inaugural address by governor, shri shaktikanta das at the statistics day conference on june 29, 2022 it is a privilege to inaugurate the annual ‘ statistics day conference ’ of the reserve bank. this annual event is taking place today in the physical mode after a gap of two years. on this day, the nation commemorates the contributions of professor prasanta chandra mahalanobis, one of the pioneers in the discipline of statistics and a true visionary. professor c. r. rao, a great statistician and a student of professor mahalanobis described him as “ a physicist by training, a statistician by instinct and an economist by conviction ” 1. 2. professor mahalanobis is regarded as the father of modern statistics in india. he established the indian statistical institute ( isi ) in 1931 and was also responsible for the establishment of the official statistical system in our country, including the large - scale nationwide sample surveys. he displayed keen interest in development of innovative statistical techniques for studying questions pertaining to welfare of the people. as such, his work highlighted the universal applicability of statistical methods in major scientific and social disciplines – agriculture, meteorology, statistical quality control, economics, anthropology and demography, to name a few. 3. professor mahalanobis was appointed honorary national statistical adviser to the union cabinet in 1949 and was the chairman of the first national income committee formed in 1950. the second five - year plan was based on his model of economic development. he rao, c. radhakrishna ( 1993 ). “ statistics must have a purpose - the mahalanobis dictum. ” sankhya : the indian journal of statistics, series a ( 1961 - 2002 ), vol. 55, no. 3, pp. 331 – 49. received india ’ s second highest civilian award, the padma vibhushan, in 1968. 4. as i pay tribute to professor mahalanobis, i propose to touch upon the unique challenges faced by the discipline of statistics in these uncertain times, and the evolving expectations from the discipline and practicing statisticians. the importance of statistics in public policy is well understood. in the face of high uncertainty brought on by the covid - 19 pandemic, the discipline of statistics found itself in greater spotlight. this unprecedented global phenomenon has tested human endeavour in multiple facets and magnitude. the lockdowns in various countries, including our own, posed severe challenges to the compilation and availability of data relating to the spread

spillover ; and ( d ) communication of official statistics. the latest phase aims to address data gaps related to ( i ) climate change ; ( ii ) household distributional information ; ( iii ) fintech and financial inclusion ; and ( iv ) scaling up access to private and administrative data and improve data sharing. 14. the proliferation of internet has led to an explosion in the availability and demand for data. businesses are making large investments to predict the behaviour of consumers by exploiting the advances made in the field of data analytics. amidst this inundation of data and inferences, it is important that peculiarities and nonconformities are subjected to robust statistical analysis and peer review before deriving conclusions. 15. in other words, statistics should focus on laying down the pathway towards proper interpretation in the present world of data abundance. this would facilitate more informed decision making, clarity in communication from decision makers and formation of rational expectations from market participants. 16. in most countries today including our own, there are greater demands from the profession of statistics for policy inputs and decision making. such rising demands on the profession necessitate robust quality of statistics and statistical methods. i would encourage the statisticians in the reserve bank of india, as well as those outside the bank, to make full use of the opportunities available by way of advances in statistical methods. we are living in an era where computing power practically has no boundaries. this is an opportunity as well as a challenge for statisticians across the world. 17. i earnestly hope that today ’ s deliberations will inspire our officers, especially the younger officers, to ask pertinent questions and rise to the challenges of the post - pandemic world. their endeavour should be to innovate solutions keeping in mind the mahalanobis dictum 7 : “ statistics must have a clearly defined purpose, one aspect of which is scientific advance and the other, human welfare and national development. ” 18. my best wishes for productive deliberations in today ’ s conference. thank you. rao, c. radhakrishna ( 1993 ). “ statistics must have a purpose : the mahalanobis dictum. ” sankhya : the indian journal of statistics, series a ( 1961 - 2002 ), vol. 55, no. 3, pp. 331 – 49.