Limits and Further Research

The Atlas is a first attempt at a comprehensive, comparable measure of power across Indian public life, and it should be read as such. Several directions for further research follow from its limitations.

• Uncertainty intervals. Readings are reported as point estimates. A full treatment would propagate source-grade and sampling uncertainty through each indicator to the composite.
• Sub-national variation. The national readings average over very different states. State-level atlases for Kerala, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and the Hindi heartland would test whether the national pattern holds.
• Time series. Most arenas are measured at a single date. Reconstructing the readings for 2004, 2014 and 2019 would show how the distribution has moved.
• Alternative codings. The multi-sided coding of opposed actors (as Left, regional, minority and liberal blocs) would test the robustness of the binary.

The data, codebook and engine are published so that others can pursue these questions, and can challenge the present readings with better evidence.