CNN Money has an interesting article on India’s superpower status, and some eye-popping stats to go with it. Take for example :

The adult literacy rate is 61 percent (behind Rwanda and barely ahead of Sudan)

While I’m shocked to see it behind Rwanda, 61 sounds a high number; I thought it’s be less than that.

India has more people with HIV than any other country.

Oh my God !

Essentially the article states the unvarnished truth, that India must not count it’s chickens before they’re hatched. India can be a superpower but it’s not one now, and all the chest-thumping over accomplishments which don’t touch the majority won’t make it one :

” . . . the future will not belong to India unless it takes action to embrace it, and that means more than high-profile vanity projects like putting a man on the moon or building the world’s tallest tower. It means showing that the world’s largest democracy can deliver real progress to the hundreds of millions who have never used the phone, much less the Internet. And in important ways, that just isn’t happening.”