The statistical infrastructure of India should be made more agile for better understanding of India’s development trajectory. Justify (200 words)
Refer – The Indian Express
Enrich the answer from other sources, if the question demands.
IAS Parliament 3 years
KEY POINTS
· Take for instance the 2017–18 Consumption Expenditure Survey, which was withheld due to data quality issues. Initially, many were quick to hail the survey and its findings—this was despite warnings regarding data quality that were flagged by this author along with Dr Surjit S Bhalla.
· The unit-level data for the Periodic Labour Force Survey is a good example of this as one expected the data to be made available within a few months.
· The nodal ministry defines the key performance indicators (KPI) for these programmes and then tracks them on a dynamic basis.
· As an example, for Swachh Bharat, the KPI would be the number of toilets constructed by the government. This information can be collected on a daily basis and with geo-tagging and verification methods, the data can be as reliable as it can get.
· India’s statistical architecture is therefore unique as it comprises the NSO, one of the pioneers of household surveys and large administrative data, which is now collected for these dashboards.
· While the NSO works on addressing some of the measurement issues, harnessing the large administrative datasets containing verified geospatial information can help plug in gaps in our understanding, while simultaneously motivating the need for newer forms of household surveys.
