Data Point

Earlier this month, the Supreme Court passed a ruling that allows the apex court to grant divorce in cases of what it termed irretrievable breakdown of marriage. The decision was made in line with the premises of Article 142.1 of the Constitution which states that complete justice should be done in any cause or matter. There are several grounds for divorce listed in India’s marriage acts, but until now, the irretrievable breakdown of marriage was not one of them. This ruling means that couples, who want to end their marriage without blaming their spouse for something like adultery or abuse, can do so. But this process isn't as simple as it seems. In this episode, The Hindu speaks with Geeta Ramaseshan about how much of an impact this ruling will actually have, and whether it helps empower women to leave unhealthy marriages.

The Karnataka Assembly elections saw the Indian National Congress achieve a comfortable win, as they secured 136 seats out of 224, 56 more than what they won in the 2018 elections. The Bharatiya Janata Party secured 64 seats, a 40-seat fall, and the Janata Dal (Secular) won 20 seats, 17 less than 2018. Congress was able to cross the halfway mark, and by 6pm, when counting ended, they emerged as the clear winner. In this episode, The Hindu discusses the trends seen in this election and the lead-up to the Congress' comfortable win. 

India’s CCTV camera coverage has grown massively and Delhi and Chennai now have more cameras per square mile than cities in China. Generally, the public sentiment is that having CCTV cameras acts as a reassurance, so that in the event of a crime, there is video evidence to rely on. But this has not really resulted in a reduction in crime rates. In this episode, experts discuss the pros, the cons and where we draw the line between surveillance and public safety. 

Following a case of custodial violence in Ambasamudram in Tamil Nadu, the issue of police excess is back at the forefront. Lok Sabha data shows that 478 deaths were reported in Tamil Nadu while suspects were in judicial or police custody between 2016-17 and 2021-22. Uttar Pradesh recorded 2,580 deaths in judicial or police custody, the highest among all states. Despite this, conviction rates are shockingly low. Data from the National Crime Record Bureau shows that in Tamil Nadu, not a single police officer was charge sheeted, arrested or convicted for custodial violence in the past five years. Across India, only 286 magisterial or judicial enquiries were ordered, 79 charge sheets were issued and 114 police officers were arrested, while none were convicted.

To understand why holding police officials accountable is difficult, The Hindu speaks with retired Madras High Court Judge K. Chandru. This is part one of a two-part series on custodial violence.

When countries and companies increasingly send satellites and spacecraft into orbit, they face an increasingly pressing problem: a lack of space. Debris from old satellites and other launches are floating around the earth, clogging orbital highways and increasing the risk of collisions with active satellites. Data from 2023 finds there are 13,953 pieces of trackable debris in space, compared to 10,350 spacecrafts or satellites, and 2337 rocket bodies. In today's episode, The Hindu unpacks just how big of a problem space debris is. Experts discuss who is responsible for clean-up efforts, what that process would look like and what the path is moving forward, as our reliance on assets in space increases. 

Last month, the Assam government began an intense crackdown on child marriage. This got the debate going with social activists, who pointed out that the root of the problem — limited access to education among women — is still not being addressed. The National Family Health Survey (NFHS) data shows that higher education levels appear to play a greater role than wealth, in delaying a woman’s marriage. It also showed wide variations in marital age between rural and urban women, Dalit and upper-caste women. In this episode, Mary E John and Rajni Palriwala discuss the role that wealth, education and caste play in determining women’s marital age.  

Link to corresponding Data Point story: https://www.thehindu.com/data/data-education-more-than-wealth-determines-womens-marital-age/article66524366.ece

The recently released Annual Status of Education Report 2022, which surveys learning outcomes of school children, revealed continued dips. In southern, central and western states, in particular, learning levels in mathematics dropped further away from what is expected at a certain grade level. As students continue to move to higher grades, with this weak foundation, what impact will this have on them when they go to university, and eventually enter the workforce? The Hindu speaks with experts to understand the long-term impact of this educational crisis.

Data from the National Family and Health Survey-5 showed that, more than the wealth of a person, awareness levels play a relatively superior role in diabetes incidence. But do ground realities support this conclusion drawn using data? In this episode, The Hindu speaks to experts about the wealth-awareness-diabetes link. 

In this episode, The Hindu speaks to our own Srinivasan Ramani and Vignesh Radhakrishnan about how the data team carries out election coverage. From scraping the data to experimenting with different mapping softwares, and analysing the results in real time, this episode brings you into our newsroom.

The Right to Information Act was passed in 2005, and it gives citizens access to the records of central and state governments. This act gives people the power to question the government, making it a key part of maintaining a healthy democracy. 

But the act isn’t as foolproof as it seems. When it works, the act is a powerful tool, that can uncover major issues in areas that fall under the government. But with issues like vacancies in information commissions, a reluctance to be transparent and delays with appeals and complaints, the act’s power seems to be getting weaker. In this episode, The Hindu speaks with journalists and RTI experts about these issues, and how it is affecting the law.