Poverty amid plenty in the new India2012
by Atul Kohli
"India has one of the fastest growing economies on earth. Over the past three decades, socialism has been replaced by pro-business policies as the way forward. And yet, in this, "new" India, grinding poverty is still a feature of everyday life. Some 450 million people subsist on less than $1.25 per day and nearly half of India, Äôs children are malnourished. In his latest book, Atul Kohli, a seasoned scholar of Indian politics and economics, blames this discrepancy on the narrow nature of the ruling alliance in India that, in its newfound relationship with business, has prioritized economic growth above all other social and political considerations. In fact, according to Kohli, the resulting inequalities have limited the impact of growth on poverty alleviation, and the exclusion of such a...