New Delhi, Feb. 12 -- Quick, which is the largest crude oil producing country in the world? You'd be wrong if you said Saudi Arabia. The US overtook it in 2018 and now produces about 20%-25% more oil than Saudi Arabia.

A friend said last year that he couldn't recognize Bhubaneswar and Puri where he had spent the early part of his career. These examples got me thinking on both their specifics as well as data changes, in general.

Odisha has been a success story, relatively speaking. From being at the bottom end when measured by the percentage of people living in dire poverty, it is now marginally above the all-India average. Rajasthan has shown a similar trajectory. Tamil Nadu did it a decade or two before them, and from once being the co...