The National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) held a training camp here on Monday for its staff belonging to NSSO Field Operations Division (FOD) - Tamil Nadu (South) Region, which covered 12 southern districts. Around 75 field officers, including 25 contract investigators and three State Government staff, took part in the training programme, being held from Monday to Thursday.
The NSSO FOD would commence the 68th Round Survey from July 1, 2011 and continue up to June 30, 2012. Surveys on ‘Household Consumer Expenditure' and ‘Employment and Unemployment' have been earmarked for this round.
The first survey on these subjects was conducted in NSS 27th Round (1972-73) and the last was conducted in 66th Round of NSS (2009-10).
Addressing the inaugural session, M. Madhusudhanan, Deputy Director General, NSSO (FOD), Madurai, said that these subjects had remained important since the origin of NSS as they were the prime source of statistical indicators on social consumption and well being, level of living and inequality thereof.
The basic object of the employment-unemployment surveys of NSSO is to get estimates of the employment and unemployment characteristics at national and State level. The statistical indicators on labour market are required for planning, policy and decision making at various levels, both within Government and outside.
P.B. Rengarajan, Assistant Director, NSSO (FOD), Madurai and E. Chinnamari, Regional Deputy Director, Department of Economics and Statistics, Government of Tamil Nadu, also addressed the meeting.
The NSS was initiated by the Union Government in 1950 to collect socio-economic data by employing scientific sampling methods. The data collected was used by various organisations including the Union Planning Commission and Central Statistical Organisation while formulating policies.