Lok Sabha Question No. 629 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2020-02-05
Subject: Indian Statistical System
Ministry: STATISTICS AND PROGRAMME IMPLEMENTATION
Asked by: Nama Nageswara Rao

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## MINISTRY OF STATISTICS AND PROGRAMME IMPLEMENTATION

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 629 TO BE ANSWERED ON 05.02.2020

## INDIAN STATISTICAL SYSTEM

629. SHRI NAMA NAGESWARA RAO:

Will the Minister of STATISTICS AND IMPLEMENTATION be pleased to state:

PROGRAMME

- (a) whether the Government has assessed that large investments are required, both in terms of financial and human resources, to strengthen the Indian Statistical System and if so, details thereof;
- (b) if not, the reasons therefor;
- (c)  whether  the  authenticity  of  Government  data  has  come  into question due to its frequent revisions and if so, the facts thereof; and
- (d)  the  steps  taken  by  the  Government  to  restore  the  credibility  of Indian Statistical System?

## ANSWER

MINISTER OF STATE (INDEPENDENT CHARGE) OF THE MINISTRY OF STATISTICS AND PROGRAMME IMPLEMENTATION AND MINISTER OF STATE  (INDEPNDENT  CHARGE)  OF  THE  MINISTRY  OF  PLANNING (RAO INDERJIT SINGH)

- (a)  &  (b):    Statistics  is  under  the  Concurrent  list  of  the  Seventh Schedule of the Constitution, and the Indian Statistical System is laterally decentralized among the Ministries of the Government of India at central level, and vertically decentralized between the Centre and States. The Ministry of Statistics  &  Programme  Implementation  (MoSPI),    being  the nodal  agency  for  planning  an  integrated  development  of  the statistical  system  in  the  country,  coordinates  the  statistical work  in  respect  of  the  Central  Ministries/Departments  and State/Union  Territory  Directorates  of  Economics  &  Statistics (DES).    To  strengthen  the  system,  the  Ministry  undertakes periodic assessment of human resource capacities and other

requirements including financial resources, and takes appropriate action thereon. The  Ministry implements  the 'Capacity  Development  (CD)  Scheme'  for  augmentation  of infrastructural,  technical  as  well  as  manpower  resources  of statistical activities of the Ministry. One of the sub-schemes of the  CD  Scheme  is  the  'Support  for  Statistical  Strengthening (SSS)' of States which aims at improving the statistical capacity and operations of State Statistical Systems.

- (c)  &  (d):    MoSPI  brings  out  the  estimates  of  macroeconomic indicators  namely,  Gross  Domestic  Product  (GDP),  Consumer Price Index (CPI), Index of Industrial Production (IIP), etc on a regular  basis.  These  are  released  as  per  the  pre-announced advance release calendar. Expert Committees/ Advisory Groups are constituted for guiding the methodology to be used for  compiling  such  aggregates.    As  per  the  international standard  practices,  these  indicators  are  revised  periodically to ensure that they remain relevant and reflect the structural changes  in  the  economy  more  realistically.  The  Government also  adopted  the  United  Nations  Fundamental  Principles  of Official Statistics (UNFPOS) in May, 2016 to further strengthen the  national  statistical  system  in  producing  reliable  data  by adhering to internationally agreed professional and scientific standards. The Government also set up the National Statistical Commission as an apex advisory body on statistical matters  which  periodically  reviews  the  functioning  of  the statistical system.

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