Data released by the World Economic Forum’s Davos summit has placed India far behind archrivals and neighbours China and Pakistan in terms of economic growth. The reality has come as a shock to Indians in general and supporters of the BJP-led NDA Govt. at the Centre in particular.

Economic growth, measured taking into account people’s quality of life, the ability to withstand changes in environment and the capacity to protect future generations from the burden of loan, was released as a overall development index by the Summit which saw Indian Premier Narendra Modi delivering a Hindi-Sanskrit speech yesterday.

India is placed at 62nd spot on this count, far behind Pakistan (47) and China (26).  Even neighbouring countries such as Sri Lanka (40), Bangladesh (34) and Nepal (22) and small countries such as Ukraine, Ghana, Ukraine, Indonesia, Thailand, Iran and Malaysia have also fared well in this index when compared to India. In last year’s list, India was at 60th spot while Pakistan and China were at 52nd and 15th spots.

This year, there were two categories: developing countries (74) and developed countries (74). Norvay occupies the top slot followed closely by Ireland, Luxembourg, Switzerland and Denmark. Australia, Germany, Canada, France, England, U.S., Japan and Italy are among the top-30 countries.