1. Introduction

The economy of contemporary India is a great paradox. It is a strange combination of outstanding achievements as well as grave failures. Since Independence, India has achieved remarkable progress in overcoming its economic backwardness. From being a very poor country in the 1950s and a ‘basket case’ in the mid-1960s, it has emerged as the third largest economy (in terms of purchasing power parity). Our economy has become one of the fastest growing economies in the world. Now the country is one of the leading players in the world knowledge economy with vast intellectual capital and booming software and information technology services. These factors together have made India one of the greatest destinations for foreign investment.

However, in spite of these historic achievements, the country has pervasive poverty, malnutrition, illiteracy, and a huge unemployment problem. Although we are the world’s largest democracy, our country has an overwhelming majority of poor voters. While the country is celebrating its growth rate and technological wonders, it is witnessing social contradictions and the paradoxes and ironies of development. Thus, there is the India of burgeoning growth coexisting with the India of widespread want and misery. This gives rise to several questions: Where have we gone wrong? Was the development strategy adopted after Independence right? Were the economic reforms of 1991 done right? Could the reforms have been done better?