Experts lay stress on reliable data
The Hindu
Inadequate data affecting policy making: Arvind Subramanian
Highlighting that inadequate and unreliable data crucially affected policy making, former Chief Economic Advisor (CEA) Arvind Subramanian on Wednesday said that the brutal way in which the second wave of COVID-19 affected the country was partly due to the under-reporting of deaths during the first wave.
During a virtual panel discussion on the recently launched book ‘Whole numbers and half truths,’ authored by journalist S. Rukmini, he said the complacency the country showed in early 2021 before the second wave was, in a way, fed by the lack of data on excess deaths.
Recalling the discussions around growth and policy interventions during his tenure as the CEA, he said his concerns over the economy and the need for expansionary fiscal and monetary policies did not find traction within the government as the official numbers showed that the country’s economy was growing around 7%.