With the birth of an independent nation, India embarked on an economic development model based on three experiments: the uneasy conflation of democracy and development (also known as the bread vs. freedom question), the dominance of the state over markets and the resultant protectionism and licence raj, and guarantees for SC/STs in employment and education as well as opportunities for the elite through investment in institutions of higher education at the expense of basic education. This model gave rise to India's dismally slow economic performance over three decades, symbolised by the
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