In latest years, the credibility of a few of NSO’s data, particularly the outcomes of assorted family surveys historically carried out by the National Sample Survey Office have come below a cloud, with even high authorities officers questioning their method and outcomes. File
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The story thus far: The Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation has shaped a new Standing Committee on Statistics (SCoS) to advise on official data generated by the National Statistical Office (NSO). This panel, chaired by former National Statistical Commission chief and India’s first Chief Statistician Pronab Sen, will exchange one other committee headed by him that was shaped in 2019 to advise on financial data.
What is totally different about the new committee?
The Standing Committee on Economic Statistics was mandated to overview the framework for financial indicators comparable to these pertaining to the industrial and providers sectors, together with labour pressure statistics. This meant its focus was restricted to reviewing high-frequency data like the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) and the Consumer Price Index (CPI), other than surveys and enumerations like the Economic Census, Annual Survey of Industries and the Periodic Labour Force Survey. The SCoS, as per the order issued by the Ministry on July 13, has “enhanced terms of reference” that allow it to advise the Ministry not simply on all current surveys and data units, but additionally determine areas the place data gaps exist, recommend methods to fill them and perform pilot surveys and research to finetune new approaches for capturing higher data. The new committee can be half the dimension of the 28-member panel that was reviewing financial data.
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Mr. Sen is accompanied by seven lecturers, together with former Institute of Economic Growth professor Biswanath Goldar, National Council for Applied Economic Research professor Sonalde Desai, and Mausami Bose, professor at the Indian Statistical Institute. “Traditionally, the NSO used to appoint committees to advise on design and methodology for Surveys,” mentioned a veteran statistician. “However, this panel has a wider mandate as it can also proactively work on issues beyond the surveys for which the Ministry seeks their guidance,” he identified. For occasion, one among the gadgets on SCoS’ agenda is to discover the availability of administrative statistics that may be helpful for surveys and producing extra data.
Why does it matter?
In latest years, the credibility of a few of NSO’s data, particularly the outcomes of assorted family surveys historically carried out by the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) have come below a cloud, with even high authorities officers questioning their method and outcomes. In 2019, the authorities had determined to junk the outcomes of two main NSSO family surveys carried out in 2017-18 — to evaluate the employment and consumption expenditure ranges in Indian households — by claiming they suffered from “data quality issues”. The precise rationale for withholding the end result of the final surveys, carried out quickly after demonetisation and the implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST), is believed to be that they revealed misery in households. The same dilemma had arisen for coverage makers when these surveys, carried out each 5 years, revealed a not-so-enthralling image once they have been carried out in 2009-10, quickly after the international monetary disaster. But the authorities went forward and revealed these findings and determined to do recent surveys in 2011-12 to filter out the ill-effects of the 2008 disaster.
However, after the 2017-18 Surveys have been junked, a recent Household Consumption Expenditure Survey (HCES) was began solely final July and its outcomes could take a minimum of one other 12 months to be finalised. In the absence of this data, India’s key financial indicators comparable to retail inflation, GDP and even the extent of poverty, often revised primarily based on evolving consumption traits, proceed to be primarily based on the 2011-12 numbers, and are divorced from modern floor realities. It compels the authorities to depend on proxy data comparable to Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF) account numbers to gauge employment traits and the National Family Health Survey to evaluate poverty ranges.
How can the SCoS bridge the belief deficit surrounding official data?
While it will probably advise the Statistics Ministry on particular person surveys and data units, the new panel can be anticipated to assist handle points raised “from time to time” on the outcomes and methodology of surveys. With survey design and options evolving, the panel can search to sensitise data customers about the nuances concerned to make sure higher interpretation of the numbers. Most importantly, the SCoS, which can assist the NSO finalise survey outcomes and, the impartial National Statistical Commission that’s empowered to evaluate whether or not any official data is match for launch, should search to rebuild the credibility of India’s statistics.
