New Delhi, Nov. 29 -- More than 75 years after independence, India remains poor. Countries that started out at similar points have raced ahead on growth in per capita GDP and quality of life. The economic and social ruptures inherited at independence remain unreconciled. They may even have been aggravated in recent times, threatening the exceptional success in nation-building.

India's development miscarriage is a bustling genre. Devesh Kapur and Arvind Subramanian's A Sixth of Humanity is the newest interpretation in this rich field of memoir, biography, history and research. Kapur, a political scientist, and Subramanian, an economist with a past stint in a high government office, are well-equipped to enquire into the political economy c...