-The Indian Express My resignation from National Statistical Commission was the last act in a long story of disregard for its reports William Setzer, in the working paper, “Politics and Statistics: Independence, Dependence or Interaction”, published by the UN, lists several possible areas where political interference in official data generation and publication can happen. One of these is the extent and timing of release of data. He cites several examples. Most...
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Is Small Still Beautiful? ReviSITing the Farm-Size Productivity Debate -Sarthak Gaurav and Srijit Mishra
-Working Paper No. 74, Nabakrushna Choudhury Centre for Development Studies, Bhubaneswar In this paper, we reviSIT the well-known debate on the inverse relationship between farm-size and agricultural productivity. Using unit level data from SITuation Assessment Survey (SAS) of Agricultural Households in the 70th Round National Sample Survey (NSS), we test the relationship between yield (output per hectare) and land operated as well as the relationship between net returns per hectare and...
More »There's a hole in the data -Kiran Bhatty & Dipa Sinha
-The Indian Express The state has failed to create capacities for a timely, reliable, decentralised data regime. The credibility of India’s data systems is under serious threat with the recent controversy over the employment data of the National Sample Survey. While the Census of India and the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) have a good reputation, when it comes to data related to the social sector — health, education, nutrition —...
More »Governing India's many spaces -Pulapre Balakrishnan
-The Hindu Ill fares the land where wealth accumulates, and the social and natural environment suffer As the general elections approach, it would be politic to take stock of the progress made by the incumbent party and look out for the areas that call for particular attention by the one that gains power. Without anticipating complete agreement on the indicators that ought to be used, I look at the changes since 2014...
More »Dharavi Small Units on the Brink of Disaster -Amey Tirodkar
-The Hindu Known as world's largest slum, Dharavi has another less known but more important identity. It is one of the most industrious localities in Mumbai, with small units of leather, garment, plastic and even bakery shops. Post-demonetisation, this huge production house is facing acute financial stress. Rahul Ingale, 32, is depressed. SITting in his shop in Shastri Nagar of Dharavi, Mumbai, Ingale, who deals in the leather market, is facing a...
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