Contents
INTRODUCTION xi
Data could tell us the story of modern India; then why doesn't it?
A NOTE ON THE DATA xv
1. HOW INDIA TANGLES WITH COPS AND COURTS 1
We form our ideas about safety and trust from media reporting
of crime and from crime statistics. But pulling the curtains back
on how the police report crime, how crime statistics are generated
and how the media reports on it could completely change our
view of crime in India.
II. WHAT INDIA THINKS, FEELS AND BELIEVES 28
Homilies about Indian values abound, seeking to cast an image
of a country of contradictions, at once traditional and modern.
But at its core, India is conservative, even fundamentalist. If
there's going to be change, it will take work.
III. HOW INDIA (REALLY) VOTES 53
Almost everything that we know about how Indians vote comes
either from political journalists 'on the field' or from opinion
polling. The way they ask questions, the data from these surveys,
and selective reporting have created false narratives around the
Indian voter that come in our way of an honest understanding
of democracy in India.
IV. EAT, PRAY, ENJOY, LOVE, MARRY- HOW INDIA LIVES LIFE 91
We have a surprising wealth of data on the minutiae of people's
lives: what exactly Indians in different parts of the country once
ate and now like to eat, how religion and caste mediate these
decisions; who and how Indians have sex with, fall in love with,
and marry; and what people do in their spare time. But what
does it miss?
V. HOW MUCH MONEY DO INDIANS MAKE? 121
How India really makes its money, how much money Indians
make and how rich or poor Indians think they are-all of these
answers are a long distance from the common understanding
of poverty and class in India.
VI. HOW INDIA SPENDS ITS MONEY 151
A generation ago, cereals dominated the weekly spending budget
of Indians; that has changed as Indians go out to eat, watch
movies, save, fly. But there's also the story of what the data misses
and (at least) one gaping hole in official statistics. And then
there's the story of how governments try to play with this data.
VII. HOW INDIA WORKS 178
Most Indians want a government job for their children, many
imagine that the majority of young Indians work in IT, and
most believe that hiring and firing is incredibly difficult in India.
So what work do Indians really do, and how can we expect the
world of work to look in the near future?
VIII. HOW INDIA IS GROWING AND AGEING 202
We know that India is a young country, that the southern states
are ageing, and that families in the northern states are larger
than those in the south. But beyond this lies a surprising world
of nuance-women are actually having their children earlier
than ever on average, 'family planning' is having some terrifying
unintended consequences, and stereotypes about Muslim families
miss most of the story.
IX. HOW INDIA LIVES AND WHERE 225
Urbanisation and migration were supposed to be the big stories
of the last decade. Looking at where and how India lives shows
that neither played out the way it was supposed to, but planners
don't seem to have caught on to this.
X. HOW INDIA FALLS SICK AND GETS BETTER 250
Who gets sick in India, of what, where do they go to get better
and how does treatment work? We think we know the answers,
but a lot of what we think we know about illness, doctor abilities
and health costs is actually false and a result of polarised activism
and news reporting. The COVID pandemic provides a special
impetus to getting the answers right.
CONCLUSION 280
What can we then say that we really know about India from
the data, how could we go about getting the data to do a better
job of capturing the country, and is there a way out of the Left!
Right binary?
NOTES 284
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 322
A NOTE ON THE COVER 327