As a trial ground for humankind’s quest for betterment, India can be reckoned the next frontier. The scale and complexity of India’s problems are every policy maker’s nightmare. For a social scientist, India is a laboratory to test new ideas. As India’s colonial encounter fades from public memory, social science research in India has moved on to address the concerns of ordinary citizens. The euphoria of 1947 has ebbed, and the reticence and anxiety of the 1970s is gone. With the promised economic surge slowing down, millions of Indians continue to be trapped in neediness.