New Panel to review ‘NSO data’

New Panel to review ‘NSO data’

Subject : Economy

Section: National Income

Concept :

• The Ministry of Statistics is going to replace the existing Standing Committee on Economic Statistics (SCES) by a ‘Standing Committee on Statistics (SCoS)’ which has a broader mandate to review the framework and results of all surveys conducted under the aegis of the National Statistical Office (NSO).

Background:

• The government constituted a new internal oversight mechanism for official data via forming a Standing Committee on Economic Statistics (SCES) set up in late 2019.

About the new Committee:

• As per the update, a new committee ‘SCoS’ will have 10 official members, and four non-official members who are eminent academics.
• The panel can have up to 16 members.
• Need for a new committee: The last round of household surveys on consumption expenditure and employment citied ‘data quality issues’.

Significance:

• The ‘SCoS’ terms of reference include the identification of data gaps that need to be filled by official statistics, along with an appropriate strategy to plug those gaps.
• It has also been mandated to explore the use of administrative statistics to improve data outcomes.
• Present scenario:
• The Standing Committee on Economic Statistics (SCES), which had 28 members, included 10 non-official members.
• The panel was mandated to review the framework for economic indicators pertaining to the industrial sector, the services sector and the labour force statistics.
• This meant that their purview was limited to datasets like the Periodic Labour Force Survey, the Annual Survey of Industries, the Index of Industrial Production and the Economic Census.

National Statistical Office (NSO):

• National Statistical Office (NSO) was formed through the merger of the NSSO and CSO under the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI).
• The National Sample Survey Office (NSSO), formerly called the National Sample Survey Organisation was the largest organization in India conducting periodic socio-economic surveys.
• Earlier known as the Central Statistics Organisation of India, CSO is responsible for the coordination of statistical activities in India, and evolving and maintaining statistical standards.

The major functions of CSO are as under: –

• Acts as the nodal agency for planned development of the statistical system in the country, lays down and maintains norms and standards in the field of statistics, involving concepts and definitions, methodology of data collection, processing of data and dissemination of results.
• Coordinates the statistical work in respect of the Ministries/Departments of the Government of India and State Statistical Bureaus (SSBs), advises the Ministries/ Departments of the Government of India on statistical methodology and on statistical analysis of data.
• Compiles and releases the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) every month in the form of ‘quick estimates’; conducts the Annual Survey of Industries (ASI); and provides statistical information to assess and evaluate the changes in the growth, composition and structure of the organised manufacturing sector.
• Organizes and conducts periodic all-India Economic Censuses and follow-up enterprise surveys, provides an in-house facility to process the data collected through various socio economic surveys and follow-up enterprise surveys of Economic Censuses.
• Examines the survey reports from the technical angle and evaluates the sampling design including survey feasibility studies in respect of surveys conducted by the National Sample Survey Organisations and other Central Ministries and Departments.
• Dissemination of statistical information on various aspects through a number of publications distributed to Government, semi-Government, or private data users/ agencies; and disseminates data, on request, to the United Nations agencies like the UNSD, the ESCAP, the ILO and other international agencies.
• Maintains liaison with international statistical organizations, such as, the United Nations Statistical Division (UNSD), the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), the Statistical Institute for Asia and the Pacific (SIAP), the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the Food and Agriculture Organizations (FAO), the International Labour Organizations (ILO), etc.
• Prepares national accounts as well as publishes annual estimates of national product, government and private consumption expenditure, capital formation, savings, estimates of capital stock and consumption of fixed capital, as also the state level gross capital formation of supra-regional sectors and prepares comparable estimates of State Domestic Product (SDP) at current prices.
• Conducts large scale all-India sample surveys for creating the database needed for studying the impact of specific problems for the benefit of different population groups in diverse socio-economic areas, such as employment, consumer expenditure, housing conditions and environment, literacy levels, health, nutrition, family welfare, etc.
• Releases grants-in-aid to registered Non-Governmental Organizations and research institutions of repute for undertaking special studies or surveys, printing of statistical reports, and financing seminars, workshops and conferences relating to different subject areas of official statistics. The Collection of Statistics Act, 2008 and coordination of follow-up on the implementation of recommendations of NSC recommendations. The administrative work relating to Indian Statistical Institute (ISI) is also looked after by CAP Division.