Government begins work to strengthen state structures.
The government has started improving the statistical system of states with financial assistance from the World Bank in the backdrop of increased scrutiny and criticism of the Indian statistical system.
As a first step, the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, or MoSPI, has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Karnataka government for the state statistical strengthening project (SSSP), for which the Centre will disburse Rs 32 crore and the state will invest Rs 13 crore towards building statistical capacity and infrastructure.
The MoU was signed in Bangalore on December 11.
SSSP, a part of the India Statistical Strengthening Project (ISSP), has a project cost of Rs 650 crore, out of which the government is contributing around 20 per cent, while the World Bank is providing the remaining 80 per cent, or Rs 540 crore.
“It is important for the state agencies to improve if we want to improve the overall statistical system. Given the level of assistance we are providing, states will not need to spend much from their side,” said Central Statistical Organisation Director General S K Das.
Out of the government’s 20 per cent contribution to ISSP, the cost of civil infrastructure would be shared between the Centre and the state governments on a 25:75 basis.
Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Orissa are the states next in line to get the funds.
So far, 20 states have agreed to be part of this programme and after the project is implemented throughout the country over a span of 3-4 years, each state is expected to have statistical indicators in 21 categories, including economic, industrial, agricultural and social statistics.
The ISSP project was formulated in 2003 with assistance from the World Bank for strengthening India’s statistical system, with primary focus on the states’ statistical systems.
The project, set to be completed in the Eleventh Plan period, ending March 2012, is in its second phase that focuses on building and improving infrastructure of various state statistical agencies or Directorates of Economics and Statistics (DES).
The project got Cabinet approval in August and the ministry is now working on signing MoUs with states to facilitate disbursal of funds to the respective state governments.
Most of the data are collected through state agencies and, therefore, the project is aimed at reducing data gaps and increasing accuracy of national data. Currently, most state governments contribute to 12-15 data series, while the average contribution globally is around 20 indicators.
The project gains significance as India is now a part of the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF’s) Special Data Dissemination System (SDDS), which makes it essential for Indian statistics to observe certain rules and maintain global standards.
For example, SDDS requires summary methodology like concepts, definitions, nature of basic data and compilation practices for each data series. India has so far produced this under the data category producer prices in the real sector only, according to an analysis done by the Reserve Bank of India.
