THE SHAKY LADDER: WHY INDIA'S SOCIO-ECONOMIC CLIMB FAILS TO RISE

INDIA IS FOND OF TELLING a success story.

- By Vikas Singh

Since 2006 more than 270 million people have escaped extreme poverty. Billionaires, unicorns and an expanding middle class now populate the headlines. Yet beneath the triumphalism lies a quieter, less flattering tale. For many, progress has stalled: destitution has been left behind, and yet one setback can send households sliding back.

Poverty has been beaten down; mobility, the chance to climb higher remains elusive. Still, Tamil Nadu's healthcare advances and Kerala's 96 per cent literacy rate prove some ladders hold firm, offering blueprints for a sturdier climb.

Medication Without Care

Education, the obvious escalator of opportunity, tells the same story. Enrolment rates have soared since the Right to Education Act made schooling universal. The National Education Policy promises sweeping reform. Yet classrooms too often offer certificates rather than competence. More than half of rural fifth-graders struggle to read a second-grade text. English, the language of aspiration, continues to divide children along lines of privilege. Elite institutions such as the IITs, ISB and IIMs are world-class, yet the road to them runs through coaching centres that only the well-off can afford. Schooling is universal; opportunity is not.

Health is no less a barrier. Ayushman Bharat claims to cover half a billion Indians, and immunisation drives have boosted survival rates. Yet primary care remains skeletal, especially in rural districts. Malnutrition still stunts a third of children. Public spending hovers at barely two per cent of GDP - among the lowest in the G20. A hungry, sick child is not merely disadvantaged today; her future potential is quietly stolen. Insurance on paper is not care in practice.

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