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Why Do Poorer Kids Not Move Ahead Faster?
Can a poorer individual who has a particular talent realistically hope to move up in life because they have this particular talent? This proposition is put to the test by interviewing more than 800 young individuals in rural and urban Bihar and Delhi. Findings show that these individuals have had virtually no opportunity to be tested for any hidden talent, be it a talent for athletics, for singing, chess, art or mathematics. Not one of these young people has ever competed at the national, state, or district level. The poverty of their circumstances is made worse by this poverty of opportunity. Millions lose out on alternative careers. Future champions remain unidentified and unrewarded. Something better is necessary to make equality of opportunity less of a slogan and more of a reality.
Capability has become an important part of the development lexicon. Academics and practitioners, following Amartya Sen (1999), have emphasised its importance, in addition to macroeconomic growth, for cultivating individual capabilities. This emphasis on the individual, while it serves as a useful corrective to the otherwise dominant macro-level view of development, nonetheless misses an important point.
Talents, Opportunities, and Achievements
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