Rukmini S
@Rukmini
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Knowledge from data for everyone. Founder, Data For India. Book: "Whole Numbers & Half Truths" (Westland '21). Before: @The_Hindu , @timesofindia , @livemint .
Chennai, India
Joined July 2011
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Thrilled to share that my first book 'Whole Numbers and Half Truths: What Data Can and Cannot Tell Us About Modern India' is now available for pre-order in India at this link. Available in book stores and overseas from Dec 6
@WestlandBooks
@LabyrinthAgency
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"Ashok Singh, 45, a Bhendi Bazaar vegetable vendor, who opened his shop for the first time in four months on Wednesday but was forced to shut it because of flooding, burst into tears at King Circle as he walked back to his house in Kurla"
By
@sachin_haralkar
for
@MumbaiMirror
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Thread: After more than a year of work, we have now launched , a public platform that seeks to expand access to Indian data for everyone, and deepen the understanding of the country that can come from this data
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Thread: Today I am reporting official all-cause mortality from the state of Madhya Pradesh - with 84.5 million people, it is India’s 5th most populous state. It was also India’s fifth poorest state as of 2020. It is predominantly rural, with just 29% of its population in cities.
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Next, Delhi police registers case against Aishe Ghosh's head for attacking ABVP leader's iron rod
#BreakingNews
| Delhi Police files FIR against
#JNUSU
President Aishe Ghosh and 19 others for allegedly attacking guards of
#JNU
and vandalising server room on January 4.
More on
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The list of things Rhea Chakraborty's arrest is not about is long. The list of things it is about is short. It's misogyny and distraction. The pandemic, the economy and the misuse of legal machinery is what needs our attention. Even this tweet is a waste of my time and yours.
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There should never have been a contempt of court case against Prashant Bhushan, a great defender of our democracy, and his conviction is a travesty. But this Re 1 fine and the joking around it rankles. In 2011 I stood in a Saket court to watch a 19-year old boy's trial. (thread)
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Here we go again: today, I am reporting all-cause mortality for Andhra Pradesh (population: 53 million). In May 2021, AP saw nearly five times as many deaths as the state usually sees in May
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Another Marathi idiom I love: "aadvi hote" = "I'm going to become horizontal". I might sleep, I might do Spelling Bee on my phone, I might stare into space - I can't tell what it's going to be, but what’s key is that I will be horizontal.
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Thread: today
@covid19indiaorg
winds up operations. No words are enough for what this team of deeply committed volunteers did - for now, I'll just say thank you. There are lessons for the future of data in India, but that's for another day. Now: what happens next to covid data?
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Like most people I know, the Coromandel Express train accident has been on my mind all day. You look at statistics on migration and travel and incomes and infrastructure every day.....and the people in that train made up this data. They're the very lifeblood of this country.
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If you read this piece by
@smitagnair
you will not have forgotten it. Smita is a great reporter but this was something else - I cried and cried the day it came out. We have talked about it so often.
Pooja has been found.
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India's Ministry of Statistics is looking a bit different today but I can't put my finger on it..
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Nobody in power seems to have any memory of what it's like to face actual questions from actual journalists
UP deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya lost his temper during a BBC interview when asked about the Dharam Sansad hate speeches, stopping it midway, snatched the mask of the reporter and forced the cameraperson to delete the footage
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Last night at the
@sigmaawards
, the world's top data journalism awards, I won an award for my excess mortality work in 2021
Rukmini S - Indian excess mortality investigation
By
@IndiaSpend
@the_hindu
@DainikBhaskar
@scroll_in
India
#Sigmas22
#ddj
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I wrote this for
@DainikBhaskar
and here's the headline: MP saw twice its usual (2018-19 average) deaths in April 2021, and *five times* the usual in May 2021
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Thread: For
@ThePrintIndia
I looked at the current rate of growth of confirmed COVID-19 cases in India and estimates by others. In most scenarios it is looking like India will hit 1 mn *confirmed* cases in May - and the fatality rate is broadly over 3%
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Shame on any MP who votes in favour of legislation brought in while locking down the entire state it concerns and its politicians. Bring in a Bill, debate it, let people protest, face the consequences.
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Officially, Madhya Pradesh reported just 4,461 Covid deaths between January 1 and May 31 2021. The excess deaths seen in the same period are over 42 times the reported Covid death toll, though the entire excess death toll is not attributable to Covid.
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For those in India and overseas looking for Indian covid data as numbers begin to rise, a reminder that , our effort at continuing the work of is up and running. Data can be downloaded from the api as before. Corrections welcome.
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Short thread on the new NFHS 5 data: there is no doubt this is worrying data. I wrote about it for
@IndiaSpend
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It's hard to overstate how significant this is - will cease operations at the end of October. They've explained their reasons here
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There is nothing we need to hear from any party spokesperson or party proxy tonight. We have seen it all for the last three days. Please, TV channels, put your brave reporters on the debates tonight. They were everywhere. They will give "all sides". Respect their courage.
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Even by the low standards of this government, this is the lowest they have fallen on the integrity of statistics. The time-tested NSSO is not at fault, as any sane person knows perfectly well. This is tinpot dictator behaviour
Just in: Government decides to junk the 2017-18 consumer expenditure survey due to "data quality issues."
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A brazen extra-judicial killing if there ever was one - spare us the tired script. This isn't instant justice - this is the absence of justice. We're not going to make women safer by abandoning the rule of law - is that so hard to understand?
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@shivsunny
This is unbearable:( If you know of any way I can help this family, please tell me.
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How have we managed despite everything to produce a generation with this much compassion and courage is beyond me
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Bhutan went into national lockdown yesterday following one young woman testing positive. Short thread on how a woman who followed all the rules still triggered a national crisis, and how the country is containing it.
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That's how heavy small fines and bail bonds weigh on the poor. So congratulations to the Supreme Court for making a mockery of their actual jobs - delivering justice to the poorest.
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I'm delighted to be able to share the news that my first book with
@WestlandBooks
'Whole Numbers and Half Truths' will be out later this year. I'm excited to use insights from data and my field reporting to make sense of how India works
We’re pleased to announce the acquisition of two new books by data journalist, Rukmini S.: ‘Whole Numbers and Half-Truths: What Data Tells Us About Modern India’ and ‘India in 100 Charts’, set to release in quick succession in 2021/22!
@Rukmini
@karthikavk
@LabyrinthAgency
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This could be a game-changer in the Family WhatsApp Group universe
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Two sets of data points that have been missing from the last two days' discussions:
1. What we know about J&K residents' views on how the state should be administered
2. Whether the state is really lagging behind.
I looked at the numbers for my piece today
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I'm not sure how many people realise that India - one of the countries the worst affected by covid and a tech powerhouse - has no official website for detailed covid data. A volunteer-driven crowd-sourced website has been the source for everyone (including govt at times).
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There is too much good cinema in this country to waste another minute over bad cinema. Go watch Kaathal (The Core) if it's playing in your city is what I'm saying and leave the Animal discourse for unfortunate cities where it isn't playing.
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One tangential takeaway from
@thewire_in
's Instagram story - the way global Big Tech cos. respond to routine information requests from Indian journalists vs those from the US/ Europe (incl. refusal to ever share stats) is just unacceptable and has to change.
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How I prepare for an afternoon Zoom call: plan my kids' entire day from 6 am so that they are fed, rested, in a good mood and occupied for the precise half an hour I will be on the call.
How my interviewee usually prepares: oh is it now can we do it in half an hour.
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The next time I teach a class on data journalism, the first session will have just one slide with just one link on it: this one
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Just leaving this here, especially today. From my book
Thrilled to share that my first book 'Whole Numbers and Half Truths: What Data Can and Cannot Tell Us About Modern India' is now available for pre-order in India at this link. Available in book stores and overseas from Dec 6
@WestlandBooks
@LabyrinthAgency
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(Short thread) Exactly one year ago today, my book came out into the world. This last year has been transformative - it was a hard year for me in many ways, but the reader responses, the bookstore owners, the awards, reviews and kind words have overwhelmed and energised me.
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Horrifying account by my former colleague at TOI of being targetted by Hindutva mobs. Two things stand out: his female colleague protected him, and his presence protected his auto driver
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Thread: I am supposed to be taking a break from regular reporting to finish up my book. But I cannot let it go when the government puts out false or misleading data. When I saw this in the April 21 press conference, I knew there was a problem
#IndiaFightsCorona
:
📍Post Vaccination break through infection (As on 20th April, 2021).
- DG,
@ICMRDELHI
#We4Vaccine
#LargestVaccinationDrive
#Unite2FightCorona
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BJP leader posting a picture of the Minister of State for Home Affairs, no less, posing with a packet of Doritos that's meant to be aid, and tagging the Prime Minister. Beyond parody, truly
आज गृह राज्य मंत्री
@kishanreddybjp
जी द्वारा
@BJP4Delhi
को खाद्य सामग्री दी गई।
यह सामग्री
#SevaHiSangathan
के अंतर्गत दिल्ली भर में भाजपा द्वारा चलाए जा रहे कैंप में जरूरतमंदों के साथ-साथ दिल्ली की सेवा में कार्यरत निगम कर्मचारियों व पुलिस कर्मियों के बीच वितरित की जाएँगी।
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Once you get used to watching movies in theatres in Chennai (TN?) I don't think you'll enjoy them as much anywhere else. There was wild whistling and hooting today during the fight scenes in....Kung Fu Panda 4.
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Some recent pieces that I've done: in yesterday's Mint, I looked at the data on who has a birth certificate - yes, the privileged are most likely to have one, and poor, Muslim, adivasis and dalits least likely
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I wrote about it for
@scroll_in
here:
This chart is all-cause mortality (Civil Registration Data) for every month since January 2018, and you don't need me to point out that May 2021 was record-breaking, and horrifying
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Here's a new problem for India's testing data: states like Delhi are conducting both RT-PCR tests and antigen tests, but reporting positive test numbers combined. Antigen tests have much more false negatives, so start taking falling test positivity rates with a big lump of salt.
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The most heartbreaking part of this is the last line, where the *victim* is overcome with regret at not pursuing his complaint which he believes could have saved lives. The entire police machinery let him down, and here is this gentleman feeling personal responsibility.
RPF constable Chetan Singh, who killed 3 Muslim men in a hate crime, had previously harassed and threatened a Muslim auto driver in Ujjain, according to the victim.
(
@shruti26tomar
reports)
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I don't know if this is an effect of moving out of Delhi or out of a newsroom, but even though I am a data journalist, the top story I'd want to see in my paper today is about this nightmare in Bidar, the new normal
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Absolutely incredible initiative by
@shivakjolad
and his team (
@indiastatestory
) charting the history of Indian state and district boundaries. Prepare to spend hours of time
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Thread: I got all-cause mortality data for Chennai, and found 12,000 'excess' deaths in 2020, or a 20% increase over a normal year. 2021 is heading the same way.
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My heart sank when I saw these numbers: new official data from the National Health Mission - compiled mainly from ANMs and PHCs ie rural areas - show a big spike in deaths recorded all-India in May 2021
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The most empathetic and conscientious journalist I know,
@sharmasupriya
has been charged by the UP govt in a total mockery of law. Read the piece, read her work and make up your mind. I know where I stand - with Supriya
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Delighted that my first book 'Whole Numbers and Half Truths: What Data Can and Cannot Tell Us About Modern India' will continue to be published by
@WestlandBooks
. Thrilled that
@karthikavk
and her team are back to doing what they do best - publishing great books.
@LabyrinthAgency
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Over 500 people had to be hospitalised with covid today in Mumbai alone, and 50 of them are on oxygen support. 10% of beds are now occupied.
This is very concerning and we'd better get really serious.
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Delighted to share that
@WestlandBooks
will publish my second book. Only while touring with my first book did I get a sense if just how much concern people have over figuring out what's credible. I hope my new book can help people work through the fog of misinformation.
We are pleased to announce the new book by the brilliant
@Rukmini
'How to Talk to Your WhatsApp Uncle and Other Essential Tools for Survival', publishing in
@ContextIndia
in late 2023.
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3. The scale of under-reporting suggested from cities like Mumbai and Chennai was modest. But with the caveat that all excess deaths are not from covid, the excess mortality in Apr-May 2021 in MP was *42* times the official covid death toll.
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10,000 new cases today between just three cities - Mumbai, Pune and Delhi. The rate of growth in daily new cases has been quite frightening over the last few days.
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I mean...there is no part of this that is true, except that he is the PM and is in Surat
PM Narendra Modi in Surat: There used to be rapes in this country earlier too, it is a shame that we still hear about such cases. Now, culprits are hanged within 3 days, 7days, 11 days & a month. Steps are being taken continuously to get daughters justice & results are evident.
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Excited to announce that I'm joining The Huffington Post to work on data and innovative storytelling. Ideas welcome as always!
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This is an incredibly heroic account of a young journalist testing positive after putting her life on the line not just to report but to help, written in the most matter-of-fact manner. It's the Mumbai-est story, in that respect.
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Thanks Indian Express,
@SreenivasanJain
,
@PadmajaJoshi
and several other journalists for clearly unmasking the perpetrators of Sunday's right wing violence in JNU.
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(Thread) I looked at data from 627 districts and over 1.5 lakh health facilities for the last few months and years, and what I found was very worrying. Medical services declined across the board in March 2020.
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URGENT APPEAL: Some folks are working on taking forward the work of , which stops operations on Oct 31.
@DataKindBLR
have done most of the code work. We now need a team of volunteers (NO TECH SKILLS REQUIRED) to commit ONE HOUR every five days or so.
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I'm back! After taking 9 months off work for my second baby, I'm back to work. I'm working independently now; I have a few projects coming up that I'm excited to soon be able to talk about. I'm still focused on data, but also getting into creative storytelling.
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Can't understand the hand-wringing over NOTA. At 1.4% of votes polled in Madhya Pradesh, it's actually lower than it was in 2013 (1.9%). NOTA in every election everywhere is in the region of 2%. What's different this time is that it was a close election; NOTA is not the story.
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Should we be confident of the official statistics on coronavirus cases and deaths in India? Unfortunately - no. Thread:
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In light of the debate over marital rape, a reminder: if you actually ask women, almost all the sexual violence they face is from husbands
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4 and last. Keep pushing for more data from all states, friends!
cc
@muradbanaji
@jburnmurdoch
@ArielKarlinsky
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Many of us spend a lot of time getting vexed about shouty anchors and the "state of journalism in India". This week it hit me - the state of journalism in India is superb. What outstanding journalists we have - I feel so lucky I get to read their reporting. Here are three:
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It's nearly the end of the year, and it's about time we call out the National Crime Record Bureau, and the Ministry of Home Affairs that it is under, for the appalling - and worsening - state of India's crime data.
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At a quick glance, the 2017-18 Periodic Labour Force Survey released by the NSSO this evening confirms the historically bad employment numbers reported by
@someshjha7
four months ago. Truly bad faith for the govt to have suppressed this data until it won re-election.
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The increase is in Bhopal and Indore yes, but also in smaller cities and rural districts
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Accused of stealing a wallet containing Rs 200 (he strenuously denied having done it to me), bail bond set at Rs 10,000. He had nothing. Offence - 3 months, time taken for conviction 1+ year. That one year broke him (and introduced him to drugs).
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The Rukmini Effect: a phenomenon in data journalism where a government website immediately dies if I try to extract data from it for more than two minutes.
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I was at the Times of India at the time and reported it:
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He had been picked on charges of stealing a wallet containing Rs 200. For one entire year he remained in Tihar after being granted bail because he did not have the money for a bail bond. His final escape? Conviction. Because the jail term was 3 months.
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Thank you
@tatalitlive
! Thrilled and honoured. Thanks to
@karthikavk
@amritatalwar
,
@WestlandBooks
and
@LabyrinthAgency
who share this with me. And thanks to my Mumbai hype crew
@smitagnair
,
@supriyan
and
@mrajshekhar
.
Look who won the Tata Literature Live First Book Award! Congratulations
@Rukmini
!
@ContextIndia
@WestlandBooks
#WholeNumbersAndHalfTruths
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Things in Maharashtra have got really terrible really fast: today the state has detected over 23,000 new covid cases, one of the worst days since the beginning of the pandemic :(
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Within the next four years, Kerala and Tamil Nadu will see their first *real* declines in working age populations. There's a global depopulation conversation going on - India needs to join it for some uniquely Indian reasons. For The Hindu w/
@ramkyatreya
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Please read the full piece for the documents, real testimonies and expert views -
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A privilege and a pleasure to speak to Karan Thapar about counting covid deaths in India
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Mithali Raj is 86 runs away from becoming the greatest run-scorer of all time.
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Extremely important piece in the covid mortality "puzzle". Essential reporting by a city reporter here.
Deaths due to Heart Attack have 🔼 6 fold in Mumbai in 2021 (Jan-June).
2018 : 8,601
2019 : 5,849
2020 : 5,633
2021 : 17,880 in 6 months
Source of data : BMC
Pre
#COVID19
,
#Cancer
was highest.
@amitsurg
@AskDrShashank
@DrJoyeeta
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Some quick takeaways (more detailed to follow later):
1. We shouldn't assume that excess mortality in less developed states will be at the relatively modest scale of that in big cities (Chennai, Kolkata, Mumbai)
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For anyone who would like to help him, the
@MumbaiMirror
team has shared these bank details with me.
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I compiled over 50 indicators on child health from a new national survey conducted by the government, and found Gujarat at the absolute bottom
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Please read this piece by
@jyotiyadaav
who brought to light the tragic story of the elderly journalist who died unable to get medical attention in Lucknow yesterday. Please read to understand the collapse of health systems and the murderous centralisation
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I wrote for
@guardian
about India's second wave.
(Thank you to all the local field reporters who have brought us the stories that help us know what's really going on.)
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Tonight at 8 pm, I will be hosting a Twitter Spaces discussion on covid death reporting with
@dhanyarajendran
,
@aashishg_
and
@muradbanaji
. We'll first talk about four dimensions of the problem and then throw it open to you for questions and comments. Do join.
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Excited to share that I'll be a Visiting Fellow at the Centre for the Advanced Study of India at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, through October this year. Looking forward to this talk and to lots more!
Very excited to present our Fall 2022 events lineup! (in partnership with
@SouthAsiaCenter
,
@PennHistory
,
@UPennAnth
,
@SociologyatPenn
,
@pdri_info
, Penn Economics, Penn CPW, PIER, Penn History and Sociology of Science) Read more & register here:
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2. The second wave struck hard (seen this in Chennai and MP now) so we shouldn't keep relying on some 2020 data that we have to assume that there wasn't a covid-related surge in deaths
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A story of Indian data in four acts:
Act I: hearing of the trouble people were having in accessing routine health services during the first lockdown, I looked up National Health Mission (NHM) Health Management Information System (HMIS) data and wrote this
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In all, between January 1 and May 31, 2021, AP saw 130,000 excess deaths (compared to the 2018-19 average). Not all of these will have been deaths from covid, but for perspective, the excess mortality was 34 times the official toll from covid.
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I really do live in Chennai now; neighbourhood tea guy is selling tea at Re 1 for movie star Ajith's birthday
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