BS Number Wise: The late and lagging government annual reports

Just over half the ministries, departments and autonomous bodies released these crucial documents for 2020-21

Government data is instrumental for policy decisions. The United Kingdom’s census in the 1830s shaped the Great Reform Act of 1832, which provided voting rights to a larger group. In the 1850s and 1860s, census results in the United States helped determine the population of enslaved and freed people. In India, the Socio-Economic Caste Census of 2011 formed the basis of a need-based classification of households.

Like the census, annual reports by government ministries detailing their work are a vital source of information for Indian policymaking. For some time now, ministries are missing deadlines to publish their reports.

The reports ought to be released within a few weeks or months after the financial year, but some government departments take over a year. Our analysis of 188 ministries/departments and autonomous bodies found that just over half of government institutions released their annual reports for 2020-21. For 2019-20, annual reports of 162, or 81.4 per cent of the institutions, were available, compared with 179 in 2018-19.
 

The analysis found ministries and departments were more regular in releasing annual reports. Of the 70 ministries and departments analysed, 59 released annual reports for 2020-21 and 23 for 2021-22. By comparison, annual reports of 66 ministries or departments were available for 2019-20, and 68 for 2018-19. The home ministry’s report for 2019-20 was the latest one on its website. For the defence ministry, the last annual report was for 2018-19. The ministry of law and justice last released its annual report in 2017-18.

The ministries fared better than their autonomous bodies/statutory bodies. The ministry of health and family welfare released its annual report for 2021-22, but the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India, which operates under the ministry, last released its annual report for 2018-19. The civil aviation ministry updated its annual reports until 2020-21, but the Airports Economic Regulatory Authority’s latest annual report was for 2019-20.

Of the 118 autonomous bodies/statutory bodies, only 43 had released their annual reports for 2020-21, whereas 96 had done so for 2019-20.
 

Some other issues also plague such annual reports. Most reports are in the PDF format and there is no separate access for charts and tables for researchers. The Reserve Bank of India additionally presents data in spreadsheets — a format that helps analysis — but government reports don’t do so.

The government must improve the presentation and accessibility of its reports, but it must first fix a deadline for their publication. The sooner, the better.