7.3 times

What is it? The number of times the assets of BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) have increased in an 11-year period: from Rs112 crore in 2004-05 to Rs893 crore in 2015-16.

Why is it important? Among the seven national parties, the BJP had the highest assets, as of March 2016. BJP’s big spike came in 2013-14, when its assets shot up 68% from its 2012-13 figure to Rs780 crore, and the party came to power at the Centre two months later. Opacity in political funding, a large part of which has been in cash and anonymous, has been a contentious issue.

Tell me more: A political party’s assets include fixed assets, loans and advances, fixed deposits and investments. As of March 2016, the total assets of the seven national parties were Rs2,719 crore. The Congress held assets of Rs759 crore and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) Rs559 crore.

55%

What is it? The share of respondents polled in India who felt “a system in which a strong leader can make decisions without interference from Parliament or the courts” can be a good way to govern their country, according to a Pew Research Center survey released on Monday.

Why is it important? Among the 38 countries polled from 16 February to 8 May, India had the maximum percentage of respondents who endorsed this view. India was followed by Indonesia (52%) and Philippines (50%). Despite the government stumbling on several fronts, opinion polls show Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s personal ratings to be high.

Tell me more: In general, though, support for autocracy was low, especially in European countries. About 71% of respondents felt it would be a bad type of governance.

Rs5

What is it? The per unit price of power fixed by the Congress-led Punjab government for industrial consumers, with effect from 1 November.

Why is it important? By setting power tariffs below what it has been charging industrial consumers so far—the Punjab State Electricity Regulatory Commission had set the tariff range for 2016-17 from Rs5.47 per unit to Rs7.27 per unit—Punjab is trying to draw industrial investments to reclaim lost economic ground.

Tell me more: In 2016-17, Punjab saw only nine industrial projects being implemented. The total investment in these projects was Rs716 crore, which ranked Punjab 13th among all states.

$555 million

What is it? The upper amount that state-owned airline Air India is planning to raise as a bridge loan to finance the purchase of three Boeing B777-300ER planes in early-2018.

Why is it important? At a time when Air India is adding international destinations, additions like the B777-300ER, a wide-bodied plane that can seat 342 passengers, become important to it. At present, the airline has 119 aircraft. Of this, 44 are wide-bodied planes, including 12 B777-300ER.

Tell me more: In 2016-17, Air India posted a loss of Rs3,643 crore on revenues of Rs22,146 crore, and it needs the government’s help to extend guarantees to secure the loan.

154

What is it? The number of innings taken by South African batsman Hashim Amla to reach 26 ODI (one-day international) centuries in Sunday’s win over Bangladesh.

Why is it important? It’s the least number of innings taken by a batsman to reach 26 hundreds, breaking the previous mark of 166 innings set by India’s Virat Kohli. Among active batsman, though Kohli and Amla have been breaking records in the ODI format, it is the 28-year-old Kohli who tends to receive more of the attention. Amla, 34, is now ranked fifth all-time on ODI hundreds.

Tell me more: Amla is also the fastest to 6,000-run milestones, from 2,000 runs to 7,000 runs, in the ODI format.

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