Libraries & Tools
DataTruth uses no proprietary frameworks. Every dependency is open source, served via CDN, and licensed for free use and redistribution.
Flexible, open-source charting library for the web. Used for every visualisation on DataTruth — bar charts, line charts, scatter plots, and stacked charts — rendered on HTML5 Canvas with full tooltip and responsive support.
chartjs.org →A typeface designed for computer screens, optimised for legibility at small sizes. Used for all body text, labels, navigation, stat cards, and UI elements across every DataTruth page. Designed by Rasmus Andersson.
rsms.me/inter →A transitional serif typeface suitable for titling and headlines. Used for the DataTruth logo, study titles, hero headings, and section headings across all pages. Designed by Claus Eggers Sørensen.
Google Fonts →Open source CDN used to serve Chart.js assets. jsDelivr is a free, open source CDN for npm and GitHub packages with global PoPs and no rate limits for open source projects.
jsdelivr.com →Free font hosting service used to deliver Inter and Playfair Display. Fonts are loaded via Google's CDN with preconnect optimisation. No analytics data is collected from font loading.
fonts.google.com →No React, Vue, Angular, jQuery, Bootstrap, or any other JavaScript or CSS framework is used. All pages are hand-coded HTML with embedded CSS and plain JavaScript — ensuring fast load times, zero dependencies, and full hostability on GitHub Pages.
Datasets Used, Study by Study
Every data point on DataTruth is sourced from official Government of India publications, RBI reports, or peer-reviewed research institutions. Where exact figures are unavailable, data is clearly labelled as indicative and based on published patterns.
- CGA — Controller General of Accounts · Monthly union expenditure statements (2015–16 to 2025–26)
- CAG Audit Reports · Annual compliance findings on rushed year-end spending
- Ministry of Finance — Finance Ministry circulars on year-end spending limits (No more than 10% in March; 33% in Q4)
- data.gov.in · Ministry-level expenditure by financial year
- MoSPI — MPLADS Portal · MP-wise fund release, utilisation, and project sanctioning data (state-wise, year-wise)
- CAG MPLADS Audit · Report No. 11 of 2011 and 2025 state-level findings
- Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation — MPLADS Guidelines 2016 (revised)
- Central Information Commission (CIC) — Orders on fund holding during election periods
- PRS Legislative Research — Parliament Track · 17th Lok Sabha attendance records and questions asked for all 543 MPs
- Lok Sabha Secretariat · Official sitting day records, 2019–2024
- Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs · MP salary, allowances, and perks structure
- Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) · MP election affidavits and asset declarations
- RBI State Finances: A Study of Budgets · Annual report on state debt, deficit, and expenditure quality
- CAG State Finance Reports · Per-state audit reports including off-budget liability findings
- FRBM Review Committee Report 2017 · NK Singh Committee quantification of off-budget liabilities
- State Budget Documents — Rajasthan, Punjab, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Kerala, MP budget-at-a-glance
- Union Budget Statement 16 — Centrally Sponsored Schemes: budget allocation by scheme (FY 2024–25)
- NIPFP Working Papers · Scheme rationalisation analysis and 2016 Sub-Group findings
- NITI Aayog DMEO · Development Monitoring and Evaluation Office — scheme performance evaluations
- data.gov.in · State-wise utilisation data for centrally sponsored schemes
- RBI Currency and Finance Report 2022–23 · Dedicated chapter on unfunded pension liabilities and state OPS reversion risk
- RBI State Finances · State pension expenditure, revenue receipts, 2018–24
- NIPFP Working Paper No. 395 (2023) · "Fiscal Implications of OPS Reversion" — actuarial modelling
- PFRDA Annual Reports · NPS corpus, subscriber count, state-wise contribution data
- State Budget Documents — HP, Rajasthan, CG, Jharkhand budget-at-a-glance documents
All Data Sources
Below is a comprehensive directory of every data source drawn upon across all DataTruth studies. All are from Government of India publications or peer-reviewed research institutions.
Monthly and annual expenditure statements for all Union Government ministries, broken down by major and sub-heads. The primary source for the March Rush study. Data is released monthly with a ~60-day lag.
Comprehensive MP-wise and state-wise fund release, utilisation, and project-level data for the MPLADS scheme. Includes year-wise breakdowns from 2014–15 onward. Publicly accessible with filters by state, constituency, and year.
Audit reports covering scheme performance, year-end expenditure rush, off-budget liabilities, and MPLADS compliance. CAG reports are the gold standard for accountability findings — cited extensively across multiple studies.
Structured database of MP attendance, questions asked, debates participated in, and private member bills introduced — compiled from official Lok Sabha records. Updated after each session. Used as the primary source for The Absent MP study.
Annual RBI publication providing state-wise analysis of debt, deficits, revenue receipts, capital expenditure, and pension commitments. The most comprehensive normalised dataset for comparing state fiscal health across years.
Contains the RBI's landmark warning on OPS reversion as the "single biggest medium-term fiscal risk" for state governments. Chapter IV provides actuarial projections of pension burdens under OPS vs NPS scenarios to 2040.
Peer-reviewed policy research on Indian public finance. Used for scheme rationalisation analysis (Working Paper 2016 Sub-Group findings) and actuarial modelling of OPS vs NPS liabilities (Working Paper No. 395, 2023).
Statement 16 of the Union Budget provides the official list of all Centrally Sponsored Schemes (CSS) with budget allocations by scheme, ministry, and year. The primary source for the Scheme Maze study on CSS concentration.
Annual reporting on NPS corpus size, subscriber counts by state and sector, and contribution rates. Used to estimate the NPS corpus foregone by states that reverted to OPS, and to benchmark NPS fiscal performance against OPS.
Official records of Lok Sabha sitting days, quorum notices, attendance registers, questions listed and answered. Primary source for MP attendance data before aggregation by PRS Legislative Research.
Aggregated datasets from central and state ministries, including scheme-wise expenditure, state utilisation tables, and social sector outcomes. Used as a supplementary source for scheme and MPLADS data.
The evaluation arm of NITI Aayog publishes independent assessments of CSS performance, including third-party evaluations of scheme outcomes and state utilisation patterns. Used for the Scheme Maze study's performance section.
A Note on Indicative Data
All charts and numbers on DataTruth are sourced from the publications listed above. Where specific figures are not individually verifiable (e.g., individual MP attendance rates from years before PRS began systematically tracking, or state-level off-budget liabilities not yet disclosed), data is scaled or modelled based on published aggregate patterns and labelled with the yellow notice banner at the top of each study page.
The phrase "indicative data based on published patterns" means: the shape of the data (trend direction, relative magnitudes, year-over-year changes) is derived from real government publications; the exact per-MP or per-state figure shown may differ from official records by a small margin. We use this approach to illustrate structural patterns that are clearly documented in audit and policy literature — not to fabricate findings.
Every key finding — the 22–25% March spending share, the ₹528 crore MPLADS lapse, the Punjab 53% debt/GSDP ratio, the 133-scheme CSS structure — is directly cited from official sources. Download links to primary sources are provided on each study page.
Using DataTruth
DataTruth — its code, design, analysis, and content — is free software licensed under the GNU General Public License v3.0. You can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GPL as published by the Free Software Foundation.
You are free to:
— Use — run and study this project for any purpose
— Share — copy and redistribute the source code
— Modify — change the code to create derivative works
Conditions:
— Copyleft — if you distribute a modified version, the full source code of your version must also be released under GPL v3
— Attribution — you must retain the original copyright notice and licence in all copies
— No warranty — the software is provided as-is, without warranty of any kind
Government data: All data derived from Government of India sources is in the public domain under Section 52 of the Indian Copyright Act, 1957. No licence restriction applies to the underlying government data — only to DataTruth's original code and analysis layer.
The full licence text is available in the LICENSE file on GitHub.
Standing on Shoulders
DataTruth exists because of the work of researchers, journalists, and institutions who have spent years making Indian government data accessible and analysable.