Amid delays in conduct of key statistical surveys and revision of economic and social indices, key economic ministries have started a process for a fresh set of surveys aimed at bolstering their database for suitable policy action.
Official sources said that several ministries including agriculture, commerce, labour, tourism and health have separately written to the ministry of statistics and programme implementation (MoSPI) for technical and manpower support for these additional statistical exercises. The areas covered in the proposed surveys include tourism footfall surveys of different states, ailments among the elderly and price estimation of industrial inputs.
“MoSPI has been getting repeated requests for conducting surveys on their (other ministries) behalf,” an official told FE. “We will start conducting the additional surveys, and the process will likely begin post-elections.”
The statistics ministry’s survey wing National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) is mandated to conduct large-scale sample surveys in diverse fields across India. It conducts data through nationwide household surveys on various socio-economic subjects, such as Annual Survey of Industries (ASI), Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS), Household Consumption Expenditure Survey (HCES) etc.
The NSSO also collects data on rural and urban prices for retail inflation index, conducts crop estimation surveys for state agencies and maintains a frame of urban-area units for use in sample surveys. Its survey arm has four divisions – Survey Design and Research Division (SDRD), Field Operations Division (FOD), Data Processing Division (DPD), and Survey Coordination Division (SCD). The FOD has a network of six zonal offices, 52 regional offices and 117 sub-regional offices spread throughout the country, and is responsible for the collection of primary data for the surveys.
Experts say that due to the massive network of FOD, the NSSO is capable of conducting additional surveys. “MoSPI has a huge network of statistical officers, posted in centre, states and districts. All the officers are well-trained and have the requisite experience and skills in gathering data,” said NR Bhanumurthy, vice chancellor, BASE University.
“However, in recent years, the FOD’s strength at the district level in particular has dwindled, and therefore, they need to expand capacities for conducting the extra surveys,” he added.
PC Mohanan, former acting chairman of National Statistical Commission, said that the governing council for NSSO – dissolved in 2006 – needs to be reinstated first. “Earlier, NSSO had a governing council, which had members that were experts and not part of the government. Their suggestions were useful in fixing gaps in the survey exercise, which field officers were not necessarily aware of.”
Official sources said MoSPI will give the contract of conducting certain surveys to private agencies, as they don’t currently possess the adequate resources. However, the surveys done through such agencies at times have a “certain bias”, and they don’t always reflect accurate results, said Mohanan.
