The writer is secretary, Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, and chief statistician to the Government of India
The chief statistician replies
Government has high regard for National Statistical Commission. It is unfortunate its members quit
This is in response to the article, ‘Because data is a public good’ by P C Mohanan, former head of the National Statistical Commission (IE, February 12).
The United Nations General Assembly adopted the Fundamental Principles of Official Statistics (FPOS) in January 2014. This adoption was the culmination of the efforts of international agencies and member countries to ensure and secure the autonomy and independence of their statistical systems to produce appropriate and reliable data that adhered to certain professional and scientific standards. In the Indian context, there have been a series of committees constituted in the past to improve the functioning of the national statistical system. The Government of India also adopted the UN FPOS in May 2016.
The importance of the statistical system became more prominent when the government constituted the National Statistical Commission under the chairpersonship of C Rangarajan, former governor of the RBI and the then governor of Andhra Pradesh, which submitted its detailed report in 2001. The Rangarajan Commission went into great detail on the data gaps and infrastructure constraints of the national statistical system both at the central and the state government level.
In pursuance of the recommendations, the government formally constituted the National Statistical Commission (NSC) in 2005 as a regular institution with a mandate to evolve policies, priorities and standards in statistical matters. The NSC comprises a chairman and five members along with one ex-officio member [CEO, NITI Aayog (erstwhile Planning Commission)] and the chief statistician and secretary, Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation (MoSPI) who also serves as secretary to the NSC. The chairman and members of the NSC are leading experts in their respective fields of statistics, economics, demography, etc. They are selected by a committee constituted by the government.
The NSC had been constituted through an executive decision of the government and to this extent, its decisions are recommendory in nature. The issue of quorum is also a matter of concern. In the first address by the current chief statistician of India to the NSC after taking charge, the issue of a code of professional ethics was raised. The same is being drafted for use by various committees constituted by the NSC as well as the NSC itself, so that the independence and autonomy of the national statistical system is protected. The NSC has a much larger ambit and remit in terms of improving the national statistical system. The draft National Policy on Official Statistics was a step in this direction to strengthen various pillars of the national statistical system and is being finalised.
The NSC has been giving strategic directions to the national statistical system at the central and state level from time to time. The recommendations of the NSC have always been accorded the highest regard by the government and its valued advice has always been implemented in the true spirit of the recommendations. The national statistical system functions under the overall guidance and strategic directions of the NSC and works within the ambit of its given infrastructure and resources. Over a period of time, there has been an increasing demand on the statistical system for production of relevant and quality statistics through its publications, survey reports, and administrative sources. The ministry has been striving to accommodate these demands given the available resources. Looking at the gaps in various sectors, in 2017-18, the ministry had sought additional resources to undertake several new activities like the Economic Census of Establishments, Annual Survey of Services Sector Establishments, Annual Survey of Unincorporated Sector, National Data Warehouse on Official Statistics and so on. The ministry has also initiated processes for introducing new technological interventions in the data collection process as well as in bringing out its analytical reports.
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