Blame it on the rain—at least partially. Northern India has been
plagued by prolonged blackouts over the past few days that have
left some 600 million people without regular power. The
electrical grid has never covered the entire country—around 300
million of India’s 1.2 billion citizens lack access to regular
electricity—and isolated blackouts are common even in urban
areas that normally get juice. But the collapse of the grid this
week is something else, spreading to 22 of the country’s 28
states, with much of the capital of New Delhi plunged into
darkness, hundreds of trains left dead in their tracks and car
stalled thanks to the failure of traffic lights. Though India’s
regular experience with blackouts make it that much more able to
deal with a prolonged power loss like this one—hospitals,
offices and even homes have backup diesel generators and make
frequent use of them—the disaster will make it that much harder
to buy into the idea that the second-most populous country in
the world is ready to compete