I have always admired the government of our neighbouring state for all kinds of things, and routinely fail to understand why so many naysayers label it one of the worst-managed places in India. They use all kinds of statistics and figures to boost their argument, throwing around terms like ‘human development index’ and ‘global hunger index’ that mean nothing to most of us. I am of the firm opinion that statistics are false unless they come to me via WhatsApp or from the Prime Minister’s Twitter handle. I’m pretty sure I’m not alone in this.

Consider this ridiculous report from 2022, for instance, allegedly from some institution calling itself the Harvard Centre for Population and Development Studies. It reportedly assessed Indian states and districts on the POSHAN Abhiyan aimed at improving the nutritional status of pregnant women, adolescent girls, lactating mothers and children under six and found that Gujarat had the lowest rank at 28. Firstly, does an institution like Harvard have any more credibility than, say, Gujarat University? I doubt it. Second, must we look at malnutrition when a state should be evaluated on more important parameters, such as the number of roads or bridges inaugurated there? Luckily, no major news channel in India wasted much space on this trivial report, which is why I ignored it too.