The Narendra Modi government has set before the country the goal of attaining “developed country” status by 2047. On an initial reckoning, this seems a tall order, and one might justifiably wonder whether this is just another chimera -- like doubling farmers’ incomes by 2022, or getting manufacturing to account for 25 per cent of GDP, also by 2022, or becoming a $5-trillion economy next year. Besides, the government has not defined what being a “developed” country might mean, and there is no one international benchmark to apply.