Statistical system overhaul to strengthen state bureaus

NEW DELHI: The government is set to make changes in the country’s statistical system, including changes in processing state sample data and national sample surveys. According to minister of statistics and programme implementation GK Vasan, the government is keen on strengthening statistical bureaus in states.

A conference of central and state statistical organisations (COCSSO) scheduled for this week is expected to come up with suggestions and recommendations for the same.

Issues expected to be raised at the conference include core statistics and the role of statistical advisors, basic statistics for local-level development and the problem in horticulture statistics, which lacks a comprehensive database. Statistical advisors are meant to assist the Indian statistical service officers at the state level. The ministry proposes to strengthen their roles.

The efficacy of the national statistical system largely depends on the operational efficiency of the state statistical systems. It is for this reason that the ministry intends to make the processes efficient at the state level.
To strengthen the information base for meeting the increasing needs of data for policy formulation and to improve reliability, quality and timeliness, the statistics ministry has undertaken the India statistical strengthening project (ISSP) with World Bank assistance.

One of the main components of the project is the study for identifying the specific requirements for strengthening the state statistical bureaus (SSBs). The study has been planned in two phases. The first phase comprises assessing the existing activities of the SSB and line departments of states/UTs, alongwith their standards and quality, assessment of existing infrastructure including IT and human resources.

In the second phase, the study would consolidate the specific requirements of each state for achieving a minimum standard for a common set of statistical output and evolve an action plan for implementation along with costing and other details.