-Altnews.in “Lies, damned lies and statistics”. The phrase is often used to show that numbers have a persuasive power but when presented selectively they have the power to mislead. In his recent address to the nation, Prime Minister Narendra Modi quoted some statistics to explain how India is managing the coronavirus pandemic better than many developed countries. The PM stated that India has 5,500 cases per 10 lakh (million) as compared...

-The Hindu The Chief Minister says he has delivered good governance and prosperity, but data show otherwise As Bihar goes to the polls, it is important to scrutinise Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s repeated claims about delivering ‘sushasan’ (good governance) and ‘taraqqi’ (prosperity). Does the reality justify these claims? Or are these boasts similar to the ‘Gujarat Model’, merely effective as propaganda? Poor on many indicators Bihar’s economy has performed poorly under the Janata Dal...

-The Indian Express While much of the world is seeing benign inflation trends, India is a clear exception. Among the drivers of headline inflation in India in recent months has been food prices, especially those of vegetables. With economic activity picking pace after the easing of lockdown measures, the recovery has thrown up some paradoxes: revival in employment amid a fall in labour force participation, surging inflation rate despite disinflationary impact from...

  Among other things, one of the reasons (given by some economists) behind low labour force participation rate (LFPR) of women vis-à-vis men in the country is that more young girls are educating themselves, causing an improvement in the secondary and tertiary enrolment rates. It means that more Indian women are staying out of the labour force in order to continue their education – secondary education and / or college &...

-Hindustan Times The Global Hunger Index is a tool for comprehensively measuring and tracking hunger at global, regional, and national levels. India ranked 94 among 107 nations in the Global Hunger Index (GHI) 2020 and is in the serious hunger category with experts blaming poor implementation processes and lack of effective monitoring in tackling malnutrition and poor performance by large states behind the low ranking. According to the report, 14% of India’s population...