Even as India's economy grows, its poor have hardly any upward mobility

For one group mobility is actually declining: Indian Muslims

India has never been the most egalitarian of societies. But because it’s a democracy, governments have at least tried to expand opportunities for its most deprived citizens: After all, their votes count as much as anyone else’s. New data suggests those efforts may be failing.

One way to judge progress in creating opportunities is to measure intergenerational mobility — the chances that you will do better than your parents have. Indians have long assumed that such mobility has been increasing over time. People from formerly disconnected areas, as well as from formerly disadvantaged social groups or castes, seem able to