If you look at the results of India's National Human Development Report from 1981, Kerala was already further ahead of any other state [0][1]. And the report I listed did not have data on half of the states that existed in India in 1980.
> most of the Haryana's growth has come from being in proximity of New Delhi
Not really.
Delhi NCR de-industrialized in the 1970s-80s due to militant labor unionism [2]
Furthermore, much of Haryana's population lives well outside of what became Delhi NCR, and urbanization only began in the 1980s with the development of SEZs in Manesar, Faridabad, and Gurgaon.
> Same for Tamil Nadu (56%).
Tamil Nadu shared similar developmental metrics to Haryana in the 1981 NHDR, neighbored a state in an active civil war that often leaked into the state (Sri Lanka / LTTE), and had severe caste fractures.
> most of the Haryana's growth has come from being in proximity of New Delhi
Not really.
Delhi NCR de-industrialized in the 1970s-80s due to militant labor unionism [2]
Furthermore, much of Haryana's population lives well outside of what became Delhi NCR, and urbanization only began in the 1980s with the development of SEZs in Manesar, Faridabad, and Gurgaon.
> Same for Tamil Nadu (56%).
Tamil Nadu shared similar developmental metrics to Haryana in the 1981 NHDR, neighbored a state in an active civil war that often leaked into the state (Sri Lanka / LTTE), and had severe caste fractures.
[0] - https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Indian_states_and_un...
[1] - https://www.researchgate.net/figure/HUMAN-DEVELOPMENT-INDEX-...
[2] - https://www.jstor.org/stable/4376065