Dear Express Explained reader, At a previously unscheduled press conference this week, RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das made an announcement that was sudden but entirely expected: a 40 basis point increase in the repo rate and a 50 basis point increase in the cash reserve ratio, intended to suck out excess liquidity from the economy and hopefully cool runaway inflation. More rounds of interest rate hikes are expected as the year progresses. Sandeep Singh and George Mathew unpacked what this means for your EMIs and broad investment decisions — as banks inevitably raise rates, and investment returns from the safer debt instruments lie in negative territory given high inflation, what practical steps should you take? Sandeep also explained separately why investors would probably do well to bet on equities at this time — check out the data from 2014 and 2016, also times of high inflation. But why did this raising of interest rates have to come about in this dramatic fashion, giving the markets a shock? As Sandeep and George, and Udit Misra explained in separate articles, the writing has been on the wall for quite some time now, just that RBI has declined to react to it, glossing over mounting macroeconomic evidence. It seemed clear this week that the central bank had fallen behind the curve, and dropped the ball on managing inflation. Also this week, the office of the Registrar General, India released data from the Civil Registration System (CRS), which showed that a little more than 81 lakh deaths were registered in the country in 2020, an increase of about 4.75 lakh deaths over the previous year. While the CRS data did not say how many of these deaths occurred due to Covid-19, the release of the numbers reignited the debate over the number of pandemic deaths in the country. The argument was fuelled further by the release of the WHO's assessment that 47.4 lakh people had died due to Covid in India during 2020 and 2021 — nearly 10 times the official pandemic death toll of 4.81 lakh at the end of last year. Our science editor Amitabh Sinha wrote two very important articles to help make sense of the debate. One, on why the death data in the CRS do not tell the full story on India's pandemic toll (We have no option but to wait for the outcome of a separate exercise called the Sample Registration System that relies on a regular survey-based process to estimate the total number of births and deaths in the country.), and two, on why the WHO estimate raises some fundamental questions, and appears to fly in the face of obvious evidence on the ground. (If the WHO estimates are correct, it would essentially mean that 9 out of 10 deaths from Covid-19 in India went unreported in the first two years of the pandemic.) Do read. A few other explainers that I would like to flag to you this week:
* As the buzz grows around Umran Malik, the Sunrisers Hyderabad quick who seems to be able to send down 150 kph rockets almost at will, Sandeep Dwivedi wrote on what exactly it takes to bowl that fast.
* A SpiceJet aircraft coming into land in Durgapur ran into unusually strong turbulence that tossed the plane around, causing severe injuries to several passengers. Pranav Mukul explained what causes turbulence, and what you must do if your flight encounters turbulence.
* A remarkable leak in the United States revealed that a majority of justices in that country's Supreme Court had made up their minds to overturn 'Roe v Wade', the landmark 1973 judgment of the court that legalised abortion and gave women the right to control their bodies. Apurva Vishwanath explained the long-running debate over the issue in America, and why the overturning of 'Roe', if it happens, could mark a seismic moment in that country's society and politics.
Stay safe and stay aware. Keep reading The Indian Express Explained. Some of our content is now behind a paywall, so if you haven't subscribed to The Indian Express yet, this may be the perfect time to do so. Click here to subscribe. Sincerely, Monojit (monojit.majumdar@expressindia.com) If you received this newsletter as a forward, you can subscribe to it here | Do read our Explained articles here | 
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