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PGT: Prof. Sen, in your publications, you have pointed out the tremendous diversities among different regions in India. For instance, you have pointed out that the literacy rate in a state like Kerala, the healthcare situation in Kerala, is superior to that of China, whereas the situation is very different in states like Bihar and Uttar Pradesh where literacy levels, indicators of healthcare are far lower than the national average. In other words, what you've said is that India has a lot to learn from within, and not only from the experiences of other countries. So could you elaborate on what ways the Government, or Government policies could help reduce these regional disparities?

AKS: Well, it is not just the question of government policy. Of course, it is a question of public action which is a much broader thing which includes government action, but also includes political activism, and there is a particular role for opposition parties too in focussing on some issues, and making it so embarrassing for the government to neglect certain things like illiteracyand lack of healthcare and so on. And some of it is government policy and some of it is general politics. To some extent, the difference between the Communist Party in Kerala and the Congress Party in Kerala, in terms of commitment to literacy has been much less than the difference between Congress Party in Kerala and Congress Party elsewhere, but now that's not the only difference though, because Kerala not only has much to teach the rest of India, it also has to learn something from the rest of India, because despite these great social opportunities, I think the fact that Kerala has remained very sceptical of providing economic incentive has made it a relatively business-unfriendly state, so that the economic opportunities of social expansion that could have been made business expansion that much easier has not been seized, And if you look at East Asia, it is a combination of expanding education and health care on one side, and giving opportunities for business expansion on the other. It is that combination. Now Kerala has done the social opportunity in the way that many other states have not done, on the other hand, on the economic opportunities side, being rather pro-business, it has not really done that much.