Best of BS Opinion: Growth optimism, Star caste of hockey, and more

Here are the top BS Opinion articles of the day.

From the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund to the government and sundry economists, economic recovery in India is pegged between 8.3 and 10.5 per cent. The reality is that against the 7.3 per cent drop in GDP last year these numbers work out to an average annual growth of 1 per cent – which compare marginally unfavourably with global GDP performance over the past two years. So is this new optimism justified? T N Ninan weighs the evidence here.
 

In other views today:

 

It's impossible to field an Indian hockey team that doesn’t reflect the diversity, the united colours, better than any other. Shows that a sport, or a nation, will prosper with growing inclusivity, writes Shekhar Gupta

 

Research shows that bronze medal winners at the Olympics score higher on the happiness scale than silver medal winners. Sandeep Goyal examines this curious counterfactual trend here

 

Aditi Phadnis traces the winning ways of Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, whose promotion of hockey in India has paid off handsomely at the Olympics. Read it here
 

QUOTE OF THE DAY

 

“There is a new trend to malign the judiciary when favourable orders aren’t passed in favour of high-profile people”

 

Supreme Court bench during a hearing on the death of Uttam Anand, additional district and sessions judge in Dhanbad