Articles by Abhishek Jha
Number Theory: Four key questions that will matter for the economy in 2023
As the New Year begins amid renewed hope, what will 2023 hold for the economy — both Indian and global?

Updated on Jan 05, 2023 07:34 AM IST
Number Theory: Tracking employment data in ’22 as jobs return 2 yrs after Covid
Since the Covid-19 pandemic started in 2020, economies all around the world have learnt that they must balance lives and livelihood to survive.

Updated on Dec 30, 2022 04:12 AM IST
Max 15.6°C, min 5°C: Delhi fights biting cold as sun stays away
The night was coldest in south Delhi’s Aya Nagar, with the minimum a sharp 4°C, while the day was coolest in southwest Delhi’s Jafarpur, which saw a maximum of just 11°C.

Updated on Dec 27, 2022 04:49 AM IST
No sign yet of China virus surge in India Covid data
The rise in Covid-19 cases in neighbouring China now has the attention of the top authorities in India, including the prime minister and the union health minister. None of them has suggested any drastic measures yet (and rightly so), and only all advised pandemic-appropriate behaviour and more surveillance. There is good reason for this.

Updated on Dec 23, 2022 09:24 AM IST
Three reasons India will not see a Covid-wave like China’s
An HT analysis of data from China and India suggests that India is likely better protected than China. However, this analysis also shows that this fact will not remain true without dynamic action on the vaccination front.

Updated on Dec 22, 2022 04:40 PM IST
Abhishek Jha, New Delhi, Hindustan Times
If December isn’t very cold, 2022 will be one of the warmest ever years
Frost and snow gave way to a mild weather in the United Kingdom on Monday, a trend that is likely to persist up to Christmas, the country’s Met Office predicted . This has a parallel in India, where there has not been much or any snow in the Himalayas.

Updated on Dec 21, 2022 04:55 AM IST
Number theory: Tracking the dramatic temperature changes India saw through 2022
To be sure, while 2022 is in the top 20% coldest years by maximum temperature, it ends up on the warmer half when we look at the minimum temperature.

Updated on Dec 19, 2022 01:46 PM IST
India’s vaccine coverage stagnant for over a month amid surge in cases abroad
India has made remarkable progress in vaccinating people against Covid-19 since the beginning of the immunisation drive in January 2021. However, since September, when a free window for boosters was discontinued, it has faltered in this initiative.

Updated on Dec 15, 2022 04:58 AM IST
Abhishek Jha, New Delhi
Did Old Pension Scheme win Himachal Pradesh for the Congress?
Anecdotal accounts of the party’s campaign in Himachal Pradesh suggest that the Congress gained significantly because of its promise to restore Old Pension Scheme

Updated on Dec 10, 2022 04:34 AM IST
Vote split not key factor behind BJP’s win in Gujarat: Poll arithmetic decoded
Vote split alone cannot explain the results in Gujarat. It is likely the appeal of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and the efficient campaign the BJP ran, helped it more than vote cutting did.

Updated on Dec 10, 2022 05:18 AM IST
Congress’s dwindling fortunes, in 4 maps
In winning Himachal Pradesh back, the Congress has merely repeated a pattern that has held since 1990

Updated on Dec 09, 2022 02:27 PM IST
Vote share spoilers hit poll fortunes of 3 major parties in Gujarat
Did the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) act as a spoiler in the 2022 Gujarat elections? If it did, how much of an impact did it have on the Gujarat results? An HT analysis shows that the answer is not straightforward

Updated on Dec 09, 2022 02:18 AM IST
BJP footprint on seats it never won before in Gujarat assembly
Not only has the BJP added 29 seats to its previous all-time best of 127 seats in 2002, it has also beaten the record of 149 seats that the Congress achieved in the 1985 elections

Updated on Dec 09, 2022 05:56 AM IST
Seat share vs vote share: Congress’s victory maths in Himachal
While the Congress’s seat share to vote share ratio has increased significantly from 0.74 to 1.34 between 2017 and 2022, the BJP’s has fallen sharply from 1.33 to 0.85.

Updated on Dec 09, 2022 04:07 PM IST
Four key messages from the elections
Is there a larger takeaway from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress victories in these two states?

Published on Dec 09, 2022 12:03 AM IST
With 80% vote count so far, Congress takes lead over BJP in Himachal
The Congress party has established a lead over the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the Himachal Pradesh assembly elections with around 80% of votes counted in the hill state until 12

Published on Dec 08, 2022 01:01 PM IST
Victory margins show 2022 MCD polls more closely fought
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), that won on Wednesday, has a seat share of 54%, lower than the 66% seat share for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which won the elections in 2017

Published on Dec 08, 2022 01:59 AM IST
Delhi riots may have left impact on vote patterns
An analysis of the AAP’s seat share shows that in the Muslim-dominated assembly constituencies of North East Delhi and East Delhi parliamentary constituencies, the AAP has either lost seat share compared to 2017 or did not have a significant seat share to begin with

Published on Dec 08, 2022 12:47 AM IST
Significance of the MCD results — in three charts
The Aam Admi Party (AAP) has secured a simple majority in the 2022 Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) elections, winning 134 wards in the 250-ward corporation. By doing so, it has wrested the (erstwhile) three MCDs from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which won 181 out of the 272 wards in the MCD polls held in 2017.

Updated on Dec 08, 2022 02:11 PM IST
Three things we know about the Delhi municipal poll results so far
A comparison with the 2017 MCD results shows that the BJP has actually managed to increase its vote share by a couple of percentage points while the AAP is at an increase of 16 percentage points so far

Published on Dec 07, 2022 11:42 AM IST
Number Theory: Has winter arrived early in Delhi this year?
There is no temperature threshold, which defines winter officially. While IMD calls the December-February period as winter, these are not the coldest months (at least in terms of maximum temperature) in all of India.

Updated on Dec 06, 2022 03:48 PM IST
What was music to Indian ears in 2022?
While the company only gives away select statistics, such as most streamed artists, the Spotify app features playlists of the most streamed tracks. The data from these playlists can be used to answer an even more interesting question: How India’s music taste compared to the world in 2022.

Published on Dec 02, 2022 11:53 PM IST
Number Theory: What is behind the relatively cleaner air in Delhi this November?
Delhi’s average Air Quality Index (AQI) for November was 321.

Updated on Dec 02, 2022 12:33 PM IST
Number Theory: Prez Murmu’s concerns about criminal justice system are spot-on
An HT analysis of prison statistics for 2021 released earlier this year suggests that the President’s comments about how the criminal justice system is biased against the poor and underprivileged are backed by data.

Updated on Nov 30, 2022 01:51 PM IST
Urban unemployment improved to best level in July-September
Data also suggests that at least some of the improvement could be because of an increase in poor-quality jobs, a trend seen regularly since the Covid-19 pandemic

Updated on Nov 25, 2022 09:45 AM IST
Linking Walkar case to ‘love jihad’ a disservice to larger gender issues
Even as investigations into the alleged murder of Shradha Walkar by her live-in partner Aftab Poonawala continue, there have been efforts in some quarters to link this dastardly crime to “love jihad”.

Updated on Nov 25, 2022 01:40 PM IST
Number Theory: What a three-way contest entails for Gujarat polls
If the AAP does manage to get a vote share in Gujarat to reckon with and the contest does become triangular, what impact will it have on the state’s politics?

Updated on Nov 24, 2022 07:52 PM IST
, Hindustan Times, New Delhi
Abhishek Jha and Roshan KishoreNumber theory: Gujarat’s economic inequality challenge
An analysis of the 2017 assembly results shows that the BJP’s losses were not confined to the poorest regions of the state, suggesting that there isn’t a complete correlation between economic well-being and support for the party in the state.

Updated on Nov 16, 2022 11:42 AM IST
What can solve Delhi’s air pollution problem?
Not everything is judicially manageable, the Supreme Court said on Thursday as it declined to grant an urgent hearing to a petition demanding fresh guidelines on stubble burning and other crucial steps to curb the rising pollution in Delhi and surrounding areas.

Updated on Nov 11, 2022 11:08 AM IST
Number Theory: The past, present and aftermath of EWS reservation policy
In a 3-2 verdict, a five-judge constitution bench of the Supreme Court upheld the 103rd constitutional amendment, which gave a 10% reservation for Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) of social groups hitherto not entitled to reservations earlier

Updated on Nov 08, 2022 04:28 PM IST