What India’s government has done — the corruption, the violence, the numbers it would rather you didn’t add up. Every figure counted by someone else: the NCRB, the World Bank, independent newsrooms — never the captured press. Tap any number for its source.
What it has cost, in lives — each a single year, counted by the government's own bureau.
Measured against the whole.
of sitting Rajya Sabha MPs have declared criminal cases against themselves
Roughly 29% of MLAs declare serious criminal cases. Trials against sitting legislators run for years.
ADR, via The Hinduof caste atrocity cases were still waiting for trial at the end of 2022
299,117 cases. Crimes against women: 92.7% pending. Above 90% every year since 2018. The law has existed since 1989.
NCRB Crime in India, tables 7A.5 and 3A.7of all money donated to the eight major parties went to the BJP
Up from 56% the year before — the first year after the Supreme Court struck electoral bonds down as unconstitutional.
NDTV, Scroll, The News Minute, The Wireof 2025's hate-speech events against minorities targeted Muslims
1,318 events in all — about four a day. 88% happened in BJP-ruled states. Up 97% in two years.
Reuters, The Wire, Al Jazeera, Alt NewsReporters Without Borders cites violence against journalists, concentrated ownership, and outlets abandoning any pretence of neutrality.
Reporters Without Borders, 2026Unchanged from the year before; political representation and economic participation are the widest gaps.
World Economic Forum, Global Gender Gap 2026India sits in the 'medium' tier, behind Sri Lanka and China.
UNDP Human Development Report 2025Up two places from 118 the year before, still behind Nepal and Pakistan on the same survey.
World Happiness Report 2026Behind Nepal, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh; child wasting is among the highest in the world.
Concern Worldwide & Welthungerhilfe, 2025Visa-free access to 55 destinations. India was 85th in January 2026, rose to 75th in February, and has slid to 81st since.
Henley Passport Index, July 2026And what they got away with.
What it costs in lives — Counted by the government's own bureau.
Democracy, measured — Scored every year by academics at the University of Gothenburg.
What it costs to live — Money, work and the price of staying alive.
The air, the land, the water
On record