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As Kerala and Tamil Nadu geared up for elections to their assemblies, their incumbent governments advertised the success of their respective economic models. The confidence displayed stems from the fact that these two are among India’s most successful states in terms of the standard measures of well-being. On most indicators, the populations of these states do better than the national average. These include literacy, the nutritional status of both children and adults and life chances measured by infant mortality. Their edge also carries over to the indicators that may be thought of as measuring the physical quality of life, such as housing, sanitation and the density of the public health infrastructure, though the northeastern states and Himachal Pradesh do very well too.

The state of Tamil Nadu also stands out in terms of its industrial base and the presence of a skilled technical workforce, proactive politicians and a capable administrative cadre. However, it is not their economic prowess alone that is showcased as much as the fact their policies have secured social justice.

Social justice is implicitly understood as the distribution of goods across the population. As we will see, the population itself may be sliced in different ways. The measure of social justice that is most adopted in India is the distance between social groups, usually defined by caste. Different metrics many be used, with income being the most common one. As data on the income distribution in India is not available, it is customary to use the data on consumption assuming that it reflects the distribution of income. Kerala and TN are well ahead of India in term of per capita consumption, indeed by about a third. It is from this point of view that they are usually considered developmental successes within the country. But there is something else of note. In both states the social group with the lowest consumption per capita, namely the Scheduled Castes (SCs), have a consumption level higher than the per capita consumption of the Indian........

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