Government forms new panel to review all NSO data

Source: The post is based on the article “Government forms new panel to review all NSO data”  published in The Hindu on 17th July 2023

What is the News?

The Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) has replaced the Standing Committee on Economic Statistics (SCES) with a Standing Committee on Statistics (SCoS).

Why has the government decided to replace the Standing Committee on Economic Statistics (SCES) with the Standing Committee on Statistics (SCoS)?

The Standing Committee on Economic Statistics (SCES) was set up in late 2019.

It was tasked with examining economic indicators pertaining to the industrial sector, the services sector and the labour force statistics. 

This meant that their purview was limited to datasets like the Periodic Labour Force Survey, the Annual Survey of Industries, the Index of Industrial Production and the Economic Census.

Hence, that’s why SCoS has been set up with a broader mandate to review the framework and results of all surveys conducted under the National Statistical Office (NSO).

What are the functions of the Standing Committee on Statistics (SCoS)?

Chairman: Pronab Sen, India’s first chief statistician and the former chairman of the National Statistical Commission (NSC), has been named as the chairman.

Members: The committee has 10 official members and four non-official members who are eminent academics. It can have up to 16 members.

Mandate: To advise the Ministry on technical aspects for all surveys, such as sampling, design, survey methodology and finalization of results.

– To identify data gaps that need to be filled by official statistics, along with an appropriate strategy to plug those gaps.

– To explore the use of administrative statistics to improve data outcomes.

Role of National Statistical Commission (NSC): The committee will help finalize survey results. But the NSC will have the ultimate authority to approve the publication of those results.