I normally prefer not to post on such philosophical issues as there are many different opinions and more than one person can be correct...buy any way...
I am an Indian citizen who lived for the last 10 years in US...so I think I have the right and capacity to comment on both countries...
Yes, India is not perfect and it is not exactly news to anyone. It stinks, it is dirty, it is corrupt, there are castes, traffic is a mess, politicians are useless, we are a long way behind China etc. But believe it or not, it is still way better than it was 10 or 20 years ago ! I don't know if this counts as progress but even rag pickers (and garbage pickers) in India have cell phones these days !
There has been too much focus on IT/oursourcing/tech etc. to the detriment of the infrastructure on the part of the govt. But, in an indirect way, the need to keep the foreign companies happy (ford, hyundai, nokia and many others that have set up shop here) has spurred government action in improving roads & other facilities.
Remember the US has been independent for more than 200 years, India has been free for only 60+ years. In terms of the development in those 60 years, it is a mixed bag. We could have been farther ahead if not for the socialist policies of the 50s and 60s (but necessary at the time because a newly independent country that had been ravaged by its colonial masters did not have the wherewithal to completely embrace capitalism). We have more than made up for lost time since the economic liberalisation of the 90s.
For those that concentrate on the ills of India, let me say one thing - even the NYC subway system stinks with the stench of urine. That does not make US a third world country.
Three times as many people as the US in a landmass that is a third the size of the US. So the next time you travel in a car with 4 people in the US, imagine 40 people in the car and you will get an idea of what it is like in India.
I am by no means defending India; my family knows very well how much I rail against an almost institutionalized stupidity when it comes to Indian standards of personal hygiene and civic sense. But more than the changes themselves, it is the pace of these changes that is giving me hope.
I sincerely ask people of other countries to ignore the WSJ version of India (xx % of people live under $1 a day etc.), close your travel guides (India is more than Taj Mahal & Kama Sutra) and listen to people who have experienced life there.