A tool-kit to examine data on religious-cultural practices for better prognosis on India

Lakshmi Prasad | NT

Bengaluru: Bangalore International Centre aired its ‘BIC Talks’ podcasts on the theme of ‘Struck by Data’. Its primary objective was to check what data can and cannot tell us about modern India.

The conversation was carried forward with speakers including journalists Samar Halarnkar, Sudipto Mondal, about her book, ‘Whole Numbers and Half Truths’ and datajournalism pioneer Rukmini S. Rukmini S examines how data works, and how the push and pull of social and political forces affect it. She creates a blueprint to understand the changes that happened over the last few years and the ones to come through a toolkit for India. Initially, it began with stating the data.

An average Indian spends Rs 2500 per month, and if the amount spent is more than Rs 8500 then one is considered in the above top 5 per cent bracket. The data is pre-pandemic. The discussion focused on: whether we as a country are so poor and why has the poverty estimation project taken a back seat, since 2014. Is the data accurate? Yes and no said Rukmini.

The truth is unlikely far from this, and this paints pictures of a more of an unequal country. NSS gets its estimation wrong sometimes. In India, meat consumption is increasing and in Karnataka eggs in meals have become a political issue. This was directed at what people eat and how it is related to political choices that the State makes.

To which Rukmani said, “We live in times of Hindutva and that development was one issue people voted for. We are an overwhelmingly meat-eating country, and consensus on eggs has become a center for food and nutrition around children. One has to be cognizant of food choices."

Later addressing the intersection between BJP ruled states and states that don’t offer eggs in school; she said that what it is more likely to show is a correlation between states in which more people are vegetarian and states that are more likely to vote for the BJP.

Speaking about inter-caste and interreligious marriages she said: “There has never been anything more dangerous and braver, right now than to fall in love with someone who does not belong to the same religion.” On the stigma around filing cases of sexual assault, she said data revealed that the “stigma of having a daughter who's married out of the religion or caste can even be greater than the stigma of being associated as a family with sexual assault.”

On the issue of cross-cultural beliefs, Rukmini acknowledged the prevalence of greater hybrid cultural practices in the country with religious and cultural practices. According to her, one of the things that bind people across religions is belief in God and men. Further, as the discussion headed toward politics where she said, "Forty-five per cent of respondents said that they would like their MP to be of the same caste as them.”

Moreover, shedding light on Dalits and their votes, she said, there are no good surveys that measure Dalit Votes. While discussing the issue of the government missing out on releasing accurate and timely Covid data she said, “It's shocking that we don't have an official source of government data. All of the sources we use either for the current or the old data come from government sources.

Regarding caste census she said, by not posing questions on things like untouchability is shocking for the people. So, when the data finally comes out we don’t have the necessary information.