Vikas Kumar

Christianity and Politics in Tribal India: Baptist Missionaries and Naga Nationalism by G Kanato Chophy, SUNY Press, 2022; pp 478, $37.95.

Read more about Naga Nationalism and Christianity

The Transition to Big Data in India

Vol. 56, Issue No. 47, 20 Nov, 2021

Vikas Kumar

Lives of Data: Essays on Computational Cultures from India edited by Sandeep Mertia and foreword by Ravi Sundaram, Amsterdam: Institute of Network Cultures, 2020; pp 160, price not indicated.

Read more about The Transition to Big Data in India

Manipur’s Population Conundrum

Vol. 55, Issue No. 48, 05 Dec, 2020

Ankush Agrawal, Vikas Kumar

This paper examines Manipur’s census statistics for the period between 1991 and 2011. It argues that conventional demographic factors cannot explain the abnormal population growth rates reported in parts of northern Manipur, and that the abnormalities in the headcount are instead associated with competition for seats in the state legislative assembly. Manipur’s experience is used to draw attention to systemic problems related to the inadequacy of metadata supplied by the census, lack of guidelines for correction of census data, impact of political interference on data quality, and cascading effect of errors in fundamental statistics, such as headcount, on other government statistics.

Read more about Manipur’s Population Conundrum

On Gautam Navlakha’s Jail Transfer

Vol. 55, Issue No. 23, 06 Jun, 2020

Radhika Chitkara, Vikas Kumar

.

Read more about On Gautam Navlakha’s Jail Transfer

Decongest Jails: PUDR Issues Statement Amid the COVID-19 Pandemic

Vol. 55, Issue No. 13, 28 Mar, 2020

Peoples Union for Democratic Rights (PUDR) demands the temporary decongestion of jails in view of the COVID-19 public health crisis. The spread of infections to places of incarceration and detention adversely affects the employees of these institutions and prolongs the duration of the disease in the community at large.

Read more about Decongest Jails: PUDR Issues Statement Amid the COVID-19 Pandemic

A Cartographic Mess

Vol. 52, Issue No. 29, 22 Jul, 2017

Ankush Agrawal, Vikas Kumar

Population and area are the two most essential statistics describing any jurisdiction. Area is the more fundamental of the two because population is defined for a given area. The anomalies in estimates of Nagaland’s area are examined.

Read more about A Cartographic Mess

Infirmities in NSSO Data for Nagaland

Vol. 49, Issue No. 12, 22 Mar, 2014

Ankush Agrawal, Vikas Kumar

The samples of the National Sample Survey Office are unlikely to be representative of Nagaland. This is so not because of the size of the sample, but because of the arbitrary restriction to villages within 5 kms of bus routes, whereas the bulk of the rural and tribal population is located farther from the roads. Further, it is argued that the Census of India data, which is used as the sampling frame, is found to be unreliable for Nagaland.

Read more about Infirmities in NSSO Data for Nagaland

Nagaland's Demographic Somersault

Vol. 48, Issue No. 39, 28 Sep, 2013

Ankush Agrawal, Vikas Kumar

After two decades of very high growth, Nagaland's population declined between 2001 and 2011 though there were no epidemical diseases, wars, famines, natural calamities, political disturbances, or any significant changes in the state's socio-economic characteristics. This decline is unprecedented in the history of independent India. It has been shown that the census estimates of the state's population for 1981-2001 are internally inconsistent. In the light of this, this paper uses information from the Sample Registration System and National Family Health Surveys to examine the reliability of the census figures in Nagaland between 1971 and 2011. It suggests that the census estimates are inconsistent with these sources of information.

Read more about Nagaland's Demographic Somersault

Lokpal Bill: Lessons from the Karnataka Lokayukta's Performance

Vol. 47, Issue No. 01, 07 Jan, 2012

Narayana A, Sudhir Krishnaswamy, Vikas Kumar

The debate on the design of the Lokpal has been premised on the questionable assumption that what is needed to combat corruption is a powerful national institution to prosecute and convict the corrupt, but the debate has not drawn on the experience with the existing institutional models, namely the Lokayuktas in the states. An empirical analysis of the performance of the Lokayukta in Karnataka between 1995 and 2011 suggests that any anti-corruption agency, no matter how powerful, that is oriented towards criminal conviction is bound to fail in the absence of judicial reforms.