Select published works
Original data analysis:
Groceries to gold: How UPI micro-payments reshaped spending habits [03 Dec 2025; analysis of NPCI data on UPI transactions]
How India sleeps: New study maps a nation’s bedtime woes, in 15 charts [12 Sept 2025; analysis of raw data of Time Use Survey] (Additional: Marriage impact, Gen Z vs millennials, doctors vs techies | Backstory: How I measured the sleeping patterns of 450,000 Indians)
Karnataka’s migrant base is the most educated, youngest in India [19 Jul 2024; analysis of raw data of NSS’ Multiple Indicator Survey]
The sorry state of fundraising at India’s NGOs [05 Nov 2023]
Dull international travel drags down aviation recovery [06 Sept 2023]
What interests Indians on Wikipedia [26 Jul 2023]
Electricity use plunges in North, West India due to summer rains [30 Jun 2023]
Does your state face an inflation curse? [12 Jun 2023; analysis of long-term state-wise inflation data]
How Indians move within the country, in charts [15 Mar 2023; analysis of raw data of NSS’ Multiple Indicator Survey]
What Indians eat and drink, in five charts [02 Jun 2022; analysis of NFHS-5]
Why India’s new traffic law failed to curb road accidents [13 Oct 2020]
Self-made billionaires now dominate India’s rich list, not dynasts [13 Sept 2020]
What Lok Sabha data show: Modi likes being amidst nature, Gandhi likes aikido [05 Sept 2020]
Shivaji Maharaj top page on Marathi Wikipedia, Guru Granth Sahib on Punjabi [15 Aug 2020]
Is the golden age of private tuition over in India? [12 Aug 2020]
How Hindi films edged closer to Hollywood over the past decade [12 Jul 2020]
Education not diminishing India’s preference for boys [12 May 2016]
The connection between self-immolation and domestic violence [09 May 2016]
Explainers:
Some AQI trackers show Delhi at 1,500. The official index says 500—here’s why [23 Oct 2025]
What the World Bank’s new poverty line means for India [09 Jun 2025]
India’s official ‘data fog’ on covid toll is finally gone. Here’s what we know. [08 May 2025]
Are Trump’s tariff rates made up? Here’s how they have been calculated [03 Apr 2025]
New covid death estimate: Does Indian govt’s rebuttal add up? [21 Jul 2024]
Consumption data lays bare India’s deep inequality [19 Jun 2024]
What the long-due consumption survey data shows—and what it doesn’t [01 Mar 2024]
Did 250 million Indians exit poverty? Explaining the math behind the data [17 Jan 2024]
Poor no longer? Dimensions of poverty in India [18 Jul 2023]
The fangs of poverty that India is fighting, in charts [13 Jul 2023]
Why Air Quality Index numbers are at odds [27 Oct 2022]
What WHO’s data on excess deaths reveals [06 May 2022]
What official data says about Covid-year excess deaths [05 May 2022]
Is our country really as hungry as they say? [19 Oct 2021]
Why does the same part of Delhi show different Air Quality readings at the same time? (09 Nov 2019)
YouGov-Mint-CPR surveys:
The great Indian diet challenge: do we really know what’s healthy? [29 Oct 2024]
India’s middle-class riddle: How much do you need to be called rich? [21 Oct 2024]
Shades of pessimism ahead of a heated election season [03 Mar 2024]
The news sources that Indians will trust and distrust this poll season [18 Feb 2024]
Urban millennials in India have had much to reveal in five years [29 Aug 2023]
The population puzzle: What Indians feel [15 Aug 2023]
How India spends, travels, invests, in five charts [06 Mar 2023]
In 2023, your remote work comes at a cost [22 Feb 2023]
Optimism is back but inflation casts a shadow [20 Feb 2023]
Most are happy with digital world, except these Indians [18 Aug 2022]
India@75 special: A portrait of the evolving Indian [15 Aug 2022]
Price rise has pummelled our poorest [27 Jan 2022]
Electoral data and analysis of election candidates:
How an INDIA undercurrent tamed the Modi wave in the 2024 election, in 3 charts [5 Jun 2024]
BJP’s Surat victory: From unopposed wins to crowded contests, what data shows [25 Apr 2024]
The make-or-break ingredient for winning a Lok Sabha election [09 Apr 2024]
History of Lok Sabha polls in numbers: More women in fray, fewer independent MPs [17 Mar 2024]
Half of Telangana MLAs face serious criminal cases [05 Dec 2023]
Crime and politics: the bond is getting deeper [07 Dec 2022]
Why the upcoming poll season matters, in five charts [08 Feb 2022]
The electoral calculus in Bihar, explained in 10 charts [26 Oct 2020]
Electoral bonds:
Electoral bonds are dead, but the data lives to tell the tale [02 Apr 2024]
Bonds of loyalty: what ECI data on political funding shows [02 Apr 2024]
Electoral bonds: 7 Sensex cos in the list, Coimbatore-based firm is top donor [14 Mar 2024]
Other work:
India Inc. regains presence in Padma honours list [26 Jan 2025] | Business barely makes a mark in Padma roll call [26 Jan 2024]
Decoding India’s religious tourism rush, in charts [23 Jan 2024]
Cricket World Cup: Here’s the biggest USP of the 2023 edition [23 Oct 2023]
In charts: The story of how UPI is going places [08 Oct 2023]
How covid hit basic reading and maths skills [19 Jan 2023]
The numbers behind India’s airport chaos [21 Dec 2022]
The trouble with star ratings of packaged food [22 Nov 2022]
In smartphone age, look at who’s watching TV news [26 Oct 2022]
How the yoga economy is growing, in five charts [22 Jun 2022]
Why Wordle beats all puzzles, old and new [24 Mar 2022]
The great Indian water challenge, in four charts [23 Mar 2021]
Govt incentives for girls appear to work—somewhat [16 Jun 2016]
$1 trillion extra GDP by 2020—if all Indians get online [30 May 2016]
Book review:
The truths and lies behind charts and data [08 Jun 2023]
Data-driven coverage of Covid-19 pandemic:
Amid calls for shorter booster gap, experts seek more research, data [29 Apr 2022]
These poll-bound states lag at vaccinations as covid rages on [10 Jan 2022]
Clamour for booster shots grows, but experts say it’s too early for India [08 Dec 2021]
Jabs find way to poor states finally as rich ones get nearly done [16 Oct 2021]
Govt’s data apathy harming pandemic response: Experts [21 Jun 2021]
Vax plan must adhere to a clear formula to overcome disparities [14 Jun 2021]
States may not return to pre-covid debt levels by FY26: Finance Comm roadmap [08 Feb 2021]
Year-end covid curve could be shaped by past festival lessons [23 Dec 2020]
Lost school time might lower lifetime earnings for lockdown-hit children [11 Nov 2020]
Lockdown has put 321 mln Indian children away from school, widened learning gaps [25 May 2020]
Opinion writing:
Objectifying women is a form of social validation for young men. [20 Oct 2017, Scroll.in]
Fake news is the new opium of the masses [13 Sept 2017, HuffPost India]
Media literacy must become an essential part of school curricula [10 Sept 2017, Newslaundry]
Some like it soft: Indians and satire [11 Mar 2016, The Hoot]
Murthal rapes: the risks of premature news [29 Feb 2016, The Hoot]