Says it is second worst in the region

Despite being a fastest growing economy, India has taken a “quantum jump in the wrong direction” since 2014, and because of the backward movement, it is now the second worst in the region, eminent economist Amartya Sen has said.

“Things have gone pretty badly wrong... It has taken a quantum jump in the wrong direction since 2014. We are getting backwards in the fastest-growing economy,” he said at the launch of Bharat Aur Uske Virodhabhas, the Hindi edition of his book, An Uncertain Glory: India and its Contradiction, which he co-authored with development economist Jean Dreze.

Twenty years ago, of the six countries, — India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bhutan — India was the second best after Sri Lanka. “Now, it is the second worst. Pakistan has managed to shield us from being the worst.”

He said the government deflected attention from the issues of inequalities and the caste system. The needs of a whole group of people, who cleaned lavatories or sewerage with their hands, were neglected.