth, is the third or the fifth largest economy. Economic growth has benefited middle and upper class Indians the most. This is a significant fraction, but not a majority. About one-third of Indian households earn more than Rs 5 lakh per year, and can be classified as middle or upper class. The remaining two-thirds of the population is struggling, in one way or another.
