This begs the question: what is a superpower?
If it requires both hard and soft power the article is correct.
If it requires just a lot of one or the other than there is a better argument for India being a potential super-power than China.
India soft-power is rapidly expanding and Bollywood is already much more than China can even hope for.
So then, why is it that so much capital and infrastructure has flowed into China rather than into India? India is our ally. India speaks English. Why has the capital flowed to China?
I wonder what the statistics of the US looked like, say 1936. I wouldn't be surprised in school enrollement was dropping or that 1/5 people where chronically hungry that a good amount lived on less than a dollar a day. Within 10 years of all that we were a superpower. Sure it's not an exact parallel and the world is a lot different now but if a large-scale world conflict erupts that threatens India directly, I wouldn't bet against them rising up and meeting the challenge.
" world's largest democracy can deliver real progress to the hundreds of millions who have never used the phone, much less the Internet. And in important ways, that just isn't happening."
So how come India happens to be the worlds fastest growing cellphone market if that isnt happening?
>>The adult literacy rate is 61 percent
So now the number of literate individuals living in India constitute twice those that live in the US.