At the beginning of this series, Thomas Pogge highlighted the close relationship between equality and justice and the connection between these factors and the principles of a democratic society. Within any system, the ability for wealth and power to become concentrated within certain groups has a fundamental impact on a state’s capacity to ensure a level of ‘fairness’ is secured. The case of India brings a number of unique factors to the table for consideration. To what extent can a nation of 1.2 billion people ever hope to prevent huge polarisation of wealth? Commitments to cultural pluralism, secularism, even socialism, are enshrined in the state’s founding documents, yet as the economy booms new divides are emerging that challenge the social consensus on which India’s democracy, and legitimacy, depends.