PM for more statistics-backed decision making

NEW DELHI: Sensing the need to expedite implementation of various development programmes, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday said the country should evolve national quality standards for statistics and enhance coordination among central ministries and state governments.

"Of the wide-ranging mandate that we have given to the National Statistical Commission, two are of particular importance. The first is to evolve and lay down national quality standards in different areas of statistics," Singh said while inaugurating the first Statistics Day on the occasion of birth anniversary of renowned statistician P C Mahalanobis.

Secondly, the Commission should focus on improving statistical coordination among ministries, departments and state governments, Singh said.

The Commission, which is headed by S D Tendulkar, was constituted last year for improving the country's statistical system.

Singh said the arms length relationship between the Commission and the government should provide credibility and transparency to the statistical system and improve the level of confidence that people have in the official data.

It would help in "improving both the completeness and the accuracy of the data collected," he said.

Singh said as India moved towards becoming a knowledge economy and integrate with the international economic order, "the hallmark of a country's reputation will be the credibility and transparency of its statistical system."

Describing Mahalanobis as a great institution builder, Singh said: "He has provided an institutional umbrella by catalysing the spread of teaching and research in statistics," by founding the Indian Statistical Institute in 1931.

The renowned statistician was also instrumental in conceptualising the Central Statistical Organisation (CSO) for systematic collection of administrative data and the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) for conducting large-scale sample surveys, he said.

The Prime Minister also released a brochure on Mahalanobis on the occasion.