I wouldnt say its delusion. If you go to Bihar to one of the poor people and tell him about India's rising GDP etc, he would say: "Eh, I dont have food today". So those people who face difficulties are not deluded.And they make up 60% of the country. So going by the majority I wouldnt say India is a deluded nation.
The minority that is successful, the new middle class, having seen a increase in incomes, having experienced success tend to be hopeful. Too hopeful for their own good. This can certainly be attributed to as delusion, but it is not. Even if it is, it is welcome. It helps people look forward to a bright future. And that is how a person's attitude should be. Too much of realism will kill your dream and dreams are necessities for achievements. However, every single Indian has seen poverty, knows what poverty is, knows what problems face India.
All of those statistics presented in the article is redundant, we've all seen it before.
That is why I believe that this superpower thing is crap. America became a superpower after like 200 years after its independence. After 200 years of being an almost homogeneous nation all following one religion for the most part. India not so. We have so many divisions. Just in the other thread here on PDF, we had Hindutvadis arguing with seculars like me. So how can India move ahead fast with these opposing forces pulling in different directions?
To eradicate all these shortcomings we need a 100% literacy first. Lets get those kids dropping out of school into school first and at the same time revise our curriculum. But even that can take a backseat as long as we achieve 100% literacy.