In their book, India: Economic Development and Social Opportunity, Jean Drèze and Amartya Sen (1999) highlight a critical reason why India lagged behind China in the initial phase of economic development – India's highly inadequate and inequitable provisions of health care and educational facilities. The “social backwardness” of India prevented broad and effective participation in economic and political activities even when the opportunities for such participation presented themselves (as when the country moved toward a market economy and was a democracy).
