Our statistical machinery needs serious repair, says Meghnad Desai

Desai told Business Standard that India must get the data issue sorted out on a priority as it is giving the country a bad name

Economist Lord Meghnad Desai’s first article in 1962 was to question the data calculation of the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO). On Thursday, speaking at the launch of a data science course at the Meghnad Desai Academy of Economics, where he is the chairman, Desai gave his own take on the current statistical controversies around growth, unemployment and told Sachin P Mampatta that India must get the data issue sorted out on a priority as it is giving the country a bad name.

Edited excerpts:

There’s been some debate on the quality of data that’s been coming out. Most recently