The Hindu Business Line : Evolve alternative methods to generate industrial data: PM

New Delhi, Sept. 9 The Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, on Tuesday said there is a need to evolve alternative methods of generating industrial data to handle the surge in entrepreneurial activity over the last several years.

“The growth of service industries on a massive scale has led to rapid growth in the number of industrial and service establishments in the country.

“It is now clear, therefore, that alternative methods of generating industrial data will have to be evolved, and that there would have to be a collaborative arrangement between the Centre and the State Governments,” Dr Singh said while inaugurating the Conference of States and Union Territories on Management of Statistics.

He said the Centre and the States needed to work together to improve the quality and reliability of statistical data being generated in the country.

“As our economy modernises, the different arms of the Government and every economic actor, be it a farmer or a worker, a domestic or foreign investor, or a consumer, or a researcher, all of them need accurate and reliable information,” Dr Singh said.

He said reliable statistical data is also crucial for formulation of macro-economic policies and programmes.

The Government is examining a proposal to bring all non-strategic information in the public domain, he said

“With the weakening of the land revenue system, the estimates of land use, which are central to any estimate of agricultural production, have become increasingly unreliable,” he said, inaugurating the National Conference of state ministers in-charge of statistics, here.

Quality concerns

Dr Singh also cited the critical observations of National Statistical Commission, which expressed concern over the “deteriorating” quality of data collection.

“Over the years, the administrative statistical system has been deteriorating and has now almost collapsed in certain sectors,” he quoted the Commission as having observed.

Dr Singh said it was time for corrective action both at the national and State level, especially with regard to statistics for agriculture, labour, industry and commerce, where the Commission has noted deterioration “at the very first stage of primary data collection.”

He also directed the Planning Commission, Finance Ministry and others to set up an organ for independent evaluation of flagship programmes on education, health and rural employment.

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