Let's praise India for its recent economic achievements. By now, they are familiar: the growth of a world-class IT sector, the development of a competitive automotive industry, and a burgeoning middle class.

But the time for self-congratulation is over. Increasingly, India knows it must get on with the job of sharing the country's newfound wealth with the vast majority of its people, who so far have little to show for the economic growth that followed the liberalization of 1991. The rise of the IT and biotechnology sectors is a great success story, but they alone aren't enough to create the kinds of employment opportunities that will bring broader economic and social progress. What's holding India back? For one thing, the poor state of public health, including big gaps in the provision of clean water and modern sanitary facilities, the immunization of the population, and the control of infectious disease. Then there's the troubled infrastructure, a problem brought home recently by the terrible flooding in Mumbai. Although thousands of kilometers of highways have been built, India is still years behind in modernizing ports and airports. In basic education the illiteracy problem is huge, and in higher education an inability to meet...