Jean Drèze and Amartya Sen. An Uncertain Glory: India and its Contradictions. Princeton: Princeton University Press. USA. 2013. 448 pages. $ 29.95.

The spectacular performance of India in terms of economicgrowth has generally been a source of pride for the Indians as a nation,in addition to attracting significant international applause. Drèze andSen, on the contrary, question the justification of lauding Indianperformance in their book, ‘An Uncertain Glory: India and itsContradictions’. In their book, they focus on the performance parametersthat actually reflect standards of living of Indian population. Theiranalysis portrays a shockingly dismal state of affairs for a vastmajority of citizens of the country. The book disillusions the readerabout the projected image of Indian development through a detailed yetobjective discussion on specific issues plaguing the social sector ofthe country. The discourse throughout is substantiated by extensivestatistical evidence, in addition to a comprehensive statisticalappendix given at the end of the book.