While I wouldn't agree with enputen's characterization of "deliberate", it's entirely possible that they've been kept weak by a class of strongman lenders & landlords. Not an evil cabal, just a bunch of people who have the strength to play unfairly in the market and haven't been stopped. I don't have any special information here; it's just a hypothesis I find plausible.
Go outside of your big cities to see the country for what it really is.
I wouldn't necessarily want go by what established Hinduphobes like Gardner Harris have to say about the country.