Deep data dive, shallow approach

Whole Numbers and Half Truths: What Data Can and Cannot Tell Us about Modern India

Author: Rukmini S

Publisher: Westland

Price: Rs 699

Rukmini S’ book presents an exciting interplay of data to understand contemporary issues but rushes through most of the topics, leaving the reader craving for more.

In the mid-2000s, for instance, the influence of technology was growing among all economies, and developing economies became one of the fastest adopters of mobile phones. Studies were conducted to determine access to technology in countries such as India and, further, to evaluate gender dimensions. One such study aimed to determine access to mobile phones among women. Though the researchers were emphatic about results showing the wide availability of mobile phones among women of all strata, they did not ask how these devices were used. Another study found that recharges of those mobile phones were still controlled by men, so women did not have as much access as the earlier research perceived. The lesson: Data can be misconstrued unless put in context.

Rukmini S’ book aims to illustrate such relations with data. The author, a data journalist, tries to decode contemporary trends through the prism of surveys, studies, and government reports. Whole Numbers and Half Truths: What Data Can and Cannot Tell Us about Modern India is divided into 11 chapters, including a conclusion detailing how India lives in the 21st century. The introduction is intriguing because the author forays into the world of Indian data or the lack of it to explain what we can and cannot decipher. Although one might assume that each chapter would have its own writing style given the diversity in topics and subjects that are handled, the author sticks to a single format, which makes reading somewhat monotonous and tedious. To be sure, the author does try to connect data with events to make each subject interesting, but the examples are few and far between.

Besides, if you have been following the author’s works over the years, then, sadly, there is nothing new in this book. The book appears to be a compendium of articles written for various publications over the years with more structure and better prose. The analysis is to the point in some chapters; however, there are glaring gaps in how data is perceived. The author’s focus is not to present new facts but to break myths surrounding existing information. Unfortunately, the approach causes the author to miss out on many key data points that could have better shaped her ideas. Most chapters, thus, leave the reader wanting more. The chapter on how India tangles with courts and cops, for instance, does not feature the problems in the judiciary or the fact that support staff and infrastructure is missing in most places for the justice system to function effectively. The author rushes through each data point to incorporate more topics, leaving a lot to the reader’s imagination. In some areas, the over-reliance on surveys such as Pew leads to the problem of reading too much into data.

Where the author does score well is the ability to start a discussion. Her work certainly compels the reader to think, and she presents a new approach to looking at things. Though many other researchers may not reach the same conclusions as she does, a different viewpoint is still something that is direly needed in this country. In that way, Rukmini S does justice by presenting a contrarian view.

The focus on the missing data is more critical, compelling the reader to question why data is unavailable in specific domains. In this age of technology, it is worth asking what hampers the government’s ability to present more timely information, and why aren’t there more research organisations examining topics in greater depth. The answers may not be available in the book, but it is a good starting point to start a more meaningful discussion on the case of missing data.

As with the researchers that exalted mobile phone usage by South Asia’s women, the book misses the point by focusing on just one data aspect. It is possible, of course, that given her formidable reputation as a data journalist, the author is probably being held to a higher standard. In either case, the book does not do justice to the topics. A better idea would have been to divide the book into parts and spend more time decoding certain issues.

All the same, I would say the book is a must-read for data journalists. For all its faults, it provides lessons on how to broach a topic.