Postmen new carriers of price trends to Mospi
You have been relying on the postmen for information on market price situation for long, but now the government would also rely on them for disseminating the exact price movements.
By Niranjan Bharati, ET Bureau |
NEW DELHI: You have been relying on the postmen for information on market price situation for long, but now the government would also rely on them for disseminating the exact price movements. The Centre would involve the postmen for collecting crucial data on commodity prices at the ground level so that the public gets the right picture when the inflation data is released.
The ministry of statistics and programme implementation (Mospi) is preparing the framework in consultation with the department of posts (DoP). The proposal also has the vetting of the Prime Minister���s Office (PMO). The prime minister himself would be taking stock of the statistics and data collection situation on Tuesday.
���We are presently examining the proposal in consultation with Mospi. On one project we have collaborated with them for collection of base data by dak sewaks, other projects would follow soon,��� an official in the DoP said.
Mospi would provide honorarium (extra pay) to the manpower involved in the data collection exercise. The postal staff are likelyto be engaged in collection of data for calculation of the broad-based consumer price index (CPI) numbers separately for theurban and rural areas.
���Although the ministry is pursuing its data collection exercise in urban centres smoothly, it is not able to carry on the exercise in rural centres because of manpower crunch,��� a Mospi official said, adding the involvement of postal staff is the most cost-effective means to address the problem.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh would also be reviewing the developing of data collection exercise next week. A meeting of all the state central data collection authorities in this regard has been called on Tuesday by the PMO.
The postmen would be employed to collect data from 1,000-1,500 village markets for about 200 items once a month. Mospi would provide funds for the price collection work and will also arrange the required training and supervision. In fact, the proposal was mooted earlier but it was not taken forward as Mospi did not have any big job to ���outsource��� then.
The ministry of statistics and programme implementation (Mospi) is preparing the framework in consultation with the department of posts (DoP). The proposal also has the vetting of the Prime Minister���s Office (PMO). The prime minister himself would be taking stock of the statistics and data collection situation on Tuesday.
���We are presently examining the proposal in consultation with Mospi. On one project we have collaborated with them for collection of base data by dak sewaks, other projects would follow soon,��� an official in the DoP said.
Mospi would provide honorarium (extra pay) to the manpower involved in the data collection exercise. The postal staff are likelyto be engaged in collection of data for calculation of the broad-based consumer price index (CPI) numbers separately for theurban and rural areas.
���Although the ministry is pursuing its data collection exercise in urban centres smoothly, it is not able to carry on the exercise in rural centres because of manpower crunch,��� a Mospi official said, adding the involvement of postal staff is the most cost-effective means to address the problem.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh would also be reviewing the developing of data collection exercise next week. A meeting of all the state central data collection authorities in this regard has been called on Tuesday by the PMO.
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The postmen would be employed to collect data from 1,000-1,500 village markets for about 200 items once a month. Mospi would provide funds for the price collection work and will also arrange the required training and supervision. In fact, the proposal was mooted earlier but it was not taken forward as Mospi did not have any big job to ���outsource��� then.
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