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Pramit Bhattacharya Profile picture
Pramit Bhattacharya
@pramit_b
Head of Research @dataforin Columnist @htTweets, Fellow @newindiafndtion Tweets are personal, retweets aren't endorsements
Sep 14, 2022 • 20 tweets • 5 min read
7 years after the new #GDP series was unveiled, it continues to baffle analysts, investors, and citizens of the country.
Rahul's #thread below is right on some aspects of the GDP calculations and not on others.
Hence this thread of mine! (1/n) First, I must point out that the very fact that we are still trying to figure out what the GDP data actually conveys so many years after the revision was made tells us something.
Had @GoIStats' transparency and documentation levels been higher, this wouldn't have happened. (2/n)
May 11, 2022 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
A prof from a small town in Tamil Nadu sent me this picture of a cake that he was going to share with his students for their economics 'practical' class on the budget.
It made my day!
And I thought I should do a short #thread on him (1/n) The said prof is perhaps unknown to the wider world but he is known to some in India's economics community for his sharp, witty, and erudite emails on everything related to economics ('To the fellow children of Adam Smith' is how they all begin) (2/n)
Mar 25, 2022 • 22 tweets • 4 min read
I have spent most of my working life worrying about economists and policymakers who use numbers callously, failing to scrutinize data before using them.
So when someone does show great care for numbers, it always perks me up! A thread on two such young researchers:
(1/n) The story begins with the results of the 2011 census. It showed one curious anomaly: the reported population of one state, Nagaland, had actually declined!
This “demographic somersault” attracted the attention of two intrepid data detectives, Ankush Agrawal and Vikas Kumar. (2/n)
Dec 8, 2021 • 22 tweets • 5 min read
The first-cut data from the latest round of the National Family Health Survey has generated intense debate on how far India has progressed over the past few years.
I wrote about the fascinating back story of the survey in my latest stats column 🧵 (1/n) The story begins with a British bio-statistician Francis Galton (and a relative of Charles Darwin) whose work on genetics led to the 'eugenics' movement. Its central idea was that the human race could be 'improved' by encouraging the fittest members to have more children. (2/n)
Nov 9, 2021 • 12 tweets • 3 min read
Am starting a new column on the uses and abuses of statistics in public life: Truth, Lies, and Statistics.
The first piece was on a recent report from SBI's economic research team that had some headline-grabbing numbers about the size of India's informal sector..... (1/n) The report claimed that the informal sector’s share in India’s GDP has shrunk from about 52% three years ago to a “max 15-20%" of GDP. But it arrives at this conclusion by conveniently assuming zero loss in the formal sector.... (2/n)
Sep 30, 2021 • 26 tweets • 15 min read
Tomorrow is my last day at Mint, a newspaper I joined as a trainee 11 years ago.
It has been an incredibly rich journey thanks to many many people who provided me with education, feedback, encouragement and support. A #thread in appreciation: Am grateful to @TamalBandyo for hiring me and putting me in the company of several extraordinary journalists who were all part of Mint's original Mumbai office in Dadar (opp Pritam hotel), and for always reminding us that the 'skaai is the limit' :) (2/n)
Aug 2, 2021 • 4 tweets • 3 min read
In the first of a four-part series based on the latest YouGov-Mint-CPR Millennial Survey, @TauseefShahidi shows how India's #vaccination drive has left behind the poor, the less educated, and religious minorities.
#PlainFacts
livemint.com/science/health… ImageImage More than 13 MILLION people died of covid-19 in urban India alone, calculations by @TauseefShahidi based on the latest YouGov-Mint-CPR Millennial Survey show.
Delhi and Hyderabad hardest hit among major cities.
livemint.com/science/health… Image
Jul 20, 2020 • 4 tweets • 5 min read
In the first of a four-part series on India's #growth challenge, @KwatraNikita and I look back at India's growth record since early '80s, and show why getting growth back on track is essential to tackle the country's most difficult problems.
#PlainFacts
livemint.com/news/india/the… Image Everybody agrees that this year will be exceptionally bad for growth. But beyond that period, will we know for sure if growth is seeing a sharp rebound or faltering?
We examine this question in the second part of the series.
#PlainFacts #GDPParadox
livemint.com/news/india/fix… Image
Nov 22, 2019 • 20 tweets • 6 min read
India's statistical system, once the envy of the world, has been decaying over time. But the crisis has never seemed as profound as it seems today.
This #thread is a summary of the symptoms, causes, implications, and possible remedies of that crisis (1/n) The latest blow comes in the form of a misguided attempt to dig up dirt on the consumption survey report after deciding to bury the report, which had some unfavorable evidence on consumption spending. (2/n)
livemint.com/news/india/aft…
Sep 9, 2019 • 9 tweets • 14 min read
In the first of a ten-part data journalism series on city life in India, @sh_devulapalli analyzes congestion in 300 major arterial roads spread across six largest urban agglomerations of the country #PlainFacts
livemint.com/news/india/the… @sh_devulapalli In the second part, @sh_devulapalli takes a look at the public transport crisis in India and shows why we can't rely only on the metro to solve our #urban mass-transit challenge (even in Delhi, half the city doesn't have easy access to metro) #PlainFacts
livemint.com/news/india/ind…
Jul 11, 2019 • 17 tweets • 6 min read
Was indeed a fascinating discussion, and quite a respectful exchange (the kind that we need more in 'New India')... the #greatIndianGDPdebate has certainly not ended, and my takeaways so far are the following #Thread #IPF2019 (1/n) I thought @arvindsubraman (AS') presentation yesterday was much more sharper, more thought-through, and better articulated compared to his previous paper on this issue (2/n)
Jun 12, 2019 • 24 tweets • 8 min read
A month after holes in a key database used in GDP estimation were first exposed, the controversy around #India's GDP #data and statistical system has only grown. This #thread is a summary of some answers and many questions on this issue #stats #institutions #economy (1/n) The latest to question the new GDP series is the former CEA @arvindsubraman who was also among the first to question the new series numbers when they first came out in 2015 (2/n)
Feb 18, 2019 • 12 tweets • 12 min read
In the first of a #ReportCard series taking stock of the NDA-II government, the #PlainFacts team assesses the #MakeInIndia initiative to find that the scheme has been a disappointment so far @Sneha_Alexander livemint.com/industry/manuf… The second part of the #ReportCard series, out today, looks at the government's record in banking @Sneha_Alexander #PlainFacts livemint.com/industry/banki…