For India, development has always being a mixed bag of opportunities as well as neglect and deprivations. It is a well established fact that majority of scheduled castes and scheduled tribes, landless agricultural labourers, poor farmers and slum dwellers, etc are the most marginalized lot.
India has been ranked 134 among 187 countries of the world in terms of the Human development Index (HDI) in 2011. However, further looking into different aspects of this, India Human Development Report, 2011, prepared by Institute of Applied Manpower Research, quoted that minority (Dalits & Muslims) is catching up with the rest. The literacy rates, share of Muslims in pucca housing, access to electricity, have increased to a fair amount. But, the most worrisome aspect is the healthcare system, which is consistently low. The table below as given in the report would give a fair understanding of the facts:
From the above table, it can summed up that the condition of the minorities have improved to an extent, still, government needs to take proper initiatives to improve their socio-economic status.