Over a billion people now

ONE of the startling features of India’s economic progress is how much opposition it stirs at home. Across the political divide, many people are still sceptical of the two-decade-old reform programme that underpins the boom, including leading lights of the ruling Congress party. Their gripes are often rhetorical—even India’s communist parties have grudgingly embraced capitalism in the three states where they rule. But critics still need to be reminded how badly India was served by its former mixed economy.

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