This is not a fantasy. It is arithmetic.
How we chose our numbers
In politics, lying is cheap and the truth is costly. A vague figure, a giant promise, then silence. We chose the opposite road: under every claim, one real number you can open and check yourself. Why? Because anyone who asks for your vote owes you at least this much, the truth. This page is the test we hold every one of our numbers to.
Our one rule for telling you the truth
All your life you have heard leaders toss out big numbers without ever saying where they came from. Our promise is the reverse: no number without its year, its source, its definition. And if we are ever wrong, the correction goes on the record too, in the open. This is not a fantasy, it is an accounting, and an accounting is your right.
The standard for every number
Wherever possible, a number makes five things clear:
- Value, the actual figure, not a vague round number.
- Year, which year or period it is from.
- Definition, what exactly it measures (so two different measures are never mixed).
- Geography, whether it covers all India, rural, urban, or one state.
- Source, a primary source you can open yourself.
Example: "40.0%, female labour-force participation, age 15+, usual status, rural and urban India, PLFS Annual Report 2025." Where we use a different number for cross-country comparison, we say so separately (e.g. the ILO modelled estimate), so the comparison is like-for-like.
Our source hierarchy
When a fact has several sources, we pick the highest one available:
- Government and statutory bodies (PIB, ministries, NCRB, CEA, parliamentary replies).
- Original research papers and institutional datasets (peer-reviewed studies, RCTs, government surveys).
- World Bank, WHO, ILO, IMF, UN agencies.
- Reputable research organisations.
- News reports, only when no primary source is publicly available.
What kind of number it is
We make it clear which of these a number is:
- The current condition, how big the problem is.
- The latest available data, the most recent reliable measure.
- Historical evidence, what happened before.
- An international case, what another country achieved.
- A projected impact, what a policy could change.
Our honesty
If a number turns out wrong, or a better primary source appears, we correct it and log the change in the open. No country's model maps directly onto India; the world's examples prove that the right policy, relentless execution and public accountability can deliver big results, not that copying guarantees the same outcome. And one last thing: if any number on this site looks wrong to you, catch us out. A party that promises you an accounting owes you the first right to audit it.
Also see: check it all yourself