Desai examines data in a post-truth age
The Hindu editorial comments on India National Policy on Official Statistics proposal
There is much to like in the new policy, Faculty Associate Sonalde Desai writes, but "it also remains rooted within the confines of governmental administrative structures." She details issues in the areas of competence, reliability, and honesty and calls on the government to harness diverse energies "from academic and research institutions such as the ISI, the Indian Agricultural Statistics Research Institute, National Council of Applied Economic Research, the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, the International Institute for Population Sciences, the Delhi School of Economics, the Madras Institute of Development Studies and the National Institute of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj."