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Data: ‘State Food Safety Index’ Scores Witness a Continuous Decline in Most States
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
June 26, 2023
The 5th State Food Safety Index for the year 2022-23 was released recently by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. Barring Punjab, Kerala, and Arunachal Pradesh, most states witnessed a decline in their scores, continuing the declining trend over the last few years.
Food Safety is critical since access to adequate, safe, and nutritious food is key to sustaining life and promoting good health. In other words, food safety, nutrition and food security are interlinked. The United Nations first announced World Food Safety Day in 2018. Since then, globally, 07 June is celebrated as World Food Safety Day by WHO, FAO, Member States, and other organizations to spread awareness and call for action to prevent, detect, and manage risks of foodborne diseases.
The aim of ‘World Food Safety Day’ is to encourage everyone, from the producer to the consumer, to adopt and expect food safety standards along the food supply chain. This is expected to reduce foodborne illness, which is almost entirely preventable. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), foodborne diseases affect 1 in 10 people worldwide each year. On average, every day, 1.6 million people fall sick due to unsafe food and 340 children under 5 years of age die due to these preventable foodborne diseases. Of the estimated 4.2 lakh people who lose their lives every year by consuming contaminated food, children under 5 years of age constitute about 40%, with 1,25,000 deaths every year.
According to WHO, there are also about 200 diseases, ranging from diarrhea to cancers, that are caused by consuming unsafe food, and some of these can be fatal. Foodborne illnesses usually are infectious or toxic in nature and often not visible to the plain eye. These are caused by organisms like bacteria, viruses, or parasites or by toxic chemical substances that enter the body through food and water.
‘Food standards save lives’ was the theme for 2023
The theme for World Food Safety Day 2023 was ‘Food standards save lives’ which aimed at recognizing the importance of food standards across the world in keeping consumers safe, and in underpinning an equitable trade in food. In India, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) lays down science-based standards for articles of food and regulates their manufacture, storage, distribution, sale and import to ensure the availability of safe and wholesome food for human consumption.
Five types of parameters are considered for the Index
The FSSAI releases the State Food Safety Index (SFSI) on World Food Safety Day every year to encourage States/UTs to improve and work towards food safety in their jurisdiction. Five significant categories of parameters are considered for calculating the Index. These are Human Resources and Institutional Data, Compliance, Food Testing – Infrastructure and Surveillance, Training & Capacity Building, and Consumer Empowerment. A detailed explainer by Factly on the different parameters considered, their weightage, and the validation of the data is available here.
For better comparison, the States/UTs are classified into the following categories for the assessment:
SFSI Report for 2022-23 was released recently
The 5th State Food Safety Index for the year 2022-23 was released recently by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. Kerala, Punjab, and Tamil Nadu are leading among large states while Goa, Manipur, and Sikkim lead among small states, and Jammu & Kashmir, Delhi, and Chandigarh are among union territories. The data for this story has been taken from Dataful.
The SFSI scores have dropped for almost all the states and union territories in 2022-23 compared to the previous year. The only exemptions to this trend are Punjab, Kerala, and Arunachal Pradesh. While Punjab’s score improved by 12.5, Kerala’s score improved by 6 and became the highest scorer in 2022-23. Despite Arunachal Pradesh’s improvement in score by 4.5, the state’s score is only 25.5, half of that of the top scorer in the small states category.
Bihar’s score has dropped by nearly 40 points in 5 years
Among the large states, the scores have been continuously declining in the states of Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Assam, and Chhattisgarh throughout the last five years. Bihar’s score dropped by nearly 40 points from 60 in 2018-19 to 20.5 in 2022-23 to become the worst-performing state. Andhra Pradesh’s score dropped by 33 points, Chhattisgarh by 24 points, Assam by 21 points, Haryana by 20 points, and Uttar Pradesh by 7.5 points. Meanwhile, states like Tamil Nadu and Gujarat which were consistently among the top 3 states with an average of 70 points saw a significant drop to 56.5 and 48.5 respectively in 2022-23.
At the same time, states like Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Odisha, and Jharkhand, which saw improvement in scores in the last 3-4 years, also reported a drop in the latest assessment.
SFSI Score is below 20 for Mizoram, Puducherry, and Lakshadweep
Among the small states, Goa’s score continues to be the highest despite a drastic drop from 84 to 51 in the five years. In Tripura, Meghalaya, and Mizoram, the scores have dropped by more than 20 points each. Mizoram’s score is the least among all states with 14.5 points.
Jammu and Kashmir continues to be the top scorer among union territories for the third consecutive year with a score of 59.5, higher than most large states. On the other hand, Lakshadweep has the lowest score with a score of 4 and Puducherry has a score of 12.
Outstanding achievement of top performing states have been given in the latest report
Scores across types of parameters reveal that the reduction in score has been predominantly in Human Resources and Institutional Data, Compliance, and Food Testing – Infrastructure and Surveillance. Unlike the reports from previous years, the report for 2022-23 also mentions some of the outstanding achievements of the top-performing states. In Chandigarh, Goa, and Tamil Nadu, their performance with respect to Consumer Empowerment through emphasizing on the same through engagement in FSSAI’s Eat Right India (ERI) initiatives as well as awareness programs have been highlighted.
Food Safety Compliance in the states of Jammu and Kashmir, Manipur, and Punjab has also been highlighted. In these places, large numbers of food inspections and samples have been lifted to ensure compliance with safety regulations. Further, these states have issued a high number of licenses and registrations.
Food Testing Infrastructure in Kerala has been exceptional since all State Food Testing Laboratories in the state hold NABL accreditation and are notified under the FSS Act,2006. All sanctioned positions of Food Analysts have been filled, ensuring the availability of qualified professionals for food testing and analysis. All Food Safety on Wheels (FSWs) are operational and actively engaged in conducting testing, training, and awareness programs related to food safety in the state.
The current number of Food Safety Officers (FSOs) and Designated Officers (DOs) in Sikkim aligns with the recommended ideal strength. Regular District Level Advisory Committee meetings are also conducted in the state. Timely disposal of adjudication cases has also been a positive practice in Sikkim.
In Delhi, a considerable number of Food Safety Training & Certification (FoSTaC) trainings have been conducted through which food handlers are imparted knowledge and skills. A high number of Food Safety supervisors have been trained for the effective implementation of best practices in food safety and hygiene in the UT.
Decline in scores is concerning
The decline in the performance of states with respect to ensuring food safety is a cause for concern. Ensuring access to safe and nutritious food is vital considering the significant impact of nutrition and health on the development of a nation. Moreover, Goal 2 of the Sustainable Development Goals calls for ending hunger and ensuring access to all people, especially the poor and people in vulnerable situations, including infants, to safe, nutritious, and sufficient food all year round by 2030. Immediate measures must be initiated to improve the scores in the coming year and arrest the declining trend.


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State Governments' expenditure on Subsidies increased significantly on account of COVID-19
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
December 21, 2021
RBI released the latest edition of the ‘States Finances: A Study of Budgets’ report. As per the data presented in this report, while the revenue expenditure on wages & salaries, and operations & maintenance as a share of GSDP has decreased over the years, the expenditure on subsidy has increased on account of COVID-19.
Like in the case of the Union government, State governments also incur various types of expenditure. The expenditure is in the form of both revenue and capital expenditure. Revenue expenditure is more like operational expenditure and is recurring in nature while capital expenditure is more on time for building assets. Few of the major heads under revenue expenditure incurred by states include – interest payments, wages & salaries, pensions, subsidies, etc. Based on the revenue of the state & its spending priorities, the expenditure of states on various items changes from state to state.
In this story, we look at the trends in revenue expenditure of the states for a few of the key heads – salaries & wages, operations & maintenance, subsidies, etc.  The data provided in the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) “States Finances: A Study of Budgets” report is used for the purpose of analysis. The analysis of the trends is made as a ratio of the specific expenditure type and GSDP (Gross of State Domestic Product) of the respective state. The GSDP numbers used in the story are from the data provided in RBI’s Handbook of Statistics of Indian States. GSDP at current prices with the base year as 2011-12 is considered.
Expenditure as a share of GSDP on Wages & Salaries: Increased in certain states while it decreased in others
The trends in expenditure as a share of GSDP on wages & salaries have varied over the 10-year period from 2011-12 to 2020-21.  Data is not available for certain years & certain states. Further, the expenditure on wages & salaries for 2020-21 is revised estimates and not actuals.
Here is what the data has to say for a few of the states.
Jharkhand has a significant fall in the proportion of expenditure towards Operations & Maintenance (O&M)
Compared to expenditure incurred on wages & salaries by any State government, the expenditure incurred on Operations & Maintenance (O&M) is lower. Analysis of expenditure incurred on O&M shows that barring a few states, the proportion of this expenditure compared to GSDP has largely remained the same. The expenditure increased at par with the increase in GSDP without any additional burden. Here is what the numbers say.
Increase in Subsidy expenditure during 2020-21 across most of the states.
A new statement is included in RBI’s 2020 report of  “State finances: A study of Budgets report” that provides additional information on subsidies by the state governments since 2018-19. The type of subsidies included in this expenditure is not specifically mentioned, but a review of the report indicates that all expenditures incurred by the states in the form of extending subsidies – to industries, farmers, food, etc. are included.
As per the data provided in the RBI report, most of the states have witnessed an increase in the subsidy expenditure in 2020-21, as per the revised estimates. The increase in 2020-21 could be due to the support extended by the respective state government in view of the COVID-19 pandemic. The subsidies extended during the pandemic were in the form of food, sustenance expenditure, subsidies to industries (especially MSMEs), etc.
Revenue expenditure as a share of GSDP reduced except for Subsidies
Among the three types of revenue expenditure by state governments that have been analysed in the story, it is observed that for most of the states, the expenditure incurred on wages & salaries and operations & maintenance has reduced as a proportion of GSDP. While there are variances over the years for many of the states without a clear trend of increase or decline, there is an overall decline in the expenditure on these two items as a share of state GSDP. Though the expenditure has increased in absolute terms, the higher growth of GSDP meant that the proportion of expenditure has actually reduced.
However, subsidies present a different picture with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in February 2020, the subsidy expenditure increased significantly for most states. If states whose data for all the three years (2018-19 to 2020-21) is available are considered, then the subsidy expenditure increased by 8.48% in 2019-20 and by 12.48% in 2020-21.
Featured Image: State Governments’ expenditure on Subsidies

source: news-factly

created: December 21, 2021

license: Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

author: Sai Krishna Muthyanolla


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States increasingly rely on advances & OD facilities to tide over the pandemic induced fiscal stress
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
July 16, 2021
The RBI’s advisory committee that looked into the advances & overdraft facilities to states recently submitted its report. Data till February 2021 indicates that States have increasingly relied on ways & means advances, special drawing facilities & overdraft to tide over the pandemic-induced fiscal stress. This is in addition to the market borrowings.
The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the economy is quite evident through the GDP and tax collection data. The nationwide lockdown during the first wave of COVID-19 infection in 2020 and the mitigation efforts through localized lockdowns & curfews by the State governments during the second wave, resulted in disruption in the economic activity. These disruptions had a domino effect on various sectors including the revenues earned by the government.
In an earlier story, it was observed that there is a shortfall in the ‘Direct Tax’ revenues earned by the Central government, with the increased Excise duty on Petrol coming to the rescue. In another story, we have noted that there is a fall in the revenues of the States as well due to the pandemic. This had resulted in a 57% increase in the market borrowings of the State governments during the first half of 2020-21, to manage the fiscal deficit. In addition to the market loans, States depend on other sources as well to make up for the deficit due to the loss in revenues. In this story, we take a look at the different sources that the States rely on for fiscal deficit management and the trends during the pandemic.
RBI provides financial accommodation to the States to manage cashflows
Similar to the Union government, states incur various expenses. These include expenditure towards various schemes, administrative expenses, interest payments, etc.  As part of the annual budget, the states plan the expenditure based on the revenue estimates for the year. However, in reality, various factors influence the State’s ability to meet such expenditure and result in fiscal deficit leading to cashflow issues. There could be issues because of the mismatch between estimated revenues during a particular month vis-à-vis estimated expenditure or an unexpected shortfall in the revenues or an increase in the expenditure. Such situations were common during the lockdown months when the revenues plummeted, but the expenditure increased because of the various welfare schemes.
To help the states tide over such shortfalls in revenue and to meet their expenditure, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) provides financial accommodation to the States.  This is done in the form of Ways & Means Advances (WMA).  Section 17(5) of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Act, 1934 governs the facilitation of WMA by RBI to the states.
WMA is of two types:
WMA: The extent to which the states can opt for WMA is reviewed periodically. A committee set up by RBI reviews the criteria that determine the WMA limits. When WMA was introduced in 1937, the WMA limit was kept equal to the minimum balance of the respective State governments which was later revised periodically as a multiple of the respective states’ minimum balance. Since 1999, an Informal Advisory Committee (IAC) is constituted by RBI to work out the criteria for setting WMA limits.
Currently, an Expenditure-based WMA limit is being followed. The current recommendations were provided by a new committee constituted in August 2019. Before the committee could come up with its recommendations, the pandemic broke out in 2020 and hence an interim report for 2020-21 was released.
In response to the fiscal stress to the State governments due to pandemic, the WMA limits for all the states were increased by 30% on 01 April’2020 i.e., to Rs. 41.9 thousand crores from the earlier Rs. 32.25 thousand crores. This was further increased to Rs. 51.56 thousand crores on 17 April 2020. While these measures were initially valid until 17 September 2020, the RBI has recently extended this to 30 September 2021.
Special Drawing Facility (SDF): Apart from WMA, the State Governments are further provided the option of Special Drawing Facility (SDF). This facility was in place since 1953 and is provided against the collateral of their investments in marketable securities issued by the Government of India. While a limit was set earlier, the IAC has decided to allow the states to draw freely against their holdings of GoI securities since 1999.
RBI provisions for Overdraft Facility beyond WMA & SDF
In case the States require additional financial resources beyond WMA & SDF, there is also a provision for Overdraft Facility (ODF).
Overdraft Facility (OD): The States can borrow money from RBI beyond WMA & SDF, to adjust the fiscal position, but are required to pay back immediately.  When advances to State Governments exceed their SDF and WMA limits, an OD facility is provided. The regulations and limits on the usage of ODF have evolved over the period of time. As per the current norms, States governments are allowed to run on OD for up to 14 consecutive days.
In case it extends beyond this time limit, the RBI & related agencies will stop the payments related to the respective State Governments. The State governments are allowed to have OD for 5 consecutive working days. However, if this is occurring more than once, the RBI stops the payments irrespective of the 14-day limit. Overall OD should not exceed 36 days in a quarter.
All the advances granted to the State governments i.e., WMA, SDF & OD attract interest on the outstanding amount.
In view of COVID-19, the RBI has provided greater flexibility in OD facility to help tide over the mismatches in their cashflows. As per these interim measures:
This facility was provided up to 31 March 2021. Based on the recommendations by IAC this flexibility was discontinued and the rules around overdraft were reverted to earlier ones.
Utilization of SDF & WMA increased during 2020-21 compared to earlier
As stated earlier in reference to an earlier story, the reliance of States on market loans has increased in 2020-21 compared to the earlier years, in view of the pandemic. This was also observed even in the case of the financial support extended by RBI to the States in the form of WMA, SDF & OD.
As per the ‘Report of the Advisory Committee on Ways & Means Advances to State Governments’, the Average utilization of WMA during 2020-21 (until February 2021) was Rs. 4.12 thousand crores across all the States. This is nearly twice the utilization in 2019-20. The Average Utilization is derived by dividing the total Utilization by the number of days the facility was utilized by the states.
An increase in the Average utilization can be seen even in the case of SDF as well as OD during 2020-21 (end of February 2021) compared to the previous years.
Even in the case of Peak utilization i.e., the highest single utilization of the options provided by RBI, the utilization for WMA & SDF was higher compared to the highest utilization in the earlier years. While the increase observed in 2020-21 in WMA, SDF and OD can be attributed to the excess requirement of the states during the pandemic, the increase in dependence on these can be observed in the earlier years as well.
Increase in utilization of WMA, SDF & OD during 2nd & 3rd quarters of 2020-21
The nationwide lockdown was announced during March 2020 and continued till the end of May 2020 post which the economy started to open up in phases.  The impact of the economic slowdown was evident in the reliance of the States on RBI’s financial support during the 2 & 3 quarters of 2020-21.
The greatest utilization across these options was during September 2020.  The increase observed during June 2020 and December 2020 for SDF & WMA is higher compared to the same period in 2019.  While the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic is visible, it ought to be noted that the drawings by the states in 2019-20 were also higher than the earlier the year of 2018-19.
While there is a fall in the drawings for WMA & SDF during the end of 2020-21, the reliance on OD has continued to increase. In fact, February 2021 recorded the highest monthly average for OD, slightly higher than September 2020.
Data indicates that COVID-19 has worsened the already declining fiscal health of the states
The data available in the “Report of the Advisory Committee on Ways & Means Advances to State Governments” up until the end of February 2021 indicates that the pandemic had a severe impact on the fiscal position of the states. This is reflected in the increased borrowings from RBI across all the means i.e., WMA, SDF & OD post lockdown, compared to the earlier years. This is in addition to the increased market borrowings that the states were resorting to.
The other significant aspect is that the increase in reliance on WMA & SDF can be observed even prior to the pandemic. This could be because of the fall in SOTR (States own Tax Revenues) as highlighted in an earlier story.
The increase in ODF at the end of 2020-21, could be an indicator that more states going beyond WMA & SDF to manage their deficit.  While COVID-19 certainly has exacerbated the situation, the decline had set in for a few of the states much prior to COVID-19.
With many states experiencing a more severe 2 wave during March & May 2021, resulting in localized lockdowns during this period, the coming months could witness increased reliance on all these facilities like in 2020.  With early signs of a potential third wave, the fiscal position of the states could worsen unless the vaccination gathers pace, and the economy picks up.
We would look at the other sources that the states are relying on cover the fiscal deficit i.e., Market borrowings, in our next story.


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Data: Steep decline in the Supreme Court’s disposal rate in the last few years
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
August 25, 2022
Pendency in the Indian judicial system has been a cause for concern for many years now. Pendency is plaguing the judicial system at all the levels of the judiciary. Data of the last 10 years indicates that while COVID-19 affected the disposal, the disposal has been declining even before the onset of COVID-19.
Indian Judicial System is fraught with massive pendency of cases. The pendency is observed across all the levels of the judiciary – the Supreme Court, High Courts, District & Subordinate Courts, etc. An increasing number of new cases are filed every year, judicial process delays, and understaffing in courts, are among the reasons cited for this situation.
As per an update provided in Rajya Sabha in July 2022, the strength of High Court Judges in the country is 722 as against the sanctioned strength of 1108. In the case of District and Sub-ordinate courts, the working strength is 19,289 as against the sanctioned strength of 24,631. Even in the case of the Supreme Court, 3 positions are vacant, and it will soon be four once the current Chief Justice of India (CJI) retires on 26 August 2022.
As per data available on the National Judicial Data Grid (NJDG), more than 59.56 lakh cases are pending across all the High Courts in the country as of 24 August 2022. Even in the case of the Supreme Court, more than 71 thousand cases were pending as of 01 August 2022.
In this story, we look at the trends in the disposal and pendency of cases in the Apex Court and look at the initiatives to reduce the backlog of cases in the Supreme Court (SC).
Declining Trend in the Disposal of Cases by Supreme Court
As per an update provided in the recently concluded Monsoon session of Lok Sabha, there were 58,519 pending cases at the beginning of 2012.  Over the next 10-year period, the number of pending cases at the end of the year has seen a varying trend with an increasing trend in the last few years. This is influenced by the number of new cases filed every year as the number of cases disposed in a year.
Over the last three years i.e., 2019 to 2021, the number of pending cases at the beginning of the year showed an increasing trend. There were 65 thousand pending cases pending with the Supreme Court at the beginning of 2021. This is a result of low disposal in 2020 when only 20,670 cases were disposed, which is just over half of the number of cases disposed in the previous year of 2019.
It ought to be noted that in view of the COVID-19 pandemic, Supreme Court did not function for a few months while it turned online for a sustained period. Even the number of new cases filed in the Supreme Court in 2020 was less than during the previous year of 2019.
However, even prior to the onset of the pandemic, there is a declining year-on-year trend in the number of cases being disposed by the Supreme Court. There was also a decline in the number of new cases filed with the Supreme Court in the years prior to the pandemic.
Major fall in the Supreme Court’s disposal rate
As per the response provided in the aforementioned Lok Sabha answer on 05 August 2022, the Supreme Court’s disposal rate was 37.77 in 2021, a slight improvement over 2020 when it was 34.53%.
This Disposal Rate is derived as a percentage of cases disposed by the end of the year compared to the number of pending cases at the beginning of the year. Over the years, there has been a steep decline in the disposal rate. In 2012, 68.7 thousand cases were disposed as against 58.5 thousand cases at the beginning of 2012. During the 10-year period, the disposal rate peaked in 2014, with 92.7 thousand cases disposed as against 66.3 thousand pending cases at the beginning of 2014, with a disposal rate of close to 140%.  Since then, there has been a declining trend, with a more steep decline since 2017. As observed earlier, lower numbers in disposal of cases have resulted in a decline in disposal rate.
Disposal rate of the SC is much lower when all the cases for trial are considered
The earlier disposal rate of the SC is based on the disposal of cases compared to the number of pending cases at the beginning of the year.   However, if the total number of cases up for trial in a particular year is considered (including new cases filed in a particular year), then the disposal rate of the SC goes down further.
The total number of cases up for a trial has reduced in recent years because of the decline in the number of new cases filed in the SC. In 2012, a total of 1.35 lakh cases were up for trial in the SC. Since 2016, there is a decline in the number of cases up for trial. In 2020, there were 85.7 thousand cases that were up for a trial with Supreme Court.
Despite a fall in the number of cases for trial, there is a decline in the disposal rate. This Disposal rate is calculated as a percentage of cases disposed compared to the number of cases up for trial in that year. With this calculation, the disposal rate was 50.7% in 2012. During the 10-year period, it peaked in 2014 at 59.6%. Since then, there is a steady decline.  In the COVID-19-impacted 2020, only about 24% of the cases that were up for trial were disposed by the Apex Court.  The data on the number of new cases filed in 2021 is not yet available.
As the data indicates, despite a fall in the number of new cases filed in the Supreme Court, there is a decline in the disposal of the cases, resulting in a lower disposal rate in the last few years. One hopes that the emphasis on Alternate Dispute Resolution (ADR), could reduce the burden on courts, especially the commercial disputes.


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Data: Student Suicides Increased by More Than 30% Between 2017 And 2021
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
April 13, 2023
Student suicides in premier educational institutions have been in the news recently. Data from NCRB’s ADSI reports indicates that the number of student suicides increased by 32% between 2017 and 2021. The trend reversed in 2017 after a decline.
In the past few weeks, cases of suicides by students pursuing higher education have been reported in mainstream media. Such incidents have been reported from medical colleges, premier institutes like IITs, as well as private colleges. Academic pressure, alleged harassment by faculty, staff, or other students, poor performance in examinations are some of the reasons why students deliberately end their lives. Not just among students, suicide is among the leading causes of death among youth in India and across the globe. Studies have also shown that the COVID-19 pandemic has had profound psychological and social impacts which are expected to have added to these numbers, especially among youth and women. In this context, we look at the trends in suicides among students in the country, including among students in premier institutes.
The National Crime Record Bureau’s (NCRB) Accidental Deaths and Suicides in India (ADSI) report contains comprehensive data on suicides in the country based on the data collated by State/UT police departments. As per the ADSI report, both the number of suicides and the rate of suicides has been increasing in India since 2017 after a decline.
Student suicides increased by 32% between 2017 and 2021
Between 2017 & 2021, the number of suicides increased by over 26% while that among students increased by over 32%. The number of student suicides increased from 9,905 in 2017 to more than 13,000 in 2021. This translates to an average of 35 suicides every day in 2021 or at least 1-2 suicides every hour. Students accounted for 7.6% of the total suicides reported in the country in 2017, which rose to 8.2% in 2020 and dropped to 8% in 2021.
In the year 2020, the number of suicides among students witnessed a sudden increase of 21% contrary to the gradual rise in previous years, which may be due to the pandemic. It is also noteworthy that the share of male students who ended their lives increased from 52% to 56.5% in the five years under consideration.
Maharashtra, accounting for 14% of the suicides, reported the greatest number of incidents in each of the five years
Of the total 56,014 student suicides reported between 2017 and 2021, Maharashtra alone accounted for 14% of the deaths followed by Madhya Pradesh and Tamil Nadu which accounted for about 9% each. Throughout the five years, Maharashtra reported the greatest number of student suicides in the country with an average of 1,571 deaths every year. In 2021, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Odisha, and Jharkhand together accounted for 52% of the student suicides in the country.
The top 15 states/UTs reporting the greatest number of student suicides have together accounted for about 88% of the total student suicides reported in the country in each of these five years.  While most states like Chhattisgarh, Telangana, Gujarat, Kerala, and Andhra Pradesh reported a drop in student suicides in 2018 and a continuous rise since then, West Bengal has reported a continuous drop in cases. The incidents in West Bengal have dropped by 65% from 779 suicides in 2017 to 272 in 2021. In Bihar and Rajasthan, the incidents of student suicides almost doubled in the 5 years. In Odisha, there was a sudden spike in student suicides in 2020. The number rose from 379 in 2019 to nearly four times- 1469 in 2020 before dropping by 43% in 2021.
103 students committed suicides in IITs, IIMs, NITs, AIIMS, and CUs since 2018
While the NCRB data gives information regarding students, it does not differentiate between students pursuing higher education vis-à-vis students pursuing school education. In the recently concluded budget session of the Parliament, questions were raised about the suicides among the students in premier institutes like IITs, IIMs, and NITs. According to a response, a total of 103 students who studied in IITs, IIMs, NITs, AIIMS, and Central Universities committed suicide from 2018 and until 03 April 2023. Of these 103 suicides, 35 were reported from IITs, 29 from Central Universities, 24 from NITs, 11 from AIIMS, and 4 from IIMs.
With just a little more than a quarter into 2023, 9 suicides have been reported from Central Universities, the highest since 2018. Academic stress, family reasons, personal reasons, mental health issues, etc. were cited as some of the reasons for such suicide cases, in the Upper House.
According to another response in the parliament from December 2021, the number of incidents of suicides by the students of IITs, IIMs, Indian Institute of Science (IISCs), Indian Institute of Science (IISc) Bangalore and Indian Institutes of Science Education & Research (IISERs), Indian Institutes of Information Technology (IIITs), Central Universities and other Centrally funded technical institutions like NITIE Mumbai, SLIET Longowala was 122 between 2014 and 2021. About one-third of the students were from the OBC category and 20% from the SC category.
Those aged between 18 to 30 years are among the most vulnerable to Suicide
The NCRB report notes that the age groups of ‘18 to 30’ and ‘30 to 45’ years are the most vulnerable groups resorting to suicides. The number of deaths in the ’18-30’ age group increased from 45,217 to 56,543 (an increase of 25%) in the five years from 2017 to 2021.
The report also provides data on the cause of suicides among persons belonging to the age group of ‘18 to 30’ years. The data indicates that ‘failure of exam’ is the reason behind around 2% of the total suicides in the said age group between 2017 and 2019. In 2020, the share dropped to 1.6% and further to 1.3% in 2021.
Each year, ‘Family problems’ was the leading cause of suicides for one in three suicides in this age group. Illnesses such as cancer, AIDS, etc. were the cause of 12-13% of the suicides. Marriage and love affairs were reasons for another 7-8% of suicides. These four reasons together accounted for about 60 to 63% of the suicides among young adults. Other causes include drug abuse, poverty, bankruptcy, career-related problems, and unemployment.
The drastic increase in suicides among students is a cause for concern. Apart from academic pressure, students are also subject to a sudden change in environment after school while pursuing higher education. They are faced with financial constraints, social pressure, and culture shocks among other things. Comprehensive mitigation strategies are the need of the hour.


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Data suggests that Better response systems can reduce fatalities due to Acute Encephalitis
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
July 2, 2019
Encephalitis is in the spotlight again, thanks to the
high number of child deaths in Bihar. But what does data say about the
prevalence and control of Encephalitis?
The discussion about Encephalitis, child deaths, malnutrition etc. has again come to the forefront with the deaths of more than 100 children in Bihar as per official figures, with a high number of child deaths being recorded in the district of Muzaffarpur. Many of these deaths are attributed to Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES).
Many of the deaths in India are attributed to Japanese Encephalitis Virus (JEV)
One of the earliest cases of Acute Encephalitis (AEC) in India is  the Japanese Encephalitis Virus (JEV), recorded in 1955 from Vellore, Tamil Nadu. The earliest major outbreak of the disease was in the year 1973, in Bankura district of West Bengal. There were 700 reported cases with nearly 300 deaths in that year. One of the worst outbreaks of JEV was observed in Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh in the year 2005 when around 5737 cases of JEV were reported resulting in 1344 deaths. Even as per government figures, there were a large number of deaths due to JEV in the year 2005.
Viruses are the main cause of Acute
Encephalitis Syndrome (AES) as per Government assessment
Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES) isconsidered to be one of the serious
health problems in India. Onset of fever results in inflammation of thebrain and effecting the mental status causing delirium, disorientation, mentalconfusion and coma.
Linking the effects to a specific cause has always been a problem, while recording the cases. A note on the National Health Portal (NHP), attributes virus to be one of the major causes for AES related cases in India, with Japanese Encephalitis Virus being responsible for cases ranging from 5%-35% of the total cases every year.
Since the time JEV was recorded as the firstcase in 1955, most of the cases have been traditionally recorded as JEV. However,there have been multiple other reasons which are now being attributed for AcuteEncephalitis. Currently, cases with these symptoms are being recoded as AES(Acute Encephalitis Syndrome).  As perthe note on the NHP, Bacteria, fungus, parasites, toxins, chemicals etc. areconsidered as few of the other main causes for AES in India.
Unlike the earlier outbreaks of AES, whichwere caused due to JE Virus, the recent outbreak in Bihar is considered to be aresult of Hypoglycemia, a condition with low levels of blood sugar as well asimbalance in electrolytes.
Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Bihar & Assam
among the most AES affected states
As per the data provided by National Vector Borne Disease Control Programme (NVBDCP), UP, Bengal, Assam, Tamil Nadu are among the states which have recorded the highest number of AES cases between January 2013 & April 2019.
A brief analysis of the data reveals that
Case Fatality Rate (CFR) for some states is
alarming
Acute Encephalitis has been a recurringfeature in these states every year, with many cases being recorded duringMay-June (summer season) of every year. The rapid deterioration of health in AEScases results in high CFR (Case Fatality Rate) if timely medical assistance isnot provided. CFR is the number of deaths recorded per number of cases recorded.
While the number of AES cases recorded inthese states in itself a matter of concern, CFR for few of the sates isalarming.
For instance, Bihar which ranks 6 in the number of AES cases (2697) during the period, has the highest CFR with28.81% of the cases resulting in deaths i.e. 771 deaths.
States like Uttar Pradesh, Assam and WestBengal which report a high number of AES cases, also have high CFR with 15.07%,13.95% and 12.96% of cases reported between January 2013 & April 2019having resulted in deaths. Over this period, these three states have recorded acombined 6,174 deaths of which 3221 are from UP, 1512 from Bengal and 1441deaths from Assam.
The four states of UP, West Bengal, Assam& Bihar account for 95.82% of the total deaths caused due to AES duringthis period.
Across India, a total of 7254 deaths were recorded since 2013 (till April 2019) out of 66,926 AES cases (i.e. CFR of 10.84%).
Tamil Nadu, Karnataka & Tripura among
states to have better response to AES
The number of AES cases recorded in Tamil Naduis the 5 highest in India during this period. As highlightedearlier, the first case of AES was recorded in Vellore district of Tamil Nadu.
However, the AES-CFR in Tamil Nadu is only0.44 % with 22 deaths out of the 4964 recorded cases between January 2013 &April 2019.
Karnataka and Tripura are the other stateswith lesser CFR of 0.45% and 0.24% respectively. The number of AES casesrecorded in these two states during this period are, 1784 and 2007respectively.
Odisha, Manipur, Meghalaya and Jharkhand areamong the states which also have less CFR in-spite of higher number of AEScases. Orissa has a bad year in 2015, with 115 of the 142 deaths recorded,occurring during that year.
While these states have higher number of AEScases recorded every year, the healthcare
support to handle
the emergencies, seems to be more efficient, thereby resulting in very fewfatal cases.
Better response and facilities can reduce
fatality
As per government’s note, there are multiple causes
for AES in India. Research of various cases have revealed the reasons to bemore complex and not limited to a single source. While Japanese EncephalitisVirus is considered to be one of the common causes, other virus like InfluenzaA, Herpes Simplex, West Nile, Chandipura etc. have also been identified ascauses for AES.
There are also cases of the virus beingtransmitted through mosquitoes and other vectors. Few research reports, evenpoint to toxins through food intake, which aggravate the situation forundernourished children.
The exact reasons for the outbreak of AECaround May-June every year are still not ascertained. However, it can be agreedthat the prevalence is due to:
While medical research can be carried out for identifyingthe reasons in each of the cases, efforts
towards addressing the issues of Hygiene & nourishment can help to containthe impact and spread of AES outbreak.
As observed in the case of Tamil Nadu and other states, better responsive systems could help in reducing the number of deaths.
Featured Image: Acute Encephalitis Syndrome


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Data suggests that Electoral Bonds worth ₹11 crore not encashed  by Political parties
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
September 28, 2018
Data obtained from SBI under the RTI act suggests that 25 electoral bonds worth more than ₹11 crore were not encashed. In terms of value, more than 95% of the bonds were encashed in Delhi.
The Electoral Bonds were first announced in the 2017-18 budget and the scheme was subsequently notified in January 2018. Factly had earlier written about the bonds, their impact on transparency etc.
Factly had also analysed the data obtained from the State Bank of India (SBI), the authorized bank to issue electoral bonds, about bonds purchased in the first four sale cycles in March, April, May & July 2018 to conclude that there was hardly any demand for electoral bonds of lower denomination. Data now obtained from SBI regarding encashment of electoral bonds suggests that electoral bonds worth more than Rs 11 crore were not encashed.
Electoral Bonds have to be encashed within 15 days
As per the notification of the electoral bond scheme, purchased bonds can be encashed only by an eligible political party by depositing it in their bank account. The scheme guidelines also mention that the amount not encashed within fifteen days will be deposited by SBI to the Prime Minister Relief Fund.
Twenty five (25) bonds not encashed till date
As per data shared by SBI in response to an application under Right to Information (RTI), a total of 25 bonds were not encashed by political parties. In other words, this also means that the ones who purchased these 25 bonds did not donate them to any political party. Each & every electoral bond that was bought is encashed except 14 bonds in the denomination of ₹1000 and 11 bonds in the denomination of ₹1 crore. Out of a total of 1062 electoral bonds bought till the July cycle, 1037 are encashed. In terms of value, out of the ₹470.8 crore worth electoral bonds bought so far, bonds worth  ₹459.8 crore are encashed while  bonds worth ₹11.0014 crore are not encashed. Hence this amount could have been deposited to the Prime Minister Relief Fund.
More than 93% of the bonds encashed in Delhi
As per the data shared by SBI, more than 93% of the total bonds encashed till date were encashed in Delhi. Out of the 1037 electoral bonds encashed till date, 967 were encashed in Delhi while 64 of them in Kolkata and the remaining 6 in Bangalore. Not a single bond was encashed in Mumbai where 290 bonds were bought. Similarly, not a single bond was encashed in Chennai, Gandhinagar & Guwahati, where many electoral bonds were bought.In terms of value, 95.5% of the bonds amounting to ₹439.3 crore were encashed in Delhi while around 4% were encashed in Kolkata and a mere 0.33% in Bangalore. Such disproportionate encashment in Delhi suggests that majority of these bonds were donated to national political parties and not regional parties whose offices are usually not in Delhi.

created: September 28, 2018


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Data suggests that support for NOTA is decreasing - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
December 13, 2018
None of the Above (NOTA) was first introduced on the EVMs following a Supreme Court Judgment in 2013. Since 2013, NOTA was used in elections to 36 assemblies and the 2014 Lok Sabha election. In the recently concluded elections to the five assemblies, the support for NOTA has decreased compared to five years ago.
None of the Above (NOTA) was introduced as the last entry on the EVM after the names of all contesting candidates, following a Supreme Court (SC) judgment in 2013. Since then, NOTA vote share is only 1.19% of the total votes polled in 37 different elections. Even in the elections to the recently concluded five state assemblies, the NOTA vote share has decreased compared to five years go.
What is NOTA?
The basis for NOTA is rule 49-O in the ‘Conduct of Elections Rules, 1961‘.  If a voter decides not to vote for any of the contesting candidates, his/her name will be  duly entered in the register of voters in Form-17A along with the voter’s signature. An entry to the effect, ‘refused to vote’ is also made in the list. It has to be understood that the total count of 49-O has no impact on the eventual results. Even if the total number of voters who opted for  49-O exceeds the maximum votes polled for any candidate, it does not make any difference. The candidate who receives the maximum vote is still declared as the winner. This rule is only to express dissatisfaction with the contesting candidates.
This rule was challenged in the Supreme Court (SC) saying it violates the secrecy of voting since the presiding officer knows who opted for this rule. The SC, in its judgment in the year 2013, declared that this rule indeed violates the secrecy of voting and directed the Election Commission (ECI) to provide a NOTA option on the EVM.
Following the SC judgment, the ECI introduced the NOTA option on EVMs starting October 2013. The rules applicable for 49-O would also be applicable in the case of NOTA as far impact on results are concerned. Thus, NOTA is only a way to express rejection/dissatisfaction with the existing candidates and does not in anyway impact the result. In September 2015, the ECI also announced a dedicated symbol for NOTA on the EVM.
NOTA vote share decreases in the five state assembly elections
The NOTA vote share has decreased by more than 0.4% in the recently concluded assembly elections in the five states of Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Mizoram, Rajasthan & Telangana. In 2013/14 when assembly elections were last held in these states, NOTA polled 17.9 lakh votes out of a total of 9.78 crore polled votes (1.83%). Whereas in the recently concluded elections, NOTA polled only 15.2 lakh vote out of 10.98 crore polled votes (1.38%). The absolute count of votes for NOTA has dropped by more than 2.5 lakh even though the total number of votes polled has increased by over 1.2 crores.
NOTA vote share decreases in all the states except Telangana
The NOTA vote share has decreased substantially in all the states that went to polls recently except in Telangana. In Chhattisgarh, it dropped from 3.07% to 2% while in Madhya Pradesh it went from 1.9% to 1.4%. Even in Rajasthan, NOTA polled 1.91% in 2013 which has now dropped to 1.3% in 2018. Only in the case of Telangana, the NOTA vote share has increased from 0.78% in 2014 to 1.1% in 2018. In Telangana, NOTA polled 2.24 lakh votes in 2018 compared to 1.52 lakh in 2014, a marginal increase of about 70,000 votes.
No substantial increase in the NOTA vote share
Prior to the elections to the five state assemblies, elections were held to Assemblies of 31 states and the Lok Sabha since the introduction of NOTA in 2013. Out of the 32 elections, 15 were held before the ECI introduced the dedicated NOTA symbol and 17 were held after the introduction of the NOTA symbol in 2015. In the 15 elections held between 2013 & 2015 (when NOTA was available on the EVM without a symbol), NOTA vote share ranged from 0.4% in Delhi (2015) to a highest of 3.07% in Chhattisgarh (2013). The average NOTA vote share in these 15 elections was about 1.15%.
The NOTA symbol was first used in the Bihar elections of 2015. Out of the 17 elections held since then (excluding the recently held elections), NOTA vote share was more than 1% in 9 of the elections and less than 1% in the remaining 8 elections. The highest vote share of 2.48% for NOTA was registered in the Bihar elections of 2015. The average vote share after NOTA symbol was introduced is 1.27%.
Continuous decrease in NOTA Vote share
The NOTA vote share has been continuously decreasing each year. Before the symbol was introduced in 2015, the vote share for NOTA decreased from 1.96% in 2013 to 0.4% in 2015. After the symbol was introduced in 2015, the NOTA vote share decreased from 2.48% in 2015 to 1.06% in 2017 only to marginally increase to 1.25% in 2018. The data clearly shows the support for NOTA as an option is on the wane despite the introduction of the symbol.

created: December 13, 2018


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Are Voters preferring NOTA? - Part 2
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
June 14, 2018
Since the introduction of NOTA in 2013, it has become a ritual of sorts to understand its impact after every election. Data of the last 5 years suggests that voters aren’t actually preferring NOTA. NOTA did not poll more than 2% of the total vote in any election held after the year 2015.
As noted in an earlier story by Factly, the vote share for NOTA is going down continuously since its introduction in 2013. Even the introduction of the dedicated NOTA symbol in 2015 hasn’t made any difference if one goes by the data. In a total of 32 elections (31 Assembly & one Lok Sabha) held since the introduction of NOTA on the EVM, the vote-share of NOTA crossed 2% only twice.
NOTA vote share crossed 3% only once in more than 5 years
NOTA option was part of the election for every State Assembly at least once and the Lok Sabha election in 2014. In these 32 elections, the vote-share of NOTA did not cross 1% in 14 of the elections and was between 1% and 2% in 16 elections. In other words, the vote share was less than 2% in 94% of the elections. It was more than 3% in only one election, in Chhattisgarh (2013) and was between 2% & 3% only once in Bihar (2015). Delhi is the only place where NOTA was part of an election more than once. In the Delhi election of 2013, NOTA vote share was 0.6% while it went down to 0.4% in the elections held in 2015. It remains to be seen if the elections in other states also follow a similar pattern.
Number of Constituencies with more than 5000 votes for NOTA going down
The number of constituencies where NOTA polled more than 5000 votes has consistently come down each year. While the number of eligible voters and polling percentage has an impact on this number, the size of the electorate per constituency in about 20 states is more or less similar. In both Bihar (2015) & Chhattisgarh (2013), NOTA polled more than 5000 votes in close to 1/3rd of the constituencies. In the Lok Sabha elections of 2014, NOTA polled more than 20000 votes in 54 constituencies.
In the elections held in 2015, NOTA polled more than 5000 votes in 23% of the constituencies, the highest for any year. This number went down to less than 2% in both 2016 & 2017. In the Karnataka elections held recently, NOTA polled more than 5000 votes only in one constituency.
NOTA rarely polled more than 5% of the vote
Even if one were to look at the percentage of votes polled for NOTA, data suggests that preference for NOTA is going down. Only in Bihar (2015) & Chhattisgarh (2013), votes polled for NOTA crossed 5% of the total polled vote in more than five (5) constituencies. In all the other elections, the number of such constituencies was less than five. In fact, in 25 of the 32 elections held so far, NOTA did not poll more than 5% of the vote in any of the constituencies. Further, in the elections held in 2016, 2017 & 2018, there was not a single constituency where NOTA polled more than 5% of the total polled vote.
NOTA Vs Margin of Victory
Since the introduction of NOTA, one measure that is used to measure the impact is to count the number of constituencies where NOTA vote exceeded the margin of victory. Even on this measure, the percentage of such constituencies has come down in 2017 & 2018 compared to 2016. There were 57 such constituencies (9%) in 2013 when NOTA was first introduced. In 2017, this happened in only 6.38% of the constituencies. It further went down to 4.46% in the year 2018. In the recent Karnataka elections, it happened only in seven constituencies.
Read Part 1 here


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Data: Suicides due to ‘Failure in Examination’ reduced by 24% in 2020
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
November 19, 2021
Data from the NCRB’s ‘Accidental Deaths and Suicides India, 2020’ report indicates a contrasting trend in the number of suicides due to ‘family problems’ and ‘failure in examination’. While suicides attributed to ‘failure in examination’ decreased by 24% in 2020, suicides due to ‘family problems’ increased by over 13% in 2020. The impact of COVID-19 induced measures may have played a role in these trends.
In an earlier story, we analysed the trend in ‘Suicides in India’ based on the data from the annual ‘Accidental Deaths and Suicides India, 2020’  (ADSI) report released by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB).
As per the data provided in the report, there is a 10% increase in the number of suicides reported in 2020, compared to 2019. A major share of this increase is due to the increase in the number of suicides attributed to reasons like ‘Family Problems’ & ‘Illness’. Especially, suicides due to ‘Family problems’ constitute around 1/3 of the total suicides in the country.
In contrast to this trend, the number of suicides due to ‘Failure in Examination’ registered a decline in 2020 compared to 2019.  The trend in the case of overall suicides varied across the states. In this story, we look at the State-wise and City-wise trends in suicides for two of the causes mentioned earlier, which have contrasting trends – ‘Family Problems’ & ‘Failure in Examination’.
Karnataka & Odisha reported the greatest increase in the number of Suicides due to Family Problems.
In 2020, Tamil Nadu reported the highest number of Suicides due to family problems with around 7.5 thousand suicides followed by Maharashtra with 6.5 thousand suicides. These two states reported the greatest number of cases attributed to this cause in 2019 as well. The number of suicides due to this reason grew by 9% in Tamil Nadu and around 3% in Maharashtra. Despite being the largest contributor to the suicides attributed to this cause, the rate of increase in both these states is well below the national average increase of 13.4%.
The increase in reported suicides is largely because of the significant rise in states like Karnataka & Odisha.  In 2020, a total of 3,445 suicides were reported in Karnataka that is attributed to family problems. This is an increase of around 78%, compared to 1.9 thousand cases in 2019. This number was 1.7 thousand in 2018. Hence this increase seems to be specific to 2020 rather than a continuing trend.
In the case of Odisha, the number of reported suicides attributed to family problems increased from 2.77 thousand in 2019 to 4.5 thousand in 2020 i.e., an increase of 62%. However, unlike in the case of Karnataka, the increase is a continuation of a trend. The number of such suicides increased from 1.4 thousand in 2018 to 2.77 thousand in 2019 i.e., an increase of around 90%.
Telangana & Assam also reported a significant increase in the number of suicides in 2020 due to Family problems. Like Karnataka, the increase in 2020 is much higher than in the earlier years.
Meanwhile, states of MP, West Bengal & UP have reported a decline in the number of suicides due to family problems.
The increase in the number of suicides attributed to family problems is more among the Males compared to Females, across all the States. As a general trend, the proportion of Males committing suicides for family reasons has been higher than the females.
Among the major Cities, Bengaluru reported an increase in suicides due to Family Problems
The trend in the number of suicides due to family problems across the major cities is varied.
Among the major cities whose data is provided in the ADSI report, the greatest number of suicides reported in 2020 attributed to family problems was in Bengaluru with 862, an increase of 19% compared to 2019. Chennai and Delhi, the cities with the greatest number of such suicides in 2019 reported a reduction in 2020.
Other large cities including Mumbai, Hyderabad also reported a fall in the number of suicides. Jabalpur is another city that reported a significant fall in the number of suicides with this cause. The number in 2018 in the case of Jabalpur is 119 compared to only 22 in 2020.
In the case of cities like Pune, Nagpur and Lucknow, there is a substantial increase in the number of suicides due to family problems.
The proportion of the increase in the number of suicides due to family problems, in Bengaluru is much lesser than the increase in the whole of Karnataka implying that the spike seen in the state is beyond the capital Bengaluru.
Even in the case of a few other larger cities, where there is a fall in the number of suicides in 2020, the respective states reported an increase. Hence, the increase is contributed by places beyond the urban cities.
Most of the cities which reported an increase in the number of cases in 2020 are comparatively smaller urban centres. This points to the severe impact of COVID-19 in areas beyond the major urban centres, where the pressure of economic & other constraints due to COVID-19 measures may have been greater.
Suicides due to ‘Failure in Exams’ fell in most of the states, except in states like Jharkhand & Rajasthan
As highlighted earlier, in contrast to the overall trend of increase in Suicides during 2020, there is a fall in the number of suicides due to failure in examination in 2020 compared to 2019. The number of suicides due to this reason fell by around 24% in 2020. This is reflective of the trend observed in most of the states.
Maharashtra & Tamil Nadu are among the states with the greatest fall in the number of Suicides due to failure in examinations. In Maharashtra, the suicides fell from 439 in 2019 to 287 in 2020. The fall is more prominent in Tamil Nadu, where the suicides fell by almost 61% from 215 in 2019 to 83 in 2020.  Telangana, Karnataka, West Bengal, UP, Odisha are among the other states that reported a fall in the number of suicides due to failure in examinations.
On the other hand, the states of AP & MP reported a slight increase in the number of suicides. Comparatively, Jharkhand & Rajasthan reported a significant increase in the number of suicides due to failure in examinations. Jharkhand took over Maharashtra’s position as the state with the greatest number of suicides due to failure in examination. The number of suicides in Jharkhand due to this cause increased from 279 in 2019 to 325 in 2020.
The disruption to regular classes and the conduct of fewer examinations, with many states canceling board examinations in 2020 due to COVID-19, could be the main reasons for the fall in the number of suicides due to failure in examinations
Suicides due to ‘Failure in Examinations’ were reduced across most cities.
The trend in suicides due to ‘Failure in Examinations’ conform with the trend observed in the states, where the number decreased in 2010. Dhanbad, the second-largest city in Jharkhand had the highest number of such suicides in 2019 with 90, which reduced to 37 in 2020.
Similarly, the number of suicides in some of the other cities including – Surat, Bengaluru, Mumbai, Pune, Chennai, etc. have reduced. In the case of Delhi, Ahmedabad, Ranchi, Patna, etc. the number of suicides increased slightly.
The trend in the number of suicides due to various causes indicate the impact of COVID-19
As highlighted in this story, the two causes i.e., Family Problems & Failure in examination reflect contrasting trends with respect to suicides in 2020. The possible impact of COVID-19 on these two causes varied resulting in the different trends in the number of suicides.
In case of family problems, the impact of COVID-19 on various walks of life including employment, health, etc. could have caused further strain on finances & mental health resulting in increased suicides.
On the other hand, many of the examinations were either canceled or postponed during 2020 in view of COVID-19. This could have contributed to the fewer suicides due to failure in examinations during 2020, compared to earlier years.
As per a few academic studies, COVID-19 seems to have had a psychological & social impact. Issues like uncertainty, chronic stress, economic difficulties, etc. could lead to disorders related to suicidal behaviour and elevate the suicide risk.  Multiple studies also indicate an increase in the number of Suicides due to COVID-19 in various countries.
Another study identifies the risk that rural communities face. As already highlighted in the story, there seems to be a higher increase in the proportion of suicides due to family problems in places beyond the major urban centres as highlighted in the ADSI report.
Featured Image: Suicides due to ‘Failure in Examination’

created: November 19, 2021


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Suicides increased by 10% in 2020, mostly due to Family Problems & Illnesses
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
November 15, 2021
An increase in mental health issues, illnesses were all a fall out of the COVID-19 pandemic. The impact of these issues is visible in the numbers as well. Suicides reported in India increased by over 10% in 2020 and crossed 1.5 lakh. More than 50% of these are attributed to Family Problems & Illnesses.
The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) recently released the annual ‘Accidental Deaths and Suicides India’ (ADSI) report for the calendar year 2020. The report is the official source of comprehensive data related to accidents and suicides in the country. The report helps in understanding the causative factors of accidents and suicides that can be used for policy formulation among other things.  This story focuses on the trend in suicides in the past decade along with the analysis of causes.
Suicides increased by about 10% in 2020 & Men constitute 71% of the victims
The ADSI-2020 revealed that between January and December 2020, a total of 1,53,052 suicides were reported in India which translates to an average of 418 suicides per day or about an average of 17 suicides every hour. This is the first time that the number of suicides in the country crossed the 1.5 lakh mark. Compared to the year 2019, the number of suicides increased by 10% in 2020, and ever since NCRB began publishing the ADSI reports in 1967, the number of suicides reported in 2020 is the greatest. The number of suicides reported in 2020 is about 4 times the number reported in 1967 (38,829). Between 2011 & 2019, the number of suicides hovered between 1.3 lakh and 1.4 lakh a year. While there was a decrease in the number of suicides between 2011 and 2017, the number started increasing from 2018 and reached 1.53 lakh in 2020.
The rate of suicides, normalized with the population also shows a similar trend. (Rate of suicides is calculated using projected population for the non-census years whereas, for the census year 2011, the population in the Census 2011 report was used.) The rate of suicides dropped from 11.2 per lakh in 2011 and 2012 to 9.9 in 2017 and has touched the highest rate of 11.3 per lakh in 2020. In line with the increase in the number of suicides between 2019 & 2020, the rate of suicides increased by 8.7% during this period.
Also, in 2020, the number of male victims out of the reported suicides crossed 1 lakh for the first time. Men constituted almost 71% of the suicide victims reported in 2020. Over the years, the share of men in the number of reported suicides increased gradually- from over 58% in 1967 to 71% in 2020.
Five states account for more than 50% of suicides reported in the country
The greatest number of suicides in 2020 was reported in the state of Maharashtra where 19,909 suicides were reported, followed by Tamil Nadu with 16,883 suicides. Along with Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, and Karnataka, the five states together accounted for 50% of the suicides reported in the country in 2020. Except for Madhya Pradesh, the remaining four states have reported more than 10,000 suicides each year since 2011 and Madhya Pradesh has been doing so since 2015. The remaining close to 50% of suicides were reported from the rest of the 23 States and 8 UTs.
Maharashtra has been reporting the most suicides followed by Tamil Nadu since 2013
While Tamil Nadu reported the most suicides in 2011 and 2012, followed by Maharashtra, its place was taken over by Maharashtra starting 2013. Since 2013, Maharashtra has been reporting the most suicides with Tamil Nadu reporting the second highest.
The 10-year trend in both these states has been quite different. In the case of Maharashtra, the number of suicides has increased consistently from 15,947 in 2011 to 19,909 in 2020- an increase of 25%. Meanwhile, Tamil Nadu’s numbers fell from 15,963 in 2011 to 13,493 in 2019- a drop by 15%. However, in 2020, Tamil Nadu witnessed a sudden 20% increase in the number of suicides with the number crossing 16,000.
Multiple states reported a significant increase in the number of suicides in 2020 compared to 2019. Uttarakhand (82.8%), Mizoram (54.3%), Himachal Pradesh (46.7%), and Arunachal Pradesh (42.9%) which reported less than 1000 suicides each, along with Jharkhand (30.5%) and Assam (36.8%) have all reported a significant increase.
MP, Gujarat, Punjab, and Delhi reported a continuous increase in suicides in the last ten years
A total of 17 states and Delhi reported more than 2000 suicides each in 2020, accounting for 96% of all the suicides in the country. Except for Kerala, UP, and Haryana, the remaining states witnessed an increase in suicides in 2020 as compared to 2019. Along with Maharashtra, the states of Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Punjab, and Delhi have also reported a continuous increase in suicides in the last ten years.
The sudden spike in suicides in 2020 in the state of Tamil Nadu is due to illnesses. In 2020, a total of 4423 suicides were reported as due to illnesses, an increase of 77% compared to 2019 when only 2501 suicides were reported with this cause.
The share of suicides due to illnesses has increased from 17.1% to 18% at an All-India level. In terms of absolute numbers, suicides due to illnesses increased by 16% in 2020.  Within the head of illnesses, suicides due to mental illness increased by 25.3% to reach 13,796 in 2020 from 11,009 in 2019. This could be because of the uncertainty and stress induced by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Illnesses and Family Problems cause more than half the Suicides
Illnesses and Family Problems are the two most common causes of suicides in the country accounting for 51.6% of the suicides in 2020. More than 50,000 suicides were reported as due to Family Problems in 2020. The number of suicides due to family problems increased by over 50% since 2011 while the share of suicides due to family problems has gone up from 24% in 2011 to 33.6% in 2020.
Since 2014, the suicides reported as due to drug abuse and addiction have increased 2.5 times, those due to love affairs increased 1.6 times, and suicides due to bankruptcy/indebtedness increased 1.9 times. Suicides due to unemployment also increased consistently since 2016. The suicides due to bankruptcy/indebtedness, failure in examination, and property disputes reduced in 2020 as compared to 2019 by 12%, 24%, and 10%, respectively.  The stark decrease in suicides due to failure in examinations could be because of the cancellation of most board exams in 2020.
Suicide Mortality is an indicator under SDGs
It must be noted that the data reported in the ADSI report is based on the FIRs filed which states the apparent cause of death based on evidence collected and autopsy reports. Under-reporting suicides and the possibility of misclassification of suicide deaths cannot be ruled out, especially in cases where families wish to hide the suicide of a person. However, the data from the ADSI is important as it provides trends & enumerates causes for relevant policy action.
The suicide rate is an indicator under Sustainable Development Goal 3: Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages. The goal is to bring down premature mortality of non-communicable diseases by one-third, through prevention & treatment and promotion of mental health and well-being. This includes mortality attributed to cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes or chronic respiratory disease and suicide.
Deaths due to Suicides are preventable as timely intervention can help save lives. Providing adequate mental health support and more than anything, encouraging people to seek support for mental health issues, especially during this time of pandemic can go a long way in reducing suicide mortality. Studies have shown that the pandemic has resulted in increased cases of suicide and self-harm.
Featured Image: Suicides reported in India

created: November 15, 2021


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Sunflower Oil imports could be significantly affected because of the Russia-Ukraine conflict
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
March 3, 2022
Ukraine & Russia together account for close to 90% of India’s Sunflower Oil imports. With a 56% gap between edible oil demand & domestic production, India could feel the pinch with reduced Sunflower Oil imports if the Russia-Ukraine conflict is long drawn.
On 24 February 2022, Russia launched a large-scale assault on Ukraine, escalating the existing hostility between the two neighbouring countries. The ongoing military conflict between the two countries has created a wave of uncertainty on various aspects including diplomatic relations, trade, travel etc.
In the recent vote called by the United Nations Security Council on Russia’s aggression on Ukraine, India has abstained from the voting.  The erstwhile USSR and the successor state of Russia have been key allies of India in many areas.
With the conflict raging between these two former Soviet republics, it is bound to have an impact on their trade with India. In this story, we look at the trends in India’s trade with Russia & Ukraine and assess any impact the conflict could have.  The data from the Department of Commerce’s Export-Import databank is considered for the story.
Trade with Russia has been fluctuating over the years
The volume of India’s trade with Russia has increased over the years, largely due to the increased imports. The deficit in trade has been widening over the years, with the increase in the volume of imports and exports to Russia not increasing at the same rate.
The data for imports from Russia indicate that there is no definitive trend in the value of imports over the years, with periodic increases followed by a decline. In 2011-12, the value of imports from Russia was USD 4.76 billion, which fell in the following two years, followed by an increasing trend during 2014-18. After a peak of USD 8.57 billion worth of imports in 2017-18, the volume of imports has been fluctuating, increasing in one year followed by a decline in the following year.
In 2020-21, the value of imports was USD 5.4 billion but during 2021-22, the value of imports is already around USD 6.89 billion in the first three quarters (April-December 2021).
The same can be said about exports to Russia, with an increase in the volume of exports followed by a decline. As noted earlier, the volume of exports is significantly lower than imports and the gap has been widening in general.
Increased volume of Petroleum (Crude) imports from Russia
The fluctuation in the value of imports over the past few years can be largely attributed to the change in the import volume patterns of certain commodities. In 2020-21, the commodity with the greatest import value from Russia was Petroleum (Crude) at USD 944 million. The same is the case during the first three quarters of 2021-22, with the value of Petroleum (Crude) imports already reaching USD 1.94 billion. The fall in 2020-21, is in line with the overall trend of fall in imports due to the pandemic.
Since 2016-17, there is a marked increase in the import of Petroleum (Crude) from Russia. Prior to that, the volume has been much lower. Hence, the overall increase in the value of imports from Russia can be largely attributed to this increase in the import of Petroleum (Crude). However, the import volume of Petroleum (Crude) from Russia is only about 2% of India’s overall import volume of Petroleum (Crude) by value.
Unworked Diamond is another commodity with high import volume from Russia. Although Russia still ranks among the top countries from which they are imported, the volume has considerably reduced in recent years. The import value of Unworked diamonds from UAE & Belgium has also largely remained stable. This is largely due to a fall in overall import volumes of this commodity in recent years.
The value of imports of other commodities like Unwrought Silver, Potassium Chloride, non-alloyed Nickel, Copper wire, etc. has also reduced. In contrast, import volumes of Sunflower Oil & Unpulverized Coal have increased in recent years. India’s imports of unpulverized coal from Russia account for about 1/5th of the total import of the commodity and rank only next to Australia.  In the case of Sunflower Oil, the import volumes from Russia are the second highest with Russian imports accounting for around 1/10 of the total imports.
Overall, it can be stated that the import of Petroleum (Crude) dominated the imports from Russia in recent years with a fall in import volumes of most of the other traditional commodities.
On the other hand, the exports to Russia constitute only around 1% of India’s total exports. While there have been different products which topped the exports from India in different years, products including “Boneless Bovine Meat”, “Shrimp”, “Tea- Black Leaf”, have been among the major export commodities.  Among these, Russia is the prominent export partner of “Tea-Black Leaf”
A decline in the Imports from Ukraine in recent years
India’s trade value with Ukraine is on the lower side. The overall value of Imports from Ukraine, pre-pandemic i.e., in 2019-20, were USD 2.06 billion which was about 0.4% of India’s overall Imports. In the case of exports, the share of India’s exports to Ukraine constituted only about 0.14% of India’s total exports.
The trend over the years indicates a general decline in the value of overall trade. This decline has been steeper in the case of imports from Ukraine. The value of imports from Ukraine was around USD 2.48 billion in 2016-17. In 2020-21, this reduced to USD 2.14 billion. In the first nine months of 2021-22, the value of imports from Ukraine stands at USD 1.98 billion.
Crude Sunflower Oil is the major import commodity from Ukraine
While the value of imports from Ukraine is negligible compared to India’s overall imports, Ukraine is India’s primary trade partner for Crude Sunflower Oil. In 2020-21, Crude Sunflower Oil constituted around 74% of the total imports from Ukraine. Over the years, this product has remained the major import commodity from Ukraine.
At the beginning of the decade, other commodities like Urea, Ammonia, etc. also formed a sizeable part of the imports from Ukraine. However, their value has decreased over the years.
Apart from Sunflower oil being the major import commodity from Ukraine, the country also happens to be India’s main source of Sunflower oil imports, accounting for more than 80% of India’s overall import of Sunflower oil over the last 10 years. After Ukraine, Russia ranks second in the source of imports for Sunflower oil as highlighted earlier.
The share of Ukraine in India’s overall import of Sunflower oil has reduced with the emergence of Russia & Argentina, but Ukraine still remains the major import partner for this commodity.
While the overall impact on trade may be minimal, the impact of reduced Sunflower oil imports could be considerable
As the numbers indicate, the share of overall trade volumes with Russia and Ukraine is not as high to significantly impact India’s overall trade.  However, the trade of specific products holds significance.
As already highlighted, there is an increase in the import volume of Petroleum (Crude) from Russia in recent years. Any impact on trade routes & economic sanctions on Russia could significantly affect this.
Equally if not more significant could be the impact on the import of Sunflower oil.  Ukraine & Russia account for 80-90 % of India’s Crude Sunflower oil imports in recent years.
In a response provided in Lok Sabha in December 2021, the Government stated that there is a 56% gap in between the demand for edible oils and domestic production, which is met through imports. As per the data provided in the same answer, in the last three years (2018-21), Crude Sunflower Oil imports constituted around 16% of all edible oil imports, highlighting the role of Sunflower Oil imports.
In 2013-14 also, Russia & Ukraine engaged in an armed conflict during Feb-March 2014. The data for this period shows that there is a significant fall in the value of Crude Sunflower Oil imports during the conflict. While the dependency on Ukraine has come down over the years, it is largely due to increasing in imports from Russia. With both the countries involved in the current conflict and significant economic sanctions on Russia, India could feel the pinch as far as Sunflower oil imports are considered. The situation could worsen if the conflict continues for a long period.
Featured Image: India’s Trade with Russia & Ukraine


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Surveys indicate higher prevalence of Overweight/Obesity among Female Adults compared to the Male Adults
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
February 17, 2022
The National Nutrition Monitoring Bureau surveys and the National Family Health Surveys indicate that the prevalence of overweight/obesity among female adults is higher than among their male counterparts. In some states, the prevalence of overweight/obesity among female adults is more than 50%.
As per World Health Organization (WHO), as of June 2021, worldwide obesity has tripled compared to 1975. It notes that a major share of the obese population has shifted from high-income developed countries to developing countries. Increased intake of energy-dense food that are high in fat & sugars along with inactive & sedentary lifestyle are among the fundamental causes of overweight & obesity.
Recently on 04 February 2022, responding to a question in the Lok Sabha seeking information on laws & regulations directing disclosure of information of contents in processed junk food, and details of obese population, the government provided data on the prevalence of obesity. The Government cited the surveys carried out by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), the National Institute of Nutrition (NIN) and NNMB (National Nutrition Monitoring Bureau) to ascertain the prevalence of Overweight & Obesity in the country.
Prevalence of Overweight and Obesity was 11.8% of the adults surveyed as part of the NNMB Rural survey
The National Nutrition Monitoring Bureau (NNMB) was established in 1972 by ICMR in 11 states and has been conducting diet & nutrition surveys on a regular basis. Repeat surveys were carried out by NNMB in Rural areas with an interval of 10 years. The Baseline survey was conducted in 1975-79, with the first two repeat surveys in 1988-90 & 1996-97.
The most recent NNMB Rural survey i.e. third repeat survey was in 2011-12. In wake of the global studies reporting an increase in the prevalence of diet-related chronic disease, an assessment of the prevalence of overweight/obesity was also conducted in 10 states. The overall survey included varied parameters to collect information relating to diet, nutrition, the prevalence of diabetes, hypertension, obesity, etc among others. Specific to obesity/overweight, anthropometry and clinical examinations were conducted for 23,889 households in 1,195 villages, across 10 states.
WHO’s standards were used to determine the prevalence of obesity/overweight. In the case of Children, WHO’s Standard Deviation (SD) classification was used:
In the case of adults (≥ 18 years), WHO advised Nutritional grades based on BMI (Body Mass Index) were used.
As per the survey, out of the 56,425 adults surveyed in the select villages across 10 states, the prevalence of overweight/obese population is 11.8%. The prevalence of overweight/obesity among female Rural population has a higher prevalence at 13.5% compared to males, where the prevalence was 10%.
The prevalence of overweight/obesity is lower among the surveyed children.
Among the states surveyed, Kerala has the highest prevalence of obesity in its rural population
As highlighted, the Rural survey was carried out in 10 states in 2011-12. Among these surveyed states, Kerala has a higher prevalence of overweight/obesity among its rural population compared to other states. This is the case across both males & females and across age groups.
The prevalence of Obesity is around 34% in Male & 44% in the Female urban population
A comprehensive Urban Nutrition survey was carried out by NNMB in 2015-16 to assess the Diet & Nutritional status of the Urban Population and prevalence of obesity, hypertension, diabetes, etc. The survey was carried out among the urban population of 16 states in India. Anthropometry, Clinical Examination & BIA was carried out for 3600 households. The same criteria used for determining obesity among children & adults in the Rural survey were used even for the Urban survey.
The prevalence of overweight/obesity among the urban population is higher among females than males in the higher age groups. 44% of the adult females surveyed were overweight/obese, compared to 33.8% males. For the age group of 14-18, it is 10.2% among females and 9.7% among males. In the case of lower age groups, the prevalence is higher among males compared to that of females.
Since the urban survey was conducted in a different year (2015-16) compared to the Rural survey (2011-12), it might not be appropriate to compare the prevalence between the Rural & Urban population. However, the prevalence of overweight/obesity is much higher among the Urban population compared to that of the Rural population as per the result of these surveys.
The prevalence of obesity among females is more than 50% in 6 out the 16 States/UTs
Around 54% of the female urban adult population surveyed in Tamil Nadu are overweight/obese. The UT of Pondicherry has a higher prevalence at around 59%. Kerala, Gujarat, Rajasthan & New Delhi are the other states, with more than half of the urban representative female adult population being overweight or obese. Among urban adult males, the four southern states of Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka & Andhra Pradesh have a higher prevalence.
Among the female child population, the prevalence is higher in Assam. Even in the case of male children, Assam has a comparatively higher prevalence of obesity compared to other states, with exception of Kerala.
As per NFHS-5, the prevalence of Overweight shows an increasing trend
The National Family Health Surveys (NFHS) provide information on population, health & nutrition across different indicators. The overweight population among children & adults is also one of the indicators in the NFHS. The latest round of NFHS is NFHS-5 for the 2019-21 period.
Even NFHS follows the same WHO’s criteria of Standard Deviation from the expected weight, the age for Children & BMI for Adults to identify overweight/obese population. However, it differs in terms of the categorization of the age group.
In NFHS, children under the age of 5-years and Adults (14-49) years are considered as two different groups. This rules out any direct comparison between the results of NNMB surveys & NFHS. However, the following broad trends can be observed from the NFHS-5.
These trends correlate with the trends identified in the NNMB surveys.
Responding to the question mentioned earlier, the government stated that there are no laws & regulations in place that mandate symbol-based warnings to warn consumers about harmful levels of fat, salt, and sugar in processed junk foods. However, FSSAI has launched a nationwide media campaign to encourage consumers to make dietary modifications.
Featured Image: Prevalence of Overweight and Obesity

created: February 17, 2022


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Data: Teacher Strength in Private Schools Down 3% in 2021-22 After Years of Increase - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
November 29, 2022
Data from the UDISE+ report for 2021-22 indicates that the number of teachers in private unaided schools decreased by 2.93% in 2021-22 after years of increase. Data also indicates that the dropout rates in 2021-22 were back to the pre-pandemic levels at the primary & upper-primary levels.
In this two-part series on UDISE+ latest report of 2021-22, the first part focussed on the school profiles and the corresponding enrolments over the past few years. In this second part, we look at the infrastructural aspects, and the school performance indicators.
Trends in school performance indicators
Dropout Rate:
Dropout rate is the proportion of the students enrolled in a given level at a given school who are no longer enrolled at any grade in the following school year. It is an important indicator that is used to gauge the success of achieving access to universal school education by 2030. The less the dropout rate is, the better is the functioning of the school education system.
Data from 2015-16 show that the dropout rate for primary level averaged around 4.5% between 2015-16 to 2018-19. It fell to 1.5% during 2019-20, further falling to 0.8% in 2020-21. However, for 2021-22, the dropout rate increased to the 2019-20 level of 1.5%. Similarly, for upper-primary level, dropout averaged at 4.9% from 2015-16 to 2018-19. However, in 2019-20 it fell to 2.6%, and in 2020-21, it declined further to 1.9%. The data for 2021-22 stood at 3.0%, indicating almost similar level that of 2019-20.
For secondary education level, the trend is almost reverse. The dropout rate declined consistently from 19.9% in 2016-17 to 12.6% in 2021-22. The impact of COVID-19 is not felt at this level of education.
Repetition Rate
Repetition rate is defined as the proportion of students enrolled in a given level at a given school who are enrolled in the same grade level in the following year. A high rate of repetition indicates issues with the internal effectiveness of the educational system and may indicate a low quality of training. When patterns are compared across grades, they may reveal particular grades that repeat more frequently than others, necessitating a further investigation of the causes and potential solutions.
The data from UDISE indicates that for primary level, the repetition rate averaged around 0.6% from 2015-16 to 2019-20, declining to 0.1% in 2020-21. However, in 2021-22, it increased back to 0.5%. For upper primary level, the repetition rate averaged around 0.5% from 2015-16 to 2019-20, declining to 0.1% in 2020-21. However, in 2021-22, it increased back to 0.7%. For secondary level, the average repetition rate from 2015-16 to 2019-20 stood at 3%, which declined to 0.3% in 2020-21. However, in 2021-22, it rose back to 1.1%, still better than the pre-covid years.
This decline in 2020-21 could be due to the mandatory promotion of students across grades announced by the governments across the states. The aftermath of the withdrawal of such policies, if one goes by the figures of 2021-22, indicates a comeback to the pre-covid levels.
Retention Rate
Retention Rate is defined as the proportion of students enrolled at the first-grade level of education who are expected to reach the last grade level of education. In a way, retention rate is an indicator for the duration of children in the education system, and obstacles in completing the formal education. As a thumb rule, the sum of Promotion Rate, Repetition Rate, and Dropout Rate should equal 100.
The yearly trend for primary, elementary, and secondary levels of education from 2017-18 indicate a positive growth in retention. Even in 2021-22, the retention rate is better than the 2020-21, indicating no significant effect of COVID-19.
Teacher decline in Private schools for the first time since 2014-15
The COVID-19 pandemic had varied effects on government and private schools. While many schools continued with online education, many schools were shut down or temporarily halted operations due to financial distress. As a result, people dependent on education system, particularly the teaching staff, lost their livelihoods.
At an all-India level, the teacher strength grew from 2014-15 to 2020-21. The average percentage growth from 2015-16 to 2019-20 stood at 2.5%, while for 2020-21, it was 0.09% only. In 2021-22, it declined to -1.95%, indicating a clear fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic. The trend from 2017-18 indicates a decline in the number of government teachers over the years, though the quantum is relatively small. However, for private teachers, data from 2014-15 to 2020-21 indicate a positive growth in the strength of private teachers. Their strength reduced by almost 3% in 2021-22.
75% of the Government schools still do not have internet facility
The COVID-19 pandemic had caused disruptions in the education sector. These disruptions are majorly in the teaching and learning processes, the process of examinations and peer-learning. Online education was pushed as a major solution to the disruptions caused by the pandemic. However, the data from UDISE+ 2021-22 reveals that more than 65% of total schools in India, and more than 75% of Government schools do not have an internet facility. Though there is a progress in provision of internet facility in schools, this progress is not up to the mark. In contrast, around 40% of the private schools do not have internet facilities. For a country that has a significant digital divide, and when online education is playing a huge role, such low rate of internet availability is a concern.
Lack of facilities for Children with Special Needs (CWSN)
It is the responsibility of respective school managements to ensure that any existing vulnerability of the children not hinder their access to education. Any practice or hindrance that discourages children to attend school must be eliminated. However, the data at a national level with access to specific infrastructure points out to the casual neglect of the managements on the needs of children with special needs.
At an all-India level, only 25.7% of the schools have functional toilet facility for CWSNs, and all schools irrespective of management, perform equally bad on this aspect. While the percentage of schools with toilet facility at an all-India stands at 96.5% in 2021-22, the same for CWSN stands at 25.7%.
Similarly, more than 50% of the schools at an all-India level do not have ramps with handrails facility for children with special needs. While nearly 60% of government schools have such facilities, only 32% of the private schools have those facilities for CWSN.

created: November 29, 2022


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Data: The analysis of Electoral Bonds sold in January 2020
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
March 28, 2020
Access here Comprehensive Data on Electoral Bonds (as of February 2024)
The 13th phase of electoral bonds were sold in January 2020. More than ₹ 80 crore worth bonds were sold during this phase. Here is a detailed analysis of the electoral bonds sold in January 2020.
The13 phase of the sale of Electoral Bonds under Electoral
Bond Scheme-2018, took place during 13-22 January 2020. The Governmentof India made an announcement to this effect on 09 January 2020. The State Bank of India main Branches of 29cities across the country were authorized for the sale of the Electoral Bonds. Thisis the first sale cycle of Electoral Bonds for the year 2020.
Total
worth of bonds purchased less than the previous phase
Atotal of ₹ 81.67 crores worth of Electoral Bonds was purchased in the 13 phase. This is significantly lower that the Electoral Bonds purchased in theprevious phase i.e. 12 phase during 01 October to 10 October 2019.During that phase ₹ 231.93 crores worth of bonds were purchased. The 13 phase is the third from last in terms of the amount purchased. Only the amountof bonds purchased in the 4 & 11 phase was lessthan the amount in the 13 phase.
Highest
purchases made were of ₹1 crore Denomination
As explained
previously by Factly, Electoral Bonds are available in 5denominations – ₹ 1 thousand, 10 thousand, 1 lakh, 10 lakhs & 1 crores.
The₹ 81.67 crores worth of electoral bonds purchased in January 2020 were throughthe purchase of 139 Electoral bonds. There were no purchases made for the bondsof lower denomination i.e. ₹ 1 thousand & ₹10 thousand. A total of 27 bondsof ₹ 1 Lakh and 34 of ₹ 10 lakh denomination were purchased. More than half ofthe total bonds purchased i.e. 78 electoral bonds were of ₹1 croredenomination.
In
January 2020, highest purchase of Electoral Bonds in New Delhi
Inthis phase, the purchase of electoral bonds was made in SBI Main Branches ofonly 7 cities out of the authorized 29 cities. The highest total value ofpurchases was in New Delhi where ₹ 22.05 crores worth Electoral Bonds werepurchased from SBI’s New Delhi Main Branch.
Thisis followed by Lucknow and Kolkata where ₹ 20 crores and ₹15.37 crores worthbonds were purchased respectively. Mumbai, which otherwise records the highestamount reported purchases of only ₹13 crores in January 2020. Bhubaneshwar,Jaipur and Gandhinagar are the remaining cities, where the electoral bond purchaseswere made. Bonds worth ₹ 7 crores, ₹ 3.25 crore and ₹1 crore respectively werepurchased in these cities.
Electoral
Bonds redeemed in only 3 cities
Whilethe purchases were made in 7 cities, the bonds were redeemed in only threecities – New Delhi, Kolkata and Bhubaneshwar.
All
the bonds purchased in January 2020 were redeemed
Forthe third successive phase, all the electoral Bonds purchased were redeemed bythe political parties.
Asper the guidelines, the electoral bonds need to be redeemed within fifteen daysof the purchase. Any electoral bond that are is not redeemed within this periodis credited to Prime Minister National Relief Fund (PMNRF).
Overthe 13 phases, there are 5 such phases where in all the electoral bonds havebeen redeemed by the political parties within the stipulated time. The highestunredeemed amount was in the 3 phase (May’2018) where in 10 bondsworth ₹ 10 crores were not redeemed. The highest number of bonds was in 9 phase i.e. during April’2019 where in 74 bonds worth ₹ 5.05 crore was not redeemed,and the amount was transferred to PMNRF.
Lower
purchases due to single election
Theonly election that took place closer to the 13 phase was the DelhiAssembly elections. The lower volume of electoral bonds purchased duringJanuary 2020 could be because of this reason. During earlier phases, either theLok Sabha general election was scheduled or some of the bigger states went topolls.
NewDelhi, where most of the Political parties especially the National parties havetheir Bank account is traditionally the city where highest amount of electoralbonds is redeemed. Since the Assembly elections were also held in Delhi,  majority of the electoral bonds were redeemedhere.
Furthermore,the beneficiaries of this phase of electoral bonds will only be known after thepolitical parties submit their financial statements for 2019-20, during the latterpart of year. Factly has earlier written a
story explaining how people have to wait for a long periodof time to know about the beneficiaries of electoral bonds.