Standing Committee on Statistics (SCoS)

Sept. 11, 2024

A Standing Committee on Statistics formed to oversee all statistical surveys by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) has been dissolved by the government amid apparent concerns raised by some members over the delay in conducting the census.

About Standing Committee on Statistics:

It was formed in 2019 to provide a new internal oversight mechanism for official data, revamping a Standing Committee on Economic Statistics (SCES).
Need:
- The development assumes significance amid sharp critiques of India’s statistical machinery by members of the Economic Advisory Council (EAC) to the PM.
- The EAC’s chairperson (Bibek Debroy) had mooted an overhaul of the system and contended that the Indian Statistical Service has “little expertise in survey design”.
Terms of reference:
- To ensure more coverage, the panel can have up to 16 members.
- To expand the mandate beyond economic data and advise the Ministry on technical aspects of all surveys, such as sampling, design, survey methodology and finalisation of results.
- To identify data gapsthat need to be filled by official statistics, along with an appropriate strategy to plug those gaps.
- To explore the use of administrative statistics to improve data outcomes.
Role to be played by NSC: While the panel will help finalise survey results, the NSC will have the ultimate authority to approve the publication of those results.