A Too-Soft Critique of India's Growth

摘要

In 1927, American journalist Katherine Mayo published Mother India (1), a notorious polemic against India and Indians that gave satisfaction to British colonialists and American racists while naturally infuriating most Indians. Mahatma Gandhi famously commented that the book was "cleverly and powerfully written" but seemed like "the report of a drain inspector" who concludes with some triumph: "the drains are India." Although Mother India is largely forgotten (except by older Indians), its ghost seems to inhibit An Uncertain Glory, an indictment of the Indian state by economists Jean Dreze (Allahabad University) and Nobel laureate Amartya Sen (Harvard University).