The Union Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) has disbanded the 14-member Standing Committee on Statistics (SCoS), led by former chief statistician Pronab Sen, citing an overlap in responsibilities with the newly formed Steering Committee for National Sample Surveys (NSS). The opposition, however, claims that there is more to the matter than meets the eye.
Introduced in July 2023, the SCoS was tasked to assist the Centre in conducting surveys. In an interview with Outlook Business last year, Sen explained that the committee's primary focus was to understand the data needs of the user community and ensure its availability. The statistician and economist had been vocal in meetings about the urgent need for conducting a census, which he believed would not be feasible before 2025.
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“First, you have the house-listing operations, about which we have not even heard anything yet, and we conduct the census only 7-8 months after that," he said. Over the past year, Sen’s panel held more than half a dozen meetings to address issues related to the census, among other topics. Notably, the economist has also been critical of several measures taken by the central government.
Opposition leader Indian National Congress (INC) has criticised the Centre’s decision to dissolve this committee, alleging that the actual reason has not been revealed. “And for what? Simply for repeatedly asking the Govt (government) why the decennial Census last due in 2021 has still not been conducted thereby, among other things, denying at least 10 crore Indians of ration benefits under National Food Security Act, 2013/ PM Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana,” said Jairam Ramesh, Congress secretary general, in a post on X (formerly Twitter).
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India’s decennial census, held every ten years since the 1870s, last took place in 2011. The next, originally slated for 2021, was delayed due to the Covid-19 pandemic and remains unnotified. Economists note that relying on the 2011 census affects both the accuracy and relevance of data.
The email informing the committee members of the decision to disband the SCoS was sent by Geeta Singh Rathore, director general of the NSS. “The roles and responsibilities of the Steering Committee are overlapping with that of the Standing Committee on Statistics as outlined in the respective Terms of Reference (ToRs). In this context, I would like to convey that the Ministry has decided to dissolve the SCoS, constituted vide its order dated 13 July 2023,” it read.
Besides notifying the decision, Rathore also expressed the Ministry’s “profound gratitude” for the contributions made by the SCoS to various NSSO surveys.
MoSPI recently established the Steering Committee for NSS based on a recommendation from the National Statistical Commission (NSC) to address survey-related issues within the NSSO. The new committee, chaired by NSC chairman Rajeeva Laxman Karandikar, includes at least four members from the disbanded SCoS.
