The government is keen on harnessing new technology for capturing good quality data, said Pravin Srivastava, Chief Statistician and Secretary, Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MOSPI).
“As we embark on the job of achieving sustainable development goals, we have to try to capture new data,” he said while exhorting the Indian Statistical Institute to take up this challenge.
Speaking at the 53rd convocation of the ISI, he said that data quality was now important with the Ministry was now imbibing technology like artificial intelligence, data analytics and big data.
ADVERTISEMENT
Data collection came at a cost, he said, adding that surveyors were struggling with data collection, trying to ask the right questions and get the right answers.
Improving methodology
“Help us improve this methodology,” he said, adding that as more technology gets imbibed, what becomes important is not only the logic but also the manner in which the data is used, making it useful for the common man and for policy making.
ADVERTISEMENT
“This becomes crucial,” said Mr. Srivastava
”Capacity-building is not only about education but also about having skills.. the knowledge to handle data.. you also need to give back to society,” he told the outgoing batch of statisticians who received their degrees.
Lord Meghnad Desai, in his speech, appealed to the newer generation to find out ways for forecasting the unforecastable. He said this in the context of the failure of economists to forecast the 2008 economic meltdown. “Is there a way in statistics of truly predicting?” he quizzed.
Bibek Debroy, Chairman of the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister, who is also the president of ISI exhorted students to remember the privileged education that they have received and to give back something to the institute.