Santosh Mehrotra, an Indian-born economist with the U.N. Development Program (UNDP) feels that India's long-term growth requires heavier emphasis on areas such as primary education, health care, and rural infrastructure.

He and one of BusinessWeek's editors recently recently discussed what India must do to fight poverty.

His key points:

• overhaul the public distribution system
  
• increase irrigated land
  
• spend more on elementary education and less on colleges
  
• enact land reforms (we need Project Bhoomi in every state)
  
• peace with Pakistan will help free funds for other, crucial projects