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In his magnum opus, "India is Broken," former World Bank economist and visiting Princeton professor Ashoka Mody provides a sensitive and refreshingly different perspective on the political-economic history of India since independence. In contrast to the prevailing exuberance about 'Shining India' or 'India’s Century,' Mody paints a bleak picture of the betrayal by its leaders of the aspirations of the Indian people. But many of the flaws that he ascribes to India can also be related to Pakistan.

While India's recent high GDP growth headlines may seem impressive, Mody argues that these statistics do not tell the whole story of a country grappling with massive and rising inequalities and acute job scarcity. He underscores that "the Indian economy is failing to create jobs, especially those that would support a dignified standard of living." The job shortfall, estimated at 25 million in 1955, worsened over the subsequent decades, reaching at least 80 million by 2019.

India’s post-liberalization GDP growth phase has done little to reduce the jobs backlog. Mody argues that development, now augmented by "fintechs," generates only a handful of jobs for highly qualified individuals. Public administration is growing robustly, but this, too, creates limited job opportunities. Disturbingly, he points out that "among other growth sectors, construction (helped by the government’s infrastructure drive) and low-end services (in trade, transport, and hotels) mostly........

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