News outlets keep parroting the “fact” that Modi’s government really been better for India’s GDP growth than its UPA predecessor. Really? In 2014, India’s GDP in constant 2015 $ was $1.974 tr. In 2021, the latest year in the @WorldBank series, it was $2.272 tr. 15.1% growth in 1/ That’s 15.1% growth in 8 years. The first 8 years of the UPA saw GDP grow from $1.013 tr to $1.616 tr. that’s 59.2% growth. It’s not even remotely close. India’s GDP grew more (16.9%) in the first TWO years of the UPA than in the first EIGHT years of the Modi government. 2/

Logic behind India, a country of 1.3b with a high absolute COVID caseload and much better access to vaccines than most of the developing world, relying on apps/proactive registration to get the vaccine to its population eludes me. It’s reached ~6% of pop in ~3months. A thread. 1/ Insisting that people voluntarily and proactively sign up for and go to vaccination appointments is simply not using well-understood principles of how to conduct mass vaccination campaigns, many of which are based (formally or informally) on insights from behavioral science. 2/

I was surprised that @sarkar_swati, who claims expertise on Bengali society/culture, was unaware of something as basic as castes in Bengal having been classified as “(A)Jol-chol”. Since she insisted I was somehow concocting this, here are some references for her edification. 1/ Dasgupta, A (2000), “In the Citadel of Bhadralok Politicians: The Scheduled Castes in West Bengal”. Journal of the Indian School of Political Economy. ispepune.org.in/PDF%20ISSUE/20…

Hinduism has always policed temple entry & access to drinking water sources (think caste-segregated wells), punishing those who flout these “rules”. Poor Asif was “punished” for his “transgression”, as countless Dalits have before him. Be appalled, but spare me the surprise. 1/ I’ve been to many villages in Rajasthan and UP where people from disadvantaged castes would be risking death if they dared to try and drink water from a well earmarked for so-called “upper” castes. And the situation is no different elsewhere in the country. The entry of Dalits 2/

Bangladesh’s excellent human development/social indicators are deservedly lauded as far better than India’s, but I was curious how they compared to West Bengal, arguably a very good comparator. So here are some data. 1/ Total Fertility Rate: West Bengal - 1.6 (2016 estimate); Bangladesh - 2.17 (2017 estimate). So both Bengals have dramatically reduced their birth rates, but West Bengal has actually done even better and is now well below replacement levels of fertility. 2/