Recently, I got asked about how to explain p-values in simple terms to a layperson. I found that it is hard to do that. P-Values are always a headache to explain even to someone who knows about them let alone someone who doesn't understand statistics. I went to Wikipedia to find something and here is the definition: In statistical hypothesis testing, the p-value or probability value is, for a given statistical model, the probability that, when the null hypothesis is true, the statistical summary (such as the sample mean difference between two groups) would be equal to, or more extreme than, the actual observed results. And my first thought was that might be they have written it like this so that nobody could understand it.

Nearly 250 years ago, the British East India Company under governor general Warren Hastings started'Dewani' (civil) and'Fauzdari' (criminal) court system. The first Law Commission, set up in 1834 under Lord T B Macaulay, did stupendous work towards codification of civil and criminal laws. After the Sepoy Mutiny in 1857, the British government acted on the drafts presented by the commission and enacted Civil Procedure Code, 1859; Indian Penal Code, 1860 and Criminal Procedure Code, 1861. Codification of civil and criminal laws led to a spurt in court-based litigation which stamped out the traditional panchayat system that provided inexpensive justice. By 1920s, India had a population of 11 crore. Yet, courts had started feeling the heat of pendency.