A Sixth Of Humanity: Independent India's Development Odyssey

Authors: Devesh Kapur & Arvind Subramanian
Publisher: HarperCollins
Language: English
Format: Hardcover, 760 pages
ISBN: 9789369891092
Item Weight: 850 g

About the Book

"A brilliant and breathtaking tour de force. You will never think about India or economic development in the same way again." — Simon Johnson
"Every Indian who wishes to know their country better should read it." — Ramachandra Guha

A Sixth of Humanity is a landmark account of India’s development journey—analytical, ambitious, and deeply researched. Co-authored by political scientist Devesh Kapur and economist Arvind Subramanian, the book explores how India uniquely attempted four major transformations simultaneously:

1. Building a modern state,

2. Creating a viable economy,

3. Transforming society,

4. Forging a cohesive nationhood—all under the constraints of universal suffrage and radical diversity.

India’s developmental path, often paradoxical, is examined through a critical lens:

• Democracy came before development.

• High-skilled services took precedence over low-skilled manufacturing.

• Globalization benefited the elite while bypassing the masses.

• Capitalism arrived before the foundations of public goods were laid.

While there have been impressive strides—infrastructure, digital systems, and democratic resilience—there remain enduring contradictions and emerging threats to the institutions that made these achievements possible.

This book offers the definitive development history of India, blending insights from political science and economics across decades of academic and policy experience.

About the Authors

Devesh Kapur

• Starr Foundation Professor, SAIS, Johns Hopkins University

• Former professor at Harvard and University of Pennsylvania

• Author of The Other One Percent, Internal Security in India, Oxford Handbook of Higher Education in Asia and the Pacific

Arvind Subramanian

• Senior Fellow, Peterson Institute for International Economics

• Former Chief Economic Adviser to the Government of India

• Author of Eclipse, Of Counsel

• Named among Top 100 Global Thinkers by Foreign Policy magazine in 2011