THE INDIAN ENIGMA

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Despite some accelerated progressin the decade preceding Nationa lFamily Health Survey-4, India’s social indicators in 2015-16 were still far from flattering. Many of them were still worse than those of India’s neighbours (Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, and Sri Lanka), with the partial exception of Pakistan. To illustrate, only Pakistan now has a lower life expectancy, higher child mortality rate and higher fertility rate. In terms of sanitation and child nutrition, India fares worst among all these neigh bouring countries. Literacy rates in the younger age groups are also lower in India than in all other south Asian countries except Pakistan and Nepal. Perhaps the gap is narrowing over time, but it is still there. This is puzzling, considering that India’s percapita GDP is almost twice as high as that of Bangladesh and three times as high as Nepal’s. We have discussed this puzzle in earlier writings,but a little more can be said today in light of recent research. Briefly, there is growing evidence that India’s poor social indicators, relative to neigh bouring countries with lower per-capita GDP, are closely connected with various forms of economic and social inequality.