FAQs
About the website
How is the content on the website organised?
Data For India has six verticals at the moment: Population, Health, Living Conditions, Work, Economy and Measurement. All our work is organised under these verticals. You will also find a collection of all our topics at the bottom of the homepage.
How can I search for an article or chart on the website?
The Data For India website contains a list of topics at the bottom of the homepage. You can also use the search button at the top left corner of every page to search for specific queries.
How can I see the data behind a chart?
The bottom right corner of every chart on the Data For India website contains a menu of options that includes:
- A toggle button that lets you switch between chart and table view
- An option to download either the data selected for that chart, or all of the data behind that chart, in .csv format
Can I create custom charts on your platform?
Currently, you cannot create new charts on the Data For India platform but customise existing ones by changing a variable, wherever that option is made available by us. The charts already published on the platform provide you with the options to search for a geographical region, period of time, or indicator that you might be particularly interested in.
Usage and Citation
In what ways can I reuse your work?
You may cite Data For India’s article[s] as a source of information, or quote directly from it. You may also republish the articles in print or online, provided that you use the full citation and link, and do not imply that we are contributors to your publication. You may use our charts as static images, embeds or links in your work, as long as you do not edit them. To know more about our citation guidelines, please check the Using Our Work page.
What are the terms of use for your charts and visualizations?
You may use Data For India’s charts as static images, embeds or links in your work, as long as you do not edit them. You could download the image from our site and upload it in your work, or use a link, or embed the chart. In online publications, we encourage you to embed our charts so that interactivity is retained.
What are the citation requirements?
To know more about Data For India’s citation guidelines, please check the Using Our Work page.
About the data
What data sources does Data For India use?
Data For India uses public data produced by the Indian national government, and public data from select multilateral agencies. Specifically, this includes the following datasets:
Indian government:
- The Indian Census and its projections
- The National Sample Surveys
- The National Family Health Surveys
- The Sample Registration System and the Civil Registration System of the Office of the Registrar General of India
- Administrative data from national ministries and regulators, typically accessed via the National Data Analytics Platform
- The National Crime Records Bureau
- The e-courts platform for legal data
- The Indian Meteorological Department
Multilateral agencies:
- World Bank World Development Indicators
- United Nations World Population Prospects
- World Health Organization data
- International Labour Organization data
- The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation in limited cases
Data produced by private surveyors, think-tanks and NGOs, whether Indian or international, or by Indian state governments is not used.
This is to ensure that the data we use is methodologically rigorous, transparent in its methodology, overseen by relevant experts, and public, meaning that it can be verified. It also allows us to be a citable resource for students and academia.
What is your data verification process?
Data For India works only with data from the sources listed above. Wherever possible, we work with raw data from the publication source, and use the published aggregates to recheck our findings. We do not alter the data or indicators in the raw data. We follow established statistical norms while working with the data.
How can I get access to your data?
The bottom right corner of every chart on the Data For India website contains a menu of options that includes:
- A toggle button that lets you switch between chart and table view
- An option to download either the data selected for that chart, or all of the data behind that chart, in .csv format
How do you make decisions on what topics are covered?
Data For India aims to be a knowledge resource for readers to be able to answer fundamental questions that they may have about socio-economic issues in India, and our choice of topics reflects these aims. If there is an area of knowledge you would like to see that is not currently on Data For India, please write to us and we will consider it.
Do you update the articles published on the website?
Data For India articles aim to be living documents, and we periodically review our work to incorporate newer data and research. Every piece of writing on the website has a time-stamp for the date of publication and for updates. If a piece has been substantially updated, we mark it at the beginning of the piece.
Contributing to Data For India
How can I become a contributing writer?
Data For India thanks you for your interest, but we do not currently accept work from non-staffers.
Can I contribute my research data to the platform?
Data For India uses public data produced by the Indian government and multilateral agencies. However, if you have put together a dataset that you think might be useful for us to look at, please contact us via email.
Do you have any job openings?
Data For India posts job openings on our social media platforms, including LinkedIn.
Technology
What tools do you use to run the website?
Data For India’s website is built on the Ghost platform. Interactive charts are rendered using Chart.js. Datasets are managed on a platform developed using FastAPI and React. We write Python and R scripts and use spreadsheets for processing datasets.
What tools do you use to create its charts?
Data For India uses an open source JavaScript charting library Chart.js for creating its interactive charts.
Do you provide an API to access the data available on the platform?
Data For India does not provide any APIs at the moment. The datasets linked to charts can be downloaded using the options available within the Share Menu on each chart.
About the company
How is your work funded?
Data For India is a private limited company registered in Chennai, India, in June 2023. We fund our work by doing paid data analysis and consulting for think-tanks, universities and private firms. Contact us if you would like to know more about our business offerings.
How can I attend events organised by you?
Data For India makes announcements about upcoming events to our subscribers via email. Choose the “Events” option when you subscribe to Data For India to get updates.
How can I trust your work?
All of Data For India’s work mentions the sources of data used and the methodology, and we follow rigorous internal processes to ensure accuracy. We encourage readers to look at the original data sources, and/or use the data for their own work. If you find an error in our work, please contact us at info [at] dataforindia.com.