This is an open access title available under the terms of a CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 IGO licence. It is free to read at Oxford Scholarship Online and offered as a free PDF download from OUP and selected open access locations. India is a country of extreme economic and social diversity, and the performances of Indian states in eliminating basic deprivations are remarkably disparate. This book, a companion volume to Dréze's and Sen's India: Economic Development and Social Opportunity (OUP 1996), draws lessons from this diversity through three case studies (of Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, and Kerala) and two national overviews that look at socio-economic policy and demographic indicators.