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industries. Most of India’s remaining forests are protected, but in parts of the country (especially the poorer and less dense north- east) forestry and mining are more common.With relatively few precious metals but a much greater quantity of precious gems, India imports a large amount of gold and silver and exports a great deal of finished jewelry. Indian poverty remains entrenched throughout society yet illustrates the progress of the government in recent decades.Thirty years ago, India looked like a very different nation: Only a small segment of the population had any education and could read; infant mortality ranked far lower, but births per woman ranked far higher; almost 90 percent of the population lived on rural farms; and India’s secondary and tertiary sectors barely existed to provide better jobs to workers at all.

Children of the slums in Bihar.

13 Introduction