"India is still a relatively poor country. It is a tragedy that even after 69 years of Independence one hundred thousand villages lack rural roads, primary health centres," Debroy said while addressing students at the convocation of Hyderabad Central University.
"India will not change because the government changes. India will change when you (students and youth) change it. You are young India," he said.
He said the per capita income of India today is comparable to that of the USA's in the 1870s.