By Wong Mei Ling

POLITICS in India is more sectarian and caste-based today than 60 years ago, but economic development and the private sector can help break down these social barriers, Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam said yesterday.

He was speaking at the Fourth International Conference on South Asia in Singapore about the challenges of unequal development and chronic poverty in India despite its strong economic growth.

'In India, you don't cast your vote, but you vote your caste,' Mr Tharman said, citing a Financial Times journalist, drilling home the point that social barriers at the political level continue to constrain the economic and social development in India, especially for the poorest.

For more The Straits Times stories, click here.