You deserve to be congratulated for the edit “A poverty of statistics” (June 30). But why only blame the statistical institutes of India when even international organisations are no better. About a year ago, there was a report by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) that stated that Madhya Pradesh was the hungriest state in India. On enquiring, I learnt that no one from the IFPRI had even visited a single village in India. It appears that reports prepared by even international organisations are manufactured reports, drafted by so-called expert bodies in a room without any real field work.
S C Aggarwal, New Delhi
Readers should write to:
The Editor, Business Standard,
Nehru House,
4, Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg,
New Delhi 110 002,
Fax: (011) 23720201;
letters@bsmail.in
