#200 The Stories We Choose to Believe

<p>We turn 200 editions old today. It has been fun. Thank you for giving us your time. You can do without another self-congratulatory mail in your inbox. So, let’s get moving on with a nod to this classic line of Majrooh. </p><p>मैं अकेला ही चला था जानिब-ए-मंज़िल मगर </p><p>लोग साथ आते गए और कारवाँ बनता गया</p><p><em>I had set out on this journey all by myself</em></p><p><em>Others joined, and it turned into a caravan</em> </p><p><strong>India Policy Watch #1: Decoding Our Maladies</strong></p><p><em>Insights on burning policy issues in India</em></p><p><em>— RSJ</em></p><p>Tell me the conspiracy theories a society is willing to believe in, and I will tell you about its maladies. </p><p>Truth is a contested notion in today’s world. Maybe it has always been. But there’s something clarifying about a conspiracy theory that no truth can match. It is not the conspiracy itself. That often crumbles under the lightest of burden of logic applied to it. The real deal is what prompts the need for the conspiracy. It stems from the irreconcilability of an often irrational belief that many hold with the reality of the world around them. The greater the chasm between the two, the weirder the conspiracy theory. And it is this chasm, this flight from reality, that a conspiracy theory is born to serve. By denying the facts that are around you and leaning on your own right to have an opinion, conspiracy theorists make it easier for you to dismiss inconvenient facts as mere opinions. Once you have painted facts as fabrications of another mind, you get the permission to have your own facts. That’s how conspiracy theory works.</p><p>So, why am I going on about conspiracy theories now? Well, here’s <em>Mint</em>:</p><p>In an article quoted by Hindi Daily, <em>Amar Ujala</em>, the RSS mouthpiece said that a group of Indians has created a negative narrative against Adani. The article pinned blame on an ‘Indian lobby which includes the country’s famous propaganda websites associated with leftist ideology'. </p><p>Harping on an ideological