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Pranab asks statisticians to generate data to facilitate policy decisions

Special Correspondent

The statistical system should develop its base from the village level

Many Third Word states looking towards India
for statistical standards
Paucity of manpower confronting official statistical system

NEW DELHI: External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Sunday asked statisticians to generate data required for facilitating policy decisions in a multilateral framework and thereby complement the country’s socio-economic development.

For this, the statistical system should develop its base from the village level to meet the growing demand for diversified statistical products. The Indian Statistical Organisation should formulate a strategic framework for the development of statistical capacity and infrastructure that was sufficiently robust, stable and independent to respond to the new challenges, he said.

Mr. Mukherjee was inaugurating the ‘Second Statistics Day’ function to mark the 115th birth anniversary of P.C. Mahalanobis, the doyen of Indian statistics.

The statistical system, Mr. Mukherjee said, had to prepare itself to play a bigger role in an era where the world was rapidly getting integrated and issues of a global nature were becoming increasingly more important. “It is incumbent for our statistical system to generate data which are necessary to undertake analysis and facilitate policy decision in a multilateral framework.”

Mr. Mukherjee called for focused attention in areas such as environment degradation, climate change, disaster management and global food and energy security as India had an important role to play in this regard. Many developing countries were looking towards India for providing statistical standards and methodologies, he said. “This is a responsibility we cannot shirk,” he said and expressed confidence that, as in the past, the country’s statisticians would meet the challenges ahead.

Pointing to the increased demand for diversified statistical products and the needs of globalisation, Mr. Mukherjee noted that the statistical system must develop its base right from the village level. “The existing institutional mechanism has, therefore, to harness the skill of statistical work from the limited scope of colleges and universities,” he said.

Mr. Mukherjee observed that paucity of proper manpower was a major problem confronting the official statistical system and, therefore, it was necessary to develop a high level human resource development programme for statisticians.

Noting that India’s statistical system measured up to the best in the world in terms of its quality and openness, he said: “This characteristic raises the stature of our country in international deliberations … I understand that [the] last economic census conducted in 2005 has shown to the world that India can conduct such a gigantic statistical exercise visiting 211 million households and 42 million establishments without any legal backing and with limited resources.”

Mr. Mukherjee conferred the National Award in Statistics for Senior Statistician in memory of P.V. Sukhatme for 2007-08 on B.L.S. Prakasa Rao, Jawaharlal Nehru Chair Professor, Department of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Hyderabad, in recognition of his outstanding contributions to statistics.

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