-The Telegraph After debunking faith in numbers, assertions by powerful and charismatic leaders can be projected as the truth The comment on the weaponisation of economics by the former chief economic adviser, Arvind Subramanian, is a telling indictment of the way political interests trump such other considerations as veracity and transparency. The latest round of revisions in the rate of growth of gross domestic product is a perfect example of the use...

-The Hindu How a business friendly government has failed to arrest the slide in private investment It may appear that the recent hullabaloo over GDP (gross domestic product) growth in the past decade has cast a shadow over assessment of the economy’s progress since 2014, but it is not so. There exists enough information for this as GDP is not the sole indicator on which one needs to rely in such an...

-The Indian Express A Basic Income Scheme for the farmer will not tax the government’s resources. But it could stem the tide of distress in the countryside. The neglect of Indian agriculture by the NDA government, despite the tall promises in the BJP election manifesto of 2014 has been the cause of untold suffering of the Indian farmer over the last four years. This has led to large-scale farmers suicides and...

-Livemint.com India’s statistical system suffered credibility shocks when the GDP series was released Last week, the NITI Aayog released the back series of gross domestic product (GDP) data on base 2011-12 for the years 2004-05 to 2011-12. The series was eagerly awaited by researchers as well as policymakers ever since the base was revised in January 2015. This release follows an unofficial release of the report of the committee on real...

-TheWire.in How correct was it for the Central Statistics Office to have selectively used contested methods for preparing the back series data? The spotlight is back on India’s growth rates, three years after the gross domestic product (GDP) data using the 2011-12 base year was released. Before trying to delve into the controversy surrounding the back-series data – which saw GDP growth from 2006-2012 reduce significantly – it is important to understand how...