The Centre is eyeing an increase in the frequency of some critical official Surveys, including the periodic survey to measure employment, and releasing their results faster to facilitate timely and informed policy decisions, a top Statistics Ministry official said on June 19.
Speaking at a data user conference on the recently released findings of the Household Consumption Expenditure Survey (HCES) 2022-23, Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation Secretary Saurabh Garg said data would be the basis of making “much more informed” decisions needed to attain the common purpose of making India a developed country by 2047.
Having replaced traditional pen and paper surveys conducted by enumerators on the field, with Computer Assisted Personal Interview (CAPI) tablets that were used in the HCES, for instance, India’s statistical officers can now directly upload the data from the field so that time delays that happen between the survey and the availability of results is decreased, Mr. Garg said.
“The use of technology is something we will continue to focus on as we move ahead, and the purpose is to ensure that we can reduce the time period between surveys. For example, we have the HCES and the PLFS [Periodic Labour Force Survey]… many of these surveys that are annual, we are looking at which of them can be made quarterly, and some of them could be made monthly,” Mr. Garg said.
Collaboration with ministries
“The availability of data at the right time for any decision maker is critical for making more informed decisions,” he underlined. The Ministry is also seeking to foster collaboration and interaction with other ministries and departments, with a view to ensure that statistics generated across government can “talk to each other” and be tapped easily by departments based on their needs.
Separately, the country’s official statistics machinery is also striving to ensure compliance with global data standards, such as the United Nations (UN) system of national accounts or the special data dissemination standards of the International Monetary Fund.
“Traditionally, many of these standards have been led by the statisticians in India… But to ensure that the data that is being put out, is being put out in a manner which is credible, which is understood by everyone, and follows standards… is the focus,” Mr. Garg said, noting that India is now part of the UN Statistical Commission. “We look forward to continuing to play our part in ensuring to build standards, while ensuring that we adhere to those standards,” he summed up.
