The newsletter discusses the range of topics covered in various The Hindu Data Points between July and September this year
Data Point is a stand-alone feature appearing in The Hindu’s opinion pages from Monday to Thursday every week. It uses data and graphs to convey stories and provide opinion-free answers to questions on daily affairs. Topics range from governance and politics to education and sports. The team analyses and interprets numbers to uncover the latest stories of the day, further contextualising data through Data Point podcasts and videos.
Let’s review the stories told through numbers in the third quarter of 2023.
Economy
In July 2023, retail inflation rose to 7.4%, the highest in 15 months, owing to a spike in food and beverages inflation. Data revealed that vegetable inflation increased to 37%, while tomato inflation accelerated to over 200%. The increase in prices of food and beverages prompted the data team to look at the change in the cost of a homemade thali meal in India to understand the affordability of food. The cost of a home-cooked vegetarian thali in Mumbai increased by 65% in the last five years, while the average wage earned by a casual labourer working in urban Maharashtra has increased by only 37% and that of a salaried worker by 28%, according to data.
When the Indian government decided to ban the export of non-basmati white rice to “ensure adequate availability in the Indian market and to allay the rise in prices in the domestic market” following inflation, panic ensued among NRIs in the U.S. Data, however, revealed that the U.S.’s reliance on India for rice imports was merely 20%, while Nepal’s dependency on India for rice was nearly total at 99%.
To “control inflation”, the Indian government also discontinued the sale of grains to States via the Open Market Sale Scheme (OMSS) through which the Food Corporation of India sells surplus grains. Data revealed that as a State that bought over 50% of the rice sold through OMSS in five out of the eight years between FY16 and FY23, Karnataka is the most affected by the Centre’s decision.
At the BRICS Business Forum Leaders’ Dialogue at Johannesburg, as well as during the Independence Day speech, Prime Minister Narendra Modi talked about India becoming a $5 trillion economy and among the world’s top three economies, respectively. However, data has questioned these claims. While India has a $10 trillion economy if we consider PPP-based GDP estimates, it is still the poorest in the G-20 by per capita income.
Governance and Policy
Owing to India’s hosting of the 18th G-20 Summit in New Delhi on September 9 and 10, an analysis of India with other G-20 countries was conducted. Data revealed that India’s performance in recent decades across other socioeconomic metrics has been poor compared to its fellow G-20 members. For instance, while India’s HDI improved from 0.43 in 1990 to 0.63 in 2021, it continued to rank at the bottom of the list.
On July 10, the Centre filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court with the claim that since 2019, Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) has been witnessing an “unprecedented era of peace, progress and prosperity” after the dilution of Article 370. Data revealed that while civilian deaths have seen a downward trend, militant deaths have remained high since the major inflection point in 2016, when Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani was killed. Notably, post-dilution, relatively peaceful districts such as Poonch and Rajouri in the Jammu region, have also seen sharp spikes in terrorism-related deaths.
Recently, the Union government constituted a committee headed by former President Ram Nath Kovind to explore the possibility of conducting simultaneous elections to the Lok Sabha, the Legislative Assemblies, municipalities, and panchayats. This is part of BJP’s manifesto— the “one nation, one election” concept. But Data showed that if the idea of simultaneous elections is implemented —except for four States, Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Odisha, and Sikkim— the terms of all Legislative Assemblies across States would be curtailed. Data also revealed the difficulty in implementing such an idea in India, which has 543 Lok Sabha representatives, more than 4,100 Assembly legislators, 89,194 urban ward representatives, and nearly 31.89 lakh elected panchayat members spread across the three tiers of the panchayat system with its own roles and responsibilities.
Politics
An analysis of Members of Parliament and MLAs revealed multiple things. First, while the share of the Muslim population in India increased from around 10% in 1951 to 14% in 2011, and further rose to 15% in 2020, according to a projection by the Pew Research Centre, the share of Muslim Members of Parliament (MPs) never crossed the 10% mark, and has sharply reduced in the last 15 years.
Secondly, as the debate around the Women’s Reservation Bill went on in Parliament, data revealed that the share of women parliamentarians has never exceeded the 15% mark in over 70 years of India’s electoral history, while in 20 States and UTs, less than 10% of MLAs are women.
Furthermore, several MPs voiced concern about the fact that many members have serious cases of crimes against women pending against them, as they sat to pass a historic bill favouring women’s empowerment. Data according to the Association of Democratic Reforms’ analysis of 763 Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha MPs, revealed that 306 had criminal cases (40%) and 194 (25%) had serious criminal cases pending against them when they filed their affidavits, while 21 MPs had pending charges of involvement in crimes against women at the time of elections.
Science and Technology
On July 14, India celebrated a significant achievement with the successful launch of Chandrayaan-3, its third moon mission, from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota. This was India’s second attempt at soft-landing robotic instruments on the lunar surface after the previous attempt, Chandrayaan-2, failed in 2019. Data revealed that lunar missions have been historically difficult, with a track record showing over 40% encountering difficulties or failing. This trend continued in 2020, with a 47.1% moon mission failure rate.
In July, the number of electric vehicles in India surged from just 2,400 a decade ago to over 27.4 lakh. However, data showed that given the concurrent rise in the number of non-electric vehicles, the overall share of electric vehicles has still not crossed the 1% mark. Notably, there is also a wide inter-State disparity in the penetration of electric vehicles.
Sports
As Grandmaster (GM) and 17-year-old D. Gukesh achieved a feat that was registered only for a day on March 15, 2016, by then-29-year-old Indian GM P. Harikrishna, his ELO live ratings of 2756 points, surpassed Indian legend GM Viswanathan Anand and he became the India No. 1 in chess. Data revealed various such achievements by Indian chess players throughout history.
On August 26, the Indian 4X400 metres relay team ran and finished second in heat one (qualifying rounds) and got into the final round in the World Championships in Budapest. In an event usually dominated by the U.S., Jamaica, and the U.K., and where Indians or even Asians have rarely made a mark, the relay turned the nation’s head. Data revealed how the race was the first time that Indians had managed to finish the relay run in under three minutes.
India and the World
On June 30, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the U.S. administration had overstepped its authority in trying to cancel or reduce student loans. It effectively dismissed President Joe Biden’s $400 billion student loan forgiveness plan, which he announced in 2022 in line with his campaign promise. Biden’s plan claimed to relieve the burden of student loans from lower-middle-class borrowers and narrow the racial wealth gap. Data shows that college tuition fees both in public and private universities increased in the last few decades. This could be attributed to the 200% increase in cumulative student debt, while the share of student borrowers increased by only 50% by 2021. Further, the impact of student loans was felt more among Black and Hispanic communities compared with their White and Asian counterparts, due to disparity in income levels.
The death of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Canadian citizen and head of the Khalistani Tiger Force, who was declared a terrorist in 2020 by India, has resulted in ongoing tension between Canada and India as the former claims India’s involvement in the murder while India has denied it. Data showed how Indians form the largest share of immigrants, foreign students, foreign workers, and other groups in Canada and how the countries are inter-dependent in economic terms.
Environment and Climate
In early July 2023, torrential rainfall in north India, including Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, and Delhi, triggered devastating landslides and flash floods. This region saw exceptionally high rainfall, exceeding 200 mm, while most of the country received minimal precipitation, with moderate rainfall only in parts of Gujarat and central India. Data showed significant rainfall deviations in north India, particularly in Punjab, where levels increased by over 200%. Chandigarh recorded its highest 24-hour rainfall since 1952, reaching 283mm, and Kullu in Himachal Pradesh marked its wettest July and the second-wettest day on record.
In recent years, climate activists called for increased investment by economically developed countries in climate adaptation and mitigation, even supporting other nations’ efforts to combat climate change. Global per capita emissions currently double the target, exceeding 4.7 tonnes per capita since 2010. Africa and India consistently remain below this level. China surpassed the global average in 2004, steadily rising to 8 tonnes per capita by 2021, joining Europe and Oceania. Notably, the UAE and the U.S., despite reduced overall emissions, still maintained the highest per capita emissions in 2021, at 21.8 tonnes and 14.9 tonnes, respectively.
Gender
On July 24, the Tamil Nadu government initiated registration camps for the women’s basic income scheme, acknowledging women’s unpaid labour, making them eligible for Rs. 1,000 per month. In June, the Madras High Court ruled that homemakers deserve an equal share in household properties, as they shoulder responsibilities of the household and children, enabling husbands to earn. An analysis of data on gender-wise contribution to housework showed that non-working women invest 7.5 hours daily and employed women contribute 5.8 hours, while men, regardless of employment, dedicate fewer than 4 hours daily. A podcast that delves into the broader implications of the High Court’s decision was also published.
As part of the observance of World Suicide Prevention Day, we looked at the data on suicides in the country. Data showed that the number of women who died by suicide in India reached a peak of 45,026 in 2021. More than half of them were housewives.
Fortnightly figures
- 10% of the U.S. visa applicants are presently Indians. Further, about 20% of the U.S. student visa applicants and 65% of all H&L-category (employment) visa applicants were Indians. The U.S. Mission in India surpassed its goal of processing one million non-immigrant visa applications in 2023. The Mission has already surpassed the total number of cases processed in 2022 and is processing almost 20% more applications than in pre-pandemic 2019. “Last year, over 1.2 million Indians visited the United States, making this one of the most robust travel relationships in the world”, according to a statement issued by the US Embassy in India
- 70% of premature cancer deaths in 2020 were preventable, according to the latest The Lancet Global Health research. About 5.3 million premature deaths from cancer globally in 2020 were preventable, while 30% were treatable. Of the total deaths, 2.9 million were in men, while 2.3 million were in women, the study said, which used the GLOBOCAN 2020 database on cancer mortality from the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) for analysis.
- 40% of the elderly in India are in the poorest wealth quintile, according to the UNFPA’s India Ageing Report 2023. About 18.7% of the elderly in India in the poorest wealth quintile are living without an income. This level of poverty among the elderly may affect their quality of life and healthcare utilization, the report said. With the decadal growth rate of the elderly population in India currently estimated to be at 41%, the percentage of the elderly population in the country is projected to double to over 20% of the total population by 2050.
- 5.25 million out of 49 million people in Sudan have been uprooted since the internal conflict erupted, according to the U.N. Due to the war between the army and RSF, Sudanese nationals face severe consequences of malnutrition, floods, and scorpions so are heavily dependent on aid relief for survival. Due to internal conflicts, including the older ones, Sudan has nearly a 7.1 million displaced population, making it the highest in the world.
- 23 million people are affected due to pollution from metal-mining across the world, according to recently published research in the journal Science. The report added that people residing on floodplains were most affected by the health hazard as potentially harmful concentrations of toxic waste from metal mining would not only have severe consequences on them but would also affect their livestock and irrigated land.
Thank you for reading this week’s edition of the Data Point newsletter! To subscribe, click here. Please send your feedback to rebecca.varghese@thehindu.co.in
