Hey KG, I think I definitely see where you're coming from now, and I think we probably agree on more than we think we do. And for the record, I think this has been a great argument!
ahem
sorry
"Civil discussion"
EDIT: Almost forgot some stats on India's economy... According to most recent stats India's poverty situation has been improving steadily for a long time.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:BPL_Data_GOI.png
And for the last decade the rate of growth has been very high
http://www.indexmundi.com/india/gdp_...owth_rate.html
That's all the really hard India data I could find. Its much more promising, but certainly not ideal.